Head of Business Development
DRIFT Energy
Head of Business Development
The Company and Mission
Are you looking to make a difference in the push towards net zero? Are you passionate about technical innovation and interested in putting your experience to work in a cutting-edge green tech company with potential for worldwide environmental impact?
Welcome to this exciting opportunity to join DRIFT Energy.
DRIFT operates at the intersection of deep tech, digital & AI and the blue economy. At our core, we are a data-driven engineering company – on a mission to make Oceans of Energy.
Established in 2021, DRIFT is backed by reputable VCs, family offices and angel investors. We are graduates of the Catapult Energy Systems, Set Squared Bristol and Creative Destruction Labs. Our company has been showcased in the Sunday Times, Forbes and demonstrated at SailGP. We are award winning, including Green Startup of the year, Sustainability Entrepreneur of the year and the LeZERO Global Innovation Prize of 2023 at COP28.
The Company recently reached their seed funding and this is now a crucial & exciting time for the business as we look to appoint a Head of Business Development.
This role is highly autonomous and will see you influence and pioneer a new class of renewable energy to help combat climate change.
The Role
This is a critical role on the management team at DRIFT. In this role, your goal will be to develop strategic customer relationships with maritime operators, energy developers and government organisations. With a remit spanning domestic, European and international markets where DRIFT has a growing number of opportunities, especially within the SIDS (Small Island Developing States) sector where DRIFT’s technology is extremely compelling.
You will identify customer types, build playbooks, engage and manage strategic relationships to book client sales through to operations. Leveraging your network, you will amplify DRIFT as a leader in the field of deep ocean energy and support the development of new customer segments. You will be the first exclusively customer facing team member with the remit to build out a team and define the future pipeline.
Your Task
By the end of your first year we expect you to have:
· Booked your first customer sales.
· Launched one or more substantial collaborations – taking forwards the multiple customer leads generated by the team over the past year to a place of contracted commitment.
· Developed a strategy for customer development and engagement. Which markets, what message, how to engage etc.
· Built out a team to manage the customer pipeline and respond quickly to the frequent inbound requests DRIFT receives.
· Raise the profile of the business so much that DRIFT becomes the name associated with deep ocean energy and seen as a new class of renewable energy – supported by our PR team.
· Supported one of more major events where you will showcase DRIFT to potential customers and investors.
3-month deliverables:
· Learn the business – as evidenced by owning and running your own successful pitch to a customer including your first sales collateral.
· Delivery a Sales Strategy – work with the CEO to utilise market data and existing customer leads to set commercial goals and establish the processes to continually develop sales opportunities.
· Establish the sales reporting process – key metrics and facilitate accurate forecasting from customer data to the CEO and CFO.
· Developed your first lead – develop, implement and execute lead generation process, inc. appointment of scheduling and support processes for business development.
· Sales Collateral development – produce and continually develop all sales collateral and customer facing materials.
· Recruited your team.
Your Skills and Experience
Essential Skills & Experience:
· 6+ years relevant experience within business development
· Strong degree in a relevant field
· Demonstrable experience of effective customer management from first meet to deal close.
· Excellent communicator and collaborator, able to work withing a technical field and distill messages into compelling narratives for clients.
· Ability to interrogate and manipulate data – excellent analytical skills, and building financial models.
· Experience of the design and delivery of business plans, partnership agreements and demand generation, including aspects like investor and grant funding
· Contract shaping and commercial acumen – getting the contract written and taking a customer on the journey
Desirable Skills & Experience:
· Experience within the Maritime and Energy sectors
· Familiarity with sale support (CRM tools) and other sales automation technologies.
· Experience with startup (especially deep tech) funding journey and other similar funding mechanics in the energy sector (PPA – Power Purchase Agreements)
· Proven track record in terms of securing investment and grant funding
Regular weekly national travel will be expected within this role, with potentially international travel required as needed.
Compensation and Benefits
· The opportunity to be part of a hugely innovative world climate change initiative
· Working with a passionate, committed and visionary “crew”
· 26 days holiday per year
· Competitive salary plus equity
· Pension
· Private Medical Insurance
· Life Assurance
This role will be based in the Bath office with the option to negotiate flexible working.
Diversity & Inclusion
We are especially keen to encourage applications and interest from individuals underrepresented in the deep tech and climate space. Climate change and climate justice is both a social and inclusion issue. We especially welcome applicants with experience across all equality and inclusion challenges and are keen for applicants who may have different experiences to those exactly specified in the application.