Create sustainable Business Development and Marketing Strategies to achieve the Revenue Targets assigned

Create an exhaustive Marketing Calendar listing down all the planned marketing efforts (such as Design Symposiums, Special Marketing Initiatives and Events) for the year, within the assigned Marketing Budget.

Continuously assess business performance on a quarterly basis to validate the assigned targets and budgets.

Develop sustainable business development strategies, in collaboration with Director of Business Development to tap the widest possible client base, as well as maximize CKS’ media presence.

Develop, revise and maintain costing models in collaboration with the Director of Business Development.

Continuously prospect for new clients through a variety of techniques, including telephone solicitation and cold calling.

Analyze Indian corporate scenario to identify market opportunities, prospective companies / customers and associated users of the company services.

Follows-up on referrals and self generated leads to identify customer influences and any timing issues; monitors prospects’ contract calendars; prepares reports on status of leads and other reports as required.

Participate in conferences, design symposiums and trade shows, and assists in other promotional efforts.

Respond to client inquiries, receive RFP and stream it to the Director of Business Development.

Develop Regional Client Proposals, as well as other client facing documents, and coordinate with the project teams for sending out the project proposals.

Participate in client negotiations along with the business team.

Prepare and sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Clients; also vet the Service Agreement between CKS and Client for all regional projects.

Brief HOP (Head of Projects) and Project Manager on the initial business development meetings with Client and attends project kick-off meetings if required.

Handle production of any events that the company may host as a part of business development activities.

Enhance and maintain business development skills through participating in a variety of training programs as assigned.

Perform additional functions, duties and specific tasks of a similar nature and scope as necessary in order to achieve assigned business objectives.

Handle production of any events that the company may host as a part of business development activities.

Very strong knowledge of line of business, economies of business and services marketing.

Understand the working of the Indian and Global economy, where it is headed and the implications global economic implications.

Demonstrated skills in the areas of sales and business development.

Strategy orientation and good business sense.

Excellent planning, organization and time management skills.

Ability to interact effectively at all levels and across diverse cultures.

Ability to adapt to changes in the external environment and within the organization.

Strong customer service and result orientation.

Display a sense of maturity, use previous experience and some up with effective solutions and ways of working.

Excellent computer skills and proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Excellent business communication skills, both verbal and written.

Very high level of presentation skills.

Excellent interpersonal skills and a collaborative management style.

Persuasive skills and ability to convince prospective customers about the service provided.

Foresight, planning and implementation capability

Willingness to travel in and around the country and abroad.

Location: Mumbai

Experience in the development, authoring, editing and production of proposals and market competitive budgets

Lead Proposal Writing Team through coordination, decision – making and even limited hands on writing and editing

Effectively package the company’s work areas and track record in dynamic response to RFPs

Work closely with the Accounts Acquisition Manager, Business Development Head, Head of Project Operations, Senior Design Researchers and CEO to create a competitive proposal

Demonstrate industry knowledge to ensure scope and budget alignment

Negotiate budgets, contracts and agreements in conditions favourable for the company

Possess in depth knowledge of the Design industry both at a national and an international level to analyse and identify the company’s comparative strengths

Orient all writing and negotiations towards successfully winning work bids

Is a team player and supports team members in severe resource and time crunch situations

Creates a series of work area portfolios and other innovative work content displays as standby ways of demonstrating company track record in order to be able to bid for a proposal

Build vendor databases and use with ease to derive timely partner quotations

Effectively manages work contacts and contributes to the addition and maintenance of the Business Team database

Formulates best practices around proposal coordination, documents these and inducts personnel around such new ways and skills

Key Responsibilities

Demonstrate strong writing skill along with analytic thinking to draft a proposal within a structured proposal development process

Attends necessary meetings and pre-proposal discussions to identify key opportunities by engaging the client to think and focus some more

Always translates technical data from client to researchers into meaningful customer value propositions. Work closely with internal heads of teams and resources – CEO / Business Development Head / Account Acquisition Manager, Head of Project Operations, HR Manager and Finance Manager - as well as client and their corresponding negotiation teams externally to complete an all rounded proposal effort

Rapidly acquire knowledge of past CKS work, interact with other senior members who know and seeks advice and guidance from CEO to generate a written proposal

Set up Google Docs / SharePoint and other network sites and folders for proposal collaboration • Maintains the proposal tracking system; supports milestone/review process and provides updates to Management. Keeps delivery milestones practical and in alignment with client needs. Informs other senior members of their being in process through effective tracking mechanisms

Assesses the value of an approach note to proposal process, modifies / improves it. Supervises proposal editing, formatting, compliance checks, final proposal assembly and delivery even when there is a tight deadline

