Package Description
Head of Sales & Performance – Care, Education & Health (Maternity Cover)
Contract Type: 12 month Fixed Term Contract
Salary: £80,000 - £90,000 plus bonus
Car allowance: £3,600
Location: Hybrid (with travel to Keys Group offices as required)
Reports to: CFO
Direct Reports: Business Development Leads
Division: Keys Group Care, Education and Health
About Keys Group
Keys Group delivers high‑quality care, education and health services across the UK, supporting children, young people and adults to achieve positive, lasting outcomes. Our organisation operates across three core divisions Care, Education and Health providing person‑centred, outcome‑driven support in highly regulated environments.
As we continue to strengthen our commercial and referral capability, we are introducing an experienced, people‑focused commercial leader to help drive this work during a period of maternity cover.
Role Purpose
We are looking for an experienced, commercially minded leader to support our Business Development Leads and their referrals teams across Care, Education and Health.
The role focuses on driving performance across our occupancy‑based services (Care and Education) and patient or activity levels within Health. It also involves helping the organisation develop new revenue streams, build relationships with funders and commissioners, and support the pursuit of new contracts and commercial opportunities across both the public and private sectors.
This is not a sector‑specialist position. Our Business Development Leads already bring deep service expertise. Instead, the emphasis is on strong sales leadership, fresh thinking and a customer‑focused approach that boosts performance, improves conversion and maximises demand across all service types. Experience securing new business or contracts in healthcare settings (such as the NHS, private medical insurers or other commissioning environments) would be beneficial.
Occupancy & Commercial Performance
* Help deliver occupancy targets across Care and Education, and activity targets in Health.
* Work with operational, clinical and commissioning teams to balance demand with capacity, quality and outcomes.
* Identify ways to improve referral conversion, placement matching and speed to occupancy.
* Use data and insight to highlight trends and turn them into practical actions.
Commercial Partnerships, Contracting & Tender Support
* Support BD Leads with managing key commissioner and customer relationships.
* Contribute to contract management to help maintain strong commercial partnerships.
* Assist with tenders, framework applications and other new commercial opportunities.
* Act as a senior commercial contact for commissioners and customers where needed.
Referrals & Customer Experience
* Maintain a consistent, high‑quality referral and enquiry process.
* Apply customer‑focused thinking in all engagement.
* Build high‑performing, customer‑centred referral teams.
Innovation & Continuous Improvement
* Bring fresh perspectives from outside the sector to strengthen practice.
* Test and embed new ways of working that improve responsiveness, relationships and outcomes.
* Support the development of tools, processes and behaviours that enhance commercial effectiveness.
Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
* Work closely with operational leaders, commissioners and central teams to connect commercial activity with service delivery.
* Act as a link between divisions to support joined‑up working and shared learning.
* Promote consistency and best practice across divisions while respecting service‑specific differences.
Skills & Experience
Essential
* Demonstrated experience leading commercial, sales, business development or customer‑facing teams.
* Strong people‑leadership skills with a supportive, coaching‑led style.
* Track record of driving performance in a fast‑paced, customer‑focused environment.
* Ability to interpret performance data and turn insight into practical action.
* Confident communicator able to influence and build credibility with a wide range of stakeholders.
Desirable
* Experience in the healthcare sector (including healthcare services or health tech), with exposure to regulated or commissioning environments; candidates from highly customer-centric sectors such as hospitality, retail or other service industries are also encouraged to apply.
* Experience working across multi-site or national organisations.
* Exposure to service-based industries where quality and outcomes matter as much as volume.
Personal Attributes
* Curious and open‑minded, with the confidence to question established ways of working.
* Highly organised, with strong prioritisation and time‑management skills.
* Resilient and adaptable, comfortable navigating complexity and change.
* Values‑driven and committed to Keys Group's focus on delivering high‑quality care and education.