Business Development Manager (Financial Insurance)

Business Development Manager - Financial Insurance

Do you have a passion for sales, technology and the consulting world? Explore a career at Avanade and be part of a continual story of ambition, growth and innovation.

Avanade UK is looking for an ambitious and dynamic sales professional who is motivated by achieving challenging targets working in the Finance Insurance Sector as an industry lead, thriving in a dynamic and team-oriented environment surrounded by some of the best people in the industry!

We are looking for a Business Developer Manager (BDD) with a specific focus on working within the Finance Insurance sector developing business within London Markets (LM) and Life & Pensions (L&P) clients.

About Avanade:

Avanade is the leading global technology and managed services provider specializing in the Microsoft platform. Our vision is to be the leading Digital Innovator realizing results for our clients through the full power of the Microsoft® ecosystem. Our professionals combine technology, business and industry expertise to build and deploy solutions to realize results for clients and their customers. Avanade has 30,000 digitally connected people across 23 countries, bringing clients the best thinking through a collaborative culture that embraces diversity and reflects the communities in which we operate. Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture LLP and Microsoft Corporation. Learn more at www.avanade.com. We have just been awarded the Global Microsoft Partner of the Year award for the 15^th time, highlighting the fact that we are the no.1 integration partner in the world.

About the role:

This is a senior role, with wide-ranging and often complex responsibilities, which call for a depth and breadth of business knowledge beyond the business development discipline.

The role will be responsible for managing the entire sales lifecycle and driving revenue by prospecting, acquiring and developing new and expanding business with direct clients within the Financial Insurance sector.  

You will already be capable of navigating the Financial Insurance services ecosystem and have a wealth of contacts and connections in the market.  Capable of initiating discussions at C suite level, developing long-lasting customer relationships and gaining referrals with new accounts.  You will have a deep understanding of the needs of various stakeholders and be able to marshal the right resources with or without direct authority.

This role is instrumental in ensuring Avanade achieves these objectives; with a specific focus on selling large scale custom application and cloud modernization deals. In particular, Microsoft are seeing a real boost in the cloud market and Avanade are equally seeing significant demand in this area. As a result, this is a core strategic pursuit for the business.

Building on known industry connections, you will build a pipeline for growth - able to close business, statements of works and contracts. Connecting with clients and forming strong trust relationships which open doors and close deals. Existing relationships with Microsoft are a bonus, but not essential.

You will have the opportunity to be able to support, shape and grow our Financial Insurance practice within a global business for the #1 Microsoft® Partner.

Day to day, you will: 

·       Identify opportunities to increase sales volume while ensuring client satisfaction is achieved.

·       Understand how our custom application and azure platform offerings can solve pressing client problems and present these in a compelling way working with subject matter experts and strategies.

·       Manage customer relationships for new and existing accounts.

·       Prospect, acquire, develop and expand business leads, including working with Microsoft leads.

·       Work with the market & capability teams to capture client buying patterns and input into offering development.

·       Achieve short- and long-term revenue and profit growth by increasing the profitability of a portfolio of accounts by cross-selling service lines, including Application managed services and/or Infrastructure managed services.

About You:

·       Candidates will have extensive experience selling into the Financial Insurance sector, ideally within London Markets (LM) and Life & Pensions (L&P) in a services or consulting environment.

·       Experience selling a range of deals form early consultancy pieces through transformation into large managed services deals is key.

·       An understanding of the advantages of a global delivery capability and also the ability to leverage it in sales pursuits will be a significant advantage.

·       Proactive and practical, you will be adept at assessing customer requirements, and selecting appropriate methods to fulfil them.

·       You will be skilled at determining priorities, establishing a systematic course of action to ensure successful completion, and allocating time and resources effectively. 

·       Inside and outside Avanade, your interpersonal skills will enable you to leverage your network to facilitate, develop and influence.

·       Strong customer interface and presentation skills are essential in this role, together with a mind-set of customer service.

·       A skilful negotiator, you will be confident acting as trusted advisor when dealing with customers’ business needs. 

·       At a minimum, you will have sold multi-year work into clients with tangible business outcomes which can be described.