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Utilities Executive Search Case Study
Douglas Jackson was retained by a rapidly growing multi utility B2B supplier to appoint a newly created Sales Director.
The assignment followed previous successful campaigns for the client across Operational Contact Centre leadership and Workforce Planning, leading the HR Director and COO to engage Douglas Jackson again for a business critical commercial leadership appointment.
The new Sales Director would need to lead the existing team through major cultural and technological change, while helping the organisation deliver an ambitious growth strategy.
Search at a glance
Sector: Utilities
Role: Sales Director
Level: Senior Leadership
Search Type: Executive Search
Business Context: Rapidly growing B2B multi-utility supplier
Key Challenge: Sales growth, culture change, systems transformation and team restructuring
Outcome: Successful appointment
The Challenge
The client was entering a significant period of change.
The Sales Director would be responsible for an existing team while helping the business manage an office move, implement new telephony technology and restructure the sales function.
The organisation also needed someone capable of changing the mindset and culture of the team while maintaining commercial momentum.
Finding the right person required an unusual blend of experience.
The client wanted somebody who understood the pace and autonomy required in a smaller, high-growth organisation, but who had also been exposed to the structure, discipline and complexity of larger corporate environments.
The role was also based in the North West, adding another dimension to the search.
Defining the Role and Benchmarking the Market
Before beginning the search, Douglas Jackson worked with the client to ensure the package and role profile reflected the capability required.
Holly Beeston benchmarked the salary for the Sales Director position to help the hiring team establish the appropriate budget.
The role profile was then refined through further discussions to align the brief with the organisation’s commercial ambitions and transformation programme.
Our Search Approach
Once the package and brief were agreed, Douglas Jackson began a targeted search across the Utilities market.
The search combined:
- established Utilities relationships and networks
- direct approaches to relevant senior leaders
- recommendations and referrals
- exploratory conversations around the newly created opportunity
- detailed assessment of both capability and motivation
More than 100 potential candidates were identified during the initial market mapping exercise.
Following screening and exploratory conversations, ten individuals progressed into more detailed interviews.
These discussions explored experience, leadership capability, motivations and what each candidate wanted from their next role.
Shortlisting and Assessment
From the ten detailed interviews, Douglas Jackson selected the strongest profiles and presented a shortlist of eight candidates to the client.
Each profile was supported with detailed evidence, and Holly met with the Group Sales Director and HR Director to talk through the candidates individually and provide deeper context beyond the CV.
Six of the eight shortlisted candidates progressed to an initial offsite meeting.
Three were then selected for the second and final interview stage.
Final Selection
The final three candidates met with the COO, HR Director and Group Sales Director and delivered a presentation as part of the assessment process.
The hiring panel was impressed by the preparation and calibre of the finalists, with one individual emerging as the clear frontrunner.
The preferred candidate demonstrated the combination the business had been looking for:
- SME experience
- exposure to scaling environments
- corporate experience
- a track record of increasing sales performance
- the ability to lead teams through significant change
An offer was made and accepted.
Outcome
The search concluded successfully.
The appointed Sales Director went on to lead the B2B sales team through the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and became an important contributor to the organisation’s sales strategy during an unprecedented period.
They developed new approaches to help the team continue to perform through uncertainty and change.
Candidate Feedback
“Holly was great in helping me secure my most recent position; I found her to be very supportive, professional and engaging throughout the process.”
“Holly’s communication with myself and my new employer was great and it really enabled a smooth journey for all parties. If you get the opportunity to work with Holly I’d highly recommend it.”
Pete – Sales Director, Multi-Utility B2B Service
What This Demonstrates
This search demonstrates the value of defining leadership capability around a business transformation rather than simply filling an existing vacancy.
The role was newly created and required someone able to deliver growth while simultaneously leading:
- Sales transformation
- Cultural change
- Team restructuring
- Technology implementation
- Increased commercial performance
- Change within a regulated Utilities environment
The successful appointment therefore needed to combine commercial drive with operational judgement, cultural leadership and experience across different organisational environments.
Hiring a Sales Director or Commercial Leader in Utilities?
Douglas Jackson works with Utilities and Infrastructure organisations appointing senior leaders across Sales, Commercial, Operations, Customer, Transformation, Strategy and wider Executive leadership.
We help clients define the capability required, benchmark the market and identify leaders able to deliver against ambitious growth and change agendas.
Talk to us about your next Utilities leadership appointment →
