Senior Business Development Manager - UK & I, Finance

The Senior Business Development Manager – Financial Services is a senior individual contributor responsible for driving sustainable revenue growth and expanding SANS' presence across the UK Financial Services sector, including retail and investment banking, insurance, asset management, payment providers, FinTech organisations and financial market infrastructure. This role is responsible for identifying, developing and securing strategic opportunities whilst building trusted, long-term relationships with senior executives, cyber security leaders, learning and development professionals, and risk and compliance stakeholders. Working collaboratively with the Head of UK & I, the Senior Business Development Manager will execute strategic account plans, lead complex and commercial engagements, and position SANS as a trusted partner, supporting cyber resilience, workforce capability and operational excellence within highly regulated financial institutions. This role requires exceptional commercial credibility, consultative selling expertise and knowledge of the financial services landscape. The successful candidate will act as a role model for professional sales execution, customer engagement and commercial discipline without formal management responsibility.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive business development activity across a defined portfolio of Financial Services accounts.
• Identify, qualify and secure complex, high-value and multi-year commercial opportunities.
• Develop and execute strategic account plans that align SANS solutions with customer business priorities and cyber resilience objectives.
• Build and maintain a deep understanding of the Financial Services sector, including cyber security challenges, workforce capability requirements and regulatory developments.
• Position SANS as a trusted strategic partner supporting operational resilience, cyber maturity and professional development.
• Develop relationships across multiple stakeholder groups including CISOs, CIOs, Heads of Security, Risk, Compliance, HR, Learning & Development and Procurement.
• Identify opportunities to expand existing customer programmes through cross-selling and strategic account development.

Client, Relationship Management & Programme Delivery

• Build long-term, trusted relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers across Financial Services organisations.
• Lead customer engagement throughout the full sales lifecycle from opportunity identification through to contract execution and programme delivery.
• Act as the primary commercial contact for strategic customer engagements.
• Conduct regular executive business reviews to maximise customer satisfaction, retention and growth.
• Support successful customer onboarding and ensure programmes deliver measurable business value.
• Represent SANS at Financial Services industry conferences, cyber security forums and customer events.

Sales Execution, Governance, & Commercial Discipline

• Manage the end-to-end sales process, including qualification, solution development, pricing, proposals, contracts and commercial negotiations.
• Maintain accurate opportunity management, forecasting and pipeline reporting through Salesforce.
• Navigate complex procurement and governance processes within large Financial Services organisations.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Customer Success, Product Management and internal stakeholders to maximise customer success.
• Support marketing campaigns, executive briefings and customer events focused on Financial Services.
• Ensure commercial governance and compliance throughout all sales activities.

Market Intelligence & Customer Insight

• Maintain a detailed understanding of cyber security trends affecting Financial Services organisations.
• Monitor developments across operational resilience, cyber regulation and emerging threats to identify new business opportunities.
• Understand customer challenges relating to skills shortages, capability development and regulatory compliance.
• Share market intelligence, customer insight and competitive information with colleagues to support wider business growth.
• Identify opportunities to position new SANS products and services within existing accounts.

Commercial Performance & Contribution

• Deliver agreed revenue targets, KPIs and strategic objectives.
• Lead commercial responses to RFPs, tenders and procurement exercises where applicable.
• Build collaborative relationships across SANS to ensure exceptional customer delivery.
• Promote the SANS brand, mission and values in every customer interaction.
• Undertake additional responsibilities appropriate to the seniority of the role.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential Experience

• Significant business development or enterprise sales experience within the Financial Services sector.
• Demonstrable success in achieving and exceeding revenue targets through consultative, solution-based sales.
• Proven experience managing strategic customer relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Experience selling enterprise technology, cyber security, professional services or learning solutions.
• Experience managing complex sales opportunities involving multiple decision-makers.
• Experience using Salesforce or a comparable CRM platform.

Knowledge

• Strong understanding of the UK Financial Services market.
• Knowledge of cyber security challenges affecting Financial Services organisations.
• Awareness of key regulatory frameworks including FCA, PRA, Operational Resilience, DORA, NIS2, ISO 27001 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
• Understanding of consultative and value-based sales methodologies.

Skills

• Excellent relationship-building and executive stakeholder management skills.
• Strong consultative selling and commercial negotiation capabilities.
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence senior decision-makers and executive leaders.
• Strategic account planning and opportunity management.
• Strong commercial forecasting and pipeline management.
• Excellent organisational, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple complex opportunities simultaneously.

Personal Attributes

• Highly motivated, self-directed and results oriented.
• Commercially astute with a customer-first mindset.
• Professional, credible and confident when engaging with senior executives.
• Collaborative and supportive team player.
• Resilient, adaptable and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• High levels of integrity, accountability and professionalism.
• Passionate about delivering exceptional customer outcomes.

Education/Qualification

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working with banking, insurance, asset management, FinTech or payment organisations.
• Experience selling cyber security education, technical training or workforce development programmes.
• Experience managing public tenders, RFPs or enterprise procurement exercises.
• Knowledge of organisational learning and capability development initiatives.

Qualifications

• Sales methodology accreditation (MEDDICC, Miller Heiman, SPIN or equivalent).
• Cyber security or information security qualifications.
• Relevant Financial Services or Risk Management certifications.