Overview
As Head of Sales – UK SME, you will lead the UK SME sales function to deliver ambitious growth targets across new business acquisition and profitable revenue expansion. You will build, coach, and performance-manage a high-performing national team of B2B sales professionals, while working closely with Operations, Finance, Marketing and Customer Services to ensure seamless customer onboarding and mobilisation. This is a hands-on, visible leadership role, combining strategic direction with frontline sales execution, deal support, and rigorous performance management.
Key Accountabilities
Sales Leadership & Performance
* Lead, mentor and coach a national team of New Business-focused Business Development Managers and Sales Executives.
* Set clear performance expectations and KPIs aligned to revenue growth, margin, and activity targets.
* Build and sustain a high-performance, proactive sales culture with a strong bias toward new business win-rate and account expansion within the SME sector.
* Conduct regular performance reviews, pipeline inspections, and structured coaching sessions.
* Identify skills gaps and lead training and development initiatives to continuously raise capability across the team.
Sales Execution & Growth Delivery
* Own and drive the UK SME new business pipeline across defined regions, territories and target verticals.
* Maintain a highly visible, hands-on presence to support the team in closing high-value and complex deals.
* Lead and approve pricing models and P&Ls for larger or more complex SME opportunities, ensuring profitable growth aligned to business objectives.
* Identify and exploit market opportunities across core service lines including general waste, recycling, equipment, shredding, and hazardous waste.
* Ensure sales activity delivers both short-term wins and sustainable long-term customer value.
Opportunity & Pipeline Management
* Embed best-in-class CRM discipline across the SME sales function to ensure accurate, timely and value-driven data capture.
* Oversee prospecting, lead generation and pipeline management activity to support reliable forecasting and reporting.
* Ensure all sales activity is tracked and reported to inform commercial decision-making.
* Work closely with Telesales, Marketing and Tendering teams to align campaigns, bids and lead generation activity to SME growth objectives.
Collaboration, Mobilisation & Customer Handover
* Own and lead the end-to-end onboarding and mobilisation process for all new SME customer wins.
* Work cross-functionally with Operations, Finance, Customer Services and Commercial Support teams to ensure smooth, compliant and timely contract mobilisation.
* Lead and formally sign off all sales-to-account handovers, ensuring clarity of scope, service expectations and commercial terms.
* Support early-stage account management transition to protect revenue, margin and customer experience.
Key Requirements
Experience & Skills
* 5–8 years’ experience in B2B new business sales, with at least 2 years in a senior sales leadership role.
* Proven experience leading and managing managers (e.g. Regional Sales Managers) to deliver consistent performance.
* Demonstrated success in building, scaling and leading SME-focused sales teams.
* Strong commercial acumen with the ability to assess pricing, margin and deal profitability.
* Excellent negotiation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
* Ability to translate high-level sales strategy into clear, executable tactical plans.
* Results-driven, resilient and hands-on leadership style.
Knowledge & Attributes
* Strong understanding of SME customer behaviour and buying cycles.
* Confident user of CRM systems and data-led sales performance tracking.
* Commercially astute with a strong grasp of pricing models and margin management.
* Willingness to travel nationally across the UK as required.
* Collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence cross-functional teams.
Qualifications
* Degree-level qualification in Business, Sales, Marketing or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
* Experience within waste management, recycling, environmental services or a similar operationally complex sector is highly desirable.
* Knowledge of waste and environmental regulations is advantageous.
* High level of data literacy and comfort working with reporting and analytics tools.
About Panda: We are a waste management company focused on protecting people, supporting customers, and creating positive environmental impact. We value safety, innovation, and collaboration. We are committed to attracting a skilled and diverse workforce and to DE&I policies.
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