Sales Director, UK Institutional in London

A leading fund manager is seeking a new business focussed sales professional with a strong network of UK pension funds to join their growing team.

Key Responsibilities & Duties:

• Maintain existing and establish new pension fund relationships, focusing on broadening awareness of the firm's investment solutions with prospective clients to generate new business.
• Engage with allocated prospects to understand their investment strategy and propose investment solutions that meet their requirements.
• Build relationships with CIOs of in-house investment teams, pension fund managers, Trustees, Consultants, and Advisors.
• Arrange prospect meetings involving the investment team, or senior management as appropriate, and prepare all participants for the meeting.
• Deliver relevant and timely follow-ups to prospect meetings and seek feedback which can be communicated to all relevant parties.
• Attend new business pitches as appropriate and if successful assume Client Director responsibilities for that relationship.
• Ensure that the corporate message and product information is well disseminated across the institutional market covering pension funds, investment consultant, and independent advisor firms.
• Provide input to prospect focused communication material, ensuring the effective communication of key messages.
• Work with the institutional marketing team on the preparation of marketing and PR material, i.e., sales pitch materials, updates, newsletters, brochures, conferences etc.
• Disseminate material produced by journalists, consultants etc. (e.g., Search trends, thought pieces, research pieces, and surveys) to all interested parties.
• Have an awareness of market trends and pension fund behaviour, informing appropriate internal parties on buying patterns and all key issues that might drive product development or impact relationships with existing clients.
• Manage institutional client relationships in accordance with the Sales and Client Service Blueprints.
• Ensure effective use of the CRM and prospect planning systems by Institutional Distribution staff to provide high-quality management information from relevant Distribution systems and sources and increase sales efforts through the maintenance and retention of accurate prospect and client data.
• Follow all relevant regulatory and corporate policies relevant to your role.

The role requires:

• In-depth understanding of the asset gathering process in the UK Institutional Market.
• Previous experience in business development - a proven ability to develop productive relationships with both an existing network of / new prospects at various levels is important.
• Ability to articulate different investment styles and sources of differentiation to potential investors.
• Ability to identify prospect needs and suggest appropriate solutions.
• Educated to degree level and preferably with the IMC.
• Possesses broad knowledge of the major asset classes such as fixed income, equities, multi-asset, alternatives etc.
• Able to develop deep relationships with key decision makers and senior client influencers, understand client issues and offer appropriate solutions.
• Effective team player who can work in partnership with others internally to build and enhance the firm's reputation in the market.
• Able to demonstrate a collaborative approach to working with UK Institutional Team colleagues and the broader EMEA Institutional Team to share and develop ideas and approaches to enhancing client relationships.
• Able to prioritize and manage time effectively to proactively develop a large number of senior-level industry relationships.
• Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent attention to detail, and problem-solving skills including the ability to interact well with the consultant and client relationships teams.
• Strong people skills and ability to develop a network.
• A strong sense of 'team' and a strong focus on client needs.

Seniority level: Director

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Sales and Distribution

Industries: Investment Management, Financial Services, and Investment Banking