Senior Business Development Manager - Direct Sales

Location: Flexible in the UK

Hours: Full time, however if part time is a preference we are open to a discussion

The OVO Group’s purpose is to drive progress towards net zero carbon living. To reach Plan Zero, we need everyone to come together - not just as customers buying energy, but as members with a common goal. As part of this ambitious plan, our goal is to become the ‘Leading Employer in the UK’ by 2030. If you think you could be the talent we’re looking for, then come and join the adventure!

The OVO ambition is to reach 5 million customers that are bought into our carbon net zero ambition and ultimately become Britain’s decarbonisation partner. The Direct Partnership strategy will be key to making this happen, OVO Partnerships will be front and centre, building relationships with our members and bringing to life OVO products and the journey we want to take them on. We don’t just want OVO to be our members' energy partner, we want to decarbonise their homes, and we have the product suite to help them on that journey. The Partnerships channels will be showcasing our product portfolio directly to consumers.

The Partnerships teams have a broad remit and this role will report into the Partnerships Director and work very closely with the Property Partnerships, Brand Partnerships, and Partnerships Value teams. The combined Partnerships operation will be the largest acquisition channel supporting OVO’s growing scale and ambition. This central role leads on the vision and channel delivery of the OVO products to Britain’s homes.

What will I be doing?

You will define and execute on the channel strategy to build sustainable, volume driving acquisition partners that deliver significant lifetime value over five years. The partners in this channel support all product categories in Energy, Home and Drive.

As this is a new area OVO is investing in, the channels will be developed all the way from partner selection utilising the OVO RFP process, through to launch, scale, management, and optimisation. It is an exciting opportunity and you will get to make your mark right from the beginning.

Well beyond customer insight and energy sales, your team works with Product to build slick +1 product selling methods including Home Services, EV charging, Smart metering and OVO Greenlight.

Running a results oriented team, you will take ownership for all aspects of your business area, including Finance and Quality Assurance. There is not an area of the business that you and your team wouldn’t be working with, an exciting challenge in which stakeholder management is integral.

• Develop and execute OVO’s partnership strategy in alignment with OVO’s overall business objectives
• Launch a minimum of six new partnerships in H1 2022, effectively run a CAC budget of c. £5 million in Year 1 to drive £150 million in new revenue for OVO
• Drive performance of telephony sales, field sales and venue sales for OVO Group to deliver sales of energy, home services and EV products in line with forecast and within budgeted CAC
• Identify and prioritise opportunities, build the structures, spin up initiatives with clear goals to capture prioritised opportunities whilst developing internal cross-functional capabilities to deliver on those goals
• Drive the future Partner channel vision with your team to understand OVO acquisition requirements in energy and +1 products.
• Hire and lead a Direct Partnerships team, embed OVO’s culture of integrity, transparency and accountability throughout
• Run a predictable partner growth engine and report in a periodic cadence to all key stakeholders, with a strong analytical approach and crisp communication style

• We are looking for candidates with proven Business Development experience in direct sales, reporting to executive level, with experience of scaling sales channels to deliver significant revenue and commercial value
• Extensive experience with building and leading impactful partnership sales teams in a high growth environment
• Intrinsic understanding of channel performance, and what it takes to transform sales from good to great
• Consistent track record of scaling outbound and F2F teams from 12FTE to 300+
• Proven experience in strategic planning, GTM strategy, sales awareness and partnership team management experience the energy sector
• Strong understanding of Quality, Assurance, Compliance and working in a regulated industry, ensuring that this is at the forefront of all sales activities
• A people person at the core with excellent communication and presentation skills

From us you’ll get*

• 4% of your salary to spend on flexible lifestyle benefits
• 5% matched employer contribution to your pension
• 25 days holiday + 1 for your birthday
• Flexible working hours
• And many more...

(*) Please note that certain benefits kick-in once you have passed probation which can be up to 6 months after your start date.

At OVO, we empower our people to have choice around where and when they work - flexible working arrangements can be discussed for all of our roles. Please speak to the Talent Acquisition team for more info.

We’re keen to meet people with varied backgrounds - our view is the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We want to build teams which represent a variety of experiences, perspectives and skills, and we recognise talent on the basis of merit and potential.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they tick every box. If you're excited about joining us and think you have much of what we're looking for, even if you're not 100% sure… we'd love to hear from you.

Learn more about working in the OVO family of companies on our careers page and Glassdoor. We’re also delighted to have received a Top Employers certificate in 2018, 2019 and 2020!