Defence Account Manager - 12 Month FTC

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future. 

As strategies, technologies and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. 

Our diverse teams of experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough use of technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results. 

An innovation and transformation consultancy, we are over 4000 specialists in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport. Our people are strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers and technologists. 

We operate globally from offices across the UK, US, Netherlands and Nordics. 

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Job Description

Women in Defence UK are looking for an organised, capable, and engaging person to lead the management of the partnership community, both in terms of managing existing relationships and identifying and supporting engagement with prospective organisations. The role will also involve leading on organising some of the non-award events held throughout the year.

Women in Defence UK’s mission is to accelerate gender equity in Defence. We have three major work themes; Inspire, though our annual Awards programme; Challenge through interviews of senior officials on their ED&I initiatives; and Critical Mass, which is building a critical mass of knowledge of how to accelerate change, fuelled by a Critical Mass Community of all of our Partners, some forty or so defence companies or organisations. 

Since 2011, we have made a concentrated effort to make defence a better place. Starting as a LinkedIn group, we have grown into an independent community of individuals and organisations that celebrates and recognises the achievements of individuals, teams and organisations working in the defence of our nation. Our community spans the Armed Forces, Civil Service, defence industry, and wider organisations involved in the defence of the UK. We are a small and dynamic team where there’s the opportunity to be involved in the range of aspects of what we do. You will work alongside our military /Civil Service secondees to manage the relationships with the Women in Defence UK Partners, around This includes being their primary point of contact, ensuring they are aware and leveraging their partnership benefits, and working with the supporting teams to ensure the financial and procurement process runs as smoothly as possible.

We are looking for someone who is supportive of our mission, capable of organising disparate groups and tracking their engagement, and who can work closely with our Communications and Engagement Lead to get our message out to those who need to hear it.

The main activities the candidate will undertake are:

Partnership management

• Act as the point of contact for all initial approaches from organisations and lead the initial conversations
• Provide a high-quality customer service as the point of contact for the Women in Defence UK Partners by resolving queries and maintaining positive relationships
• Manage the applications of new Partners and work with Finance to make sure the sign up and invoicing process runs smoothly, as well as the partnership renewal process for existing Partners.
• Work closely with the Women in Defence UK team to ensure that our Partners receive their package of benefits through the year, including access to events
• Lead the engagement with the provider of the Women in Defence UK Jobs site 
• Work with the communications lead to help maintain the Women in Defence UK website
• Working with the communications lead to maintain engagement, for example scheduling calls or writing bulletins
• Be proactive in capturing feedback and identifying recommendations to improve existing and / or develop new offerings

Non-awards events

• Organise some of the non-awards programme for the year (Winners Connection events or Critical Mass Community Events – including the Annual Summit) ), organising new events to meet demand
• Manage the relationship with suppliers including seeking financial quotes and liaising with suppliers on proposed content, ensuring that it is tailored to our community
• Track event budgets by monitoring financial costs and ticket revenues
• Manage event logistics such as venue hire and organising catering for in person events
• Support the development of collateral to help find partners for programme events and then act as their point of contact for the event
• Help to find new organisations to become suppliers of the events
• Capture and analyse feedback following events to ensure they are well received by the Women in Defence UK Partners and Community

Business development

• Identify and reach out to potential partners
• Act as the point of contact for all initial approaches from organisations and lead the initial conversations
• Engage with the Women in Defence UK team to understand what partnership opportunities exist and feed-back on discussions with organisations
• Help to develop new offerings and new partnership models and product design.

Ad-hoc tasks

• Manage the various Women in Defence UK mailboxes, responding to queries in a timely manner
• Act as the Secretary for the Women in Defence Charter, organising regular calls, taking meeting minutes and circulating regular bulletins
• Act as the POC for new secondees and sub-contractors, assisting with contracts, onboarding and ordering IT equipment
• Manage the relationship with external stakeholders such as design or printing companies
• Maintaining various internal CMS and data logs

Please note: We like to recruit lots of great people into this role, across all ranks. You will see this advertised year-round and will be individually reviewed by our recruiting team who will reach out to you dependant on your suitability at this time or in the future

Qualifications

We are looking for someone who:

• Has excellent stakeholder management and planning ability
• Is very organised and able to handle multiple issues simultaneously, prioritising as necessary, whilst working to tight deadlines.
• Has experience of business development, plus associated invoicing, purchase orders and proposal writing and maintaining records
• Is able to use their own initiative, for example being able to identify a clear, practical solution having drawn upon multiple information sources.
• Must be highly motivated.
• Has well-developed written and verbal skills. Must be highly computer literate particularly in use of Outlook, MS Word, Excel and Power point.
• Is highly reliable and conscientious. Team player is essential.
• Must be adaptable, able to flex styles to suit the situation.

We know the skill-gap and ‘somewhat need to tick every box’ can get in the way of meeting brilliant candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply – we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today by completing our online application

Additional Information

Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work.

We believe diversity fuels ingenuity. Diversity of thought brings exciting perspectives; diversity of experience brings a wealth of knowledge, and diversity of skills brings the tools we need. When we bring people together with diverse backgrounds, identities, and minds, embracing that difference through an inclusive culture where our people thrive; we unleash the power of diversity – bringing ingenuity to life.

Find out more about Life at PA here.

We are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of our people. Check out some of our extensive benefits:

• Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare for you and your family
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
• Generous company pension scheme
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives
• Annual performance-based bonus
• PA share ownership
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn)

We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief veteran status, or other by any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We are on a journey towards ensuring our workforce is diverse at all levels and that our firm is representative of the world around us. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us.