New Business Operative Executive (6 month FTC)

Role summary

The CBI is the UK’s leading business membership organisation. We provide our members with the influence, insight and access they need to plan ahead with confidence. We represent their views as we work with policymakers to deliver a healthy environment for businesses to succeed, create jobs and ultimately, drive economic growth and prosperity.

The New Business Opportunities team is responsible for the CBI’s non membership and sponsorship revenue streams and explore new ways of commercialising CBI expertise and skills. One of these services is the CBI Leadership programme, aimed at senior managers and executives looking to gain insight into the external policy agenda, an understanding of the economic, political and social environment, as well as developing influencing and stakeholder management skills.

Within this team also sits our Trade Associations team who manage relationships with the network of trade associations that provides the CBI with its unrivalled mandate to speak for businesses across the economy and reach into the business community.

This role will primarily support the relationships with the trade association member community, as well as the delivery of the CBI Leadership programme.

The role holder will have a range of responsibilities supporting an ambitious program of events as part of the Leadership Programme and Trade Association network event programme. You will also provide account management support – including enhancing our member service, support marketing & sales, content development, project management and communications, together with opportunities to lead and take initiative.

We’re excited to offer the opportunity for a highly motivated individual to support how we serve and speak for the different industries that make up the UK economy and support the delivery of our outstanding leadership executive development programme. If you have a passion for business and public policy, and a commitment to providing first class customer service, then we’d love to hear from you.

This role is unique in the opportunities it presents for working across the breadth of the CBI areas, engaging with senior stakeholders internally and within member organisations, government and civil service positions, and supporting the facilitation of events in the UK and internationally.

You’ll need to be comfortable thinking on your feet and adapting to a fast-paced, politically-driven work environment and driving forward the delivery of priorities with a high degree of autonomy. Your project management skills will help keep us on track amidst competing priorities. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop commercial skills as well as your understanding of the political and policy landscape of the UK.

Key responsibilities

Marketing and sales

• Work with the Head of Leadership Programmes and Head of Trade Associations to manage the relationship with the Marketing team, supporting the development of the marketing strategy/plan, including creation of marketing mailing lists and copy for marketing materials
• Building and maintaining relationships with CBI members and target members to facilitate the sales process and ensure future sales opportunities are maximised
• Follow up on sales leads, having conversations with members and prospective participants, articulating the objectives and business benefits of participating in the events, online workshops and leadership development programmes, to secure sales
• Creating/maintaining leads and sales trackers, ensuring CRM is used effectively and kept up to date
• Track the success of our marketing efforts, reporting on key statistics including commercial returns and customer feedback, driving data-driven enhancements.

Supporting best in class account management

• Driving increased membership retention and satisfaction of members, working closely with the Head of Trade Associations, Head of Leadership Programmes and Sector / Regional team colleagues
• Tracking engagement, policy developments, member news and issues of interest to members to inform lobbying strategy and briefings
• Develop a strong understanding of the political and economic environment, assisting the Head of Trade Associations role as the ‘go-to’ liaison point between trade associations and the CBI
• Working with the Head of Trade Associations to ensure that CBI supports members’ business goals, as well as ensuring members are kept informed of CBI activities in areas of relevance, driving retention.

Event management and support

• Contribute to the development of leadership programmes and online event content/support materials, including briefing packs and slide presentations
• Co-ordinate guest speaker invitations for  leadership programmes and online events, proactively managing the invite/booking process from start to finish
• Take ownership for communications for programme participants, including joining instructions, logistical updates and module briefings
• Attend modules to ensure smooth operation, act as a scribe and provide support to the online faciliators, using the Webex webinar and training platforms
• Engage participants in conversations about their roles, business and how CBI can support – supporting relationship development within the cohort and promoting wider CBI benefits
• Maintain relationships with alumni through the alumni network, through quarterly newsletters and events with LBS
• Provide logistical and administrative support for a programme of policy events, networking opportunities and intelligence sharing. These include the CBI’s Trade Association events programme and a range of standing and one-off events. This would include creating marketing lists, managing invites and RSVPs and on the day logistics
• Provide support arranging and co-ordinating member and prospect meetings.

Project and budget management

• Create and own project plan(s), with detailed tasks, agreed owner and delivery dates
• Review and update plans regularly, identifying risks and issues and escalating where necessary.

Knowledge and experience

What an individual must know or understand to be able to fulfil the role’s requirements.

Essential

• Communicating with and managing complex stakeholders, such as senior execs and sponsors
• Sourcing and consolidating information from multiple sources and turning into briefing documents and presentations for a senior audience
• Understanding of current policy issues and the policy initiatives of the CBI
• Managing sales and marketing for a variety of events and CRM systems
• Events administration, communications and logistic
• Running email campaigns and advertising/promotion through social media
• Commercially-minded, with a focus on delivering positive returns
• Ambitious, able to take initiative and be a team player, with a positive and friendly approach
• Comfortable working in a virtual / online environment, including meeting / event facilitation and providing support for virtual meeting platforms (Webex, Microsoft Teams).

Desirable

• Interested in current affairs, including business and politics
• Experience of Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Experience using Eloqua
• Experience of working on leadership programmes or education initiatives
• Good working knowledge of membership organisations.

Skills

The practical actions required to be able to fulfil the role’s requirements.

Essential

• Great attention to detail, strong planning and organisation skills and the ability to manage own workloads to agreed deadlines
• First rate written communication skills; clear and concise with a focus on customers and outcomes
• Advanced MS Office suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate confidently and network with senior internal stakeholders, members and programme participants
• Able to quickly understand complex issues and translate information into briefing materials and presentations

Desirable

• Copywriting skills for external communications
• Experienced facilitator of / presenter at training sessions or meetings

Behaviours

The behaviours and characteristics required to be able to fulfil the role’s requirements.

• Collaborative – Listening, seeking views and sharing information; constructively challenging when appropriate
• Taking ownership – Ensuring delivery and holding others to account; can influence, irrespective of hierarchy
• Agile – Proactive and responsive to provide a strong member service; responding positively to shifting priorities
• Commercial – Awareness of the wider business environment.
• Innovative – Exploring, sharing and integrating best practice; generating new ideas and challenging a mind-set of “what we’ve always done”
• Analytical – gathering information and using logic to analyse, problem solve, evaluate risk and make decisions.

Equal opportunity employer

Our aim is to create prosperity for all. To do that well, we need a workforce that is more representative of the businesses we serve.

We know through experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more innovative work environment that delivers better results. To support an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their experiences and ideas, we’ve encouraged the creation of a variety of Employee Resource Groups - Women, LGBT+, BAME and Working Families.

We recognise the many benefits flexible working can bring. Many of our employees work flexibly in many different ways, including part-time. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking and will accommodate where possible.

At the CBI, we are committed to attracting diverse talent that represents the society we live in.

We encourage applications from all regardless of age, sexuality, socio-economic background, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, or beliefs. We are committed to building a culture of belonging and inclusion and this is reflected in our policies, practices, and internal employee-led networks and supported by our executive leadership team.

We are a family friendly organisation and we encourage flexible working as we want our employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Currently our employees are working flexibly (formally and informally) and remotely due to COVID-19, but we offer the opportunity to work in our offices in line with government guidance if somebody should need to.

Our employee-led networks are: BAME, LGBT, Women’s and Working Families and we have qualified Mental Health First Aiders who support our employees in having good mental health.

If the above feels like an organisation that you would like to work for then we encourage you to apply and join our diverse workforce.

How to apply

To apply press here

Salary range: £24,000 - £26,000

For a copy of the full job description please email Daniel Smith.