Tracks final submission of proposal by right sources and maintains final, editable files with oneself as well as the archivist in order to develop an organizational history of proposal writing. Over time, develops and maintains a document library that includes historical progression of proposal documents, formal responses, section references, templates and standardized Past Performances documents. Undertakes this work in collaboration with the archivist and is solely responsible for the quality of this database ongoingly. Initiates CKS NDA process or uses client NDA as requested by client. Checks client NDA for problematic clauses

Follows up with Accounts Acquisition Manager around client feedback around proposal. Undertakes further contractual work Like Services Agreement, Project Order and Client Requirement Management like translating content into client formats, creating on the side documents as well as coordinates actual signing and sending of paper work

Negotiate budget with industry competitive rate understanding.

Timely handover of project to Talent Team at completion of contractual

Acts as a change agent through continued development, maintenance and improvement of the formats and formal proposal development process based on corporate goals, business development objectives and growth priorities. Develops new processes and templates for increased efficiency

Trains junior researchers into proposal writing formalities at an induction level. Conducts formal team reviews and assigns gradation to each candidate

Develops proposal writing and budget planning tasks for those requiring greater practise. Give feedback and help improve

Works with relevant team members to adjust to government contracting documents

Develops and works with extensive vendor network around all possible project requirements, to arrive at most efficient pricing, allowing CKS to leverage these benefits in negotiations. Develops new compliance matrices, evaluation formats for past performance analysis, future sectoral preparedness and ensuring improving client alignment. Other nominal writing and contractual responsibilities as may arise

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Fluent English and Hindi speaker. Possesses excellent writing skills for both technical and marketing-focused content. Additional 3rd language is welcome

Excellent writing skills, with the ability to articulate messages clearly and concisely in an engaging style.

Experience of research and negotiations. Minimum of 3 years of proposal writing, development and management experience

Able to demonstrate applied understanding of a formal proposal development and corresponding success as a result of own initiatives. Knowledge of various contract types such as: Time and Materials, Firm Fixed Price, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity and others

Possesses technical understanding of sampling, domain specific needs and global contracting norms

Possesses strong presentation and communication skills with superior interpersonal skills

Excellent personal computer skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications to include: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio

Experience using Microsoft SharePoint or other document management system/version control system

Basic experience with Adobe program(s) such as Acrobat, Photoshop and Illustrator

Basic experience with Microsoft Project

Ability to conduct light secondary research and generate original argument to base proposal on

Ability to be flexible and adaptable, retain calm under urgencies and exhibit excellent attention to details

Ability to work with people at all levels of the Company

Understanding of the company, its work areas, client base, Indian design industry and each of their key needs and challenges

Strong market knowledge of contract rates for diverse project related external resources

Light instructional material design experience will be a plus

Personal Attributes

Ability to prioritise, work under pressure and deliver to agreed deadlines

Thoroughness, accuracy, valuing quality output and attention to detail in all aspects of work

Service driven and professional

Highly motivated, able to work independently and in a team

Enthusiastic approach to change. A go getter

Market informed, oriented towards strategizing and sophisticated and savvy in negotiating profitable project budgets

Enjoys client engagements and interactions

Competencies :

Influence: Communicates knowledgeably about CKS work and authoritatively with internal/external audiences. Adapts style to different levels of people, as appropriate. Diffuses anger and deals effectively with conflict in crunch moments. Is skilled in giving honest and fair feedback. Negotiates with resources, vendors and client team to ensure the best outcomes for the company. Delivers presentations, supervises industry notes and leads in creating insights and contents for service offering by segment

Customer Service: Understands and appreciates the tensions between the diverse needs of our clients and what is practically feasible within financial constraints. Delivers better and more responsive project proposals through accurate first time decisions and actions

Teamwork: Shows appreciation of the differences between people. Networks externally in the design ecology, bringing information into the team. Is a role model: coaches and mentors juniors around writing, client management and service orientation. Encourages others to be proactive in problem solving. Sets objectives for self and others; contributes to the Business Development team’s workflow against targets. Realises how performance and behaviour impacts on others

Self-Management: Creates and manages own workload independently and communicates progress without actively being asked. Remains clear and focussed under pressure and in situations of disagreement. Is insightful about own strengths and areas for development. Seeks out feedback on own performance and impact, and provides the same to others. Shows commitment and enthusiasm in work

Achievement: Sets challenging objectives for self and others. Manages activities in a structured way and evaluates the results. Overcomes obstacles to achieve the right end result. Contributes to the development of organizational systems and processes and client interaction best practices

Problem Solving: Networks with external professional organisations to research and improve company service delivery. Forwards well thought through recommendations and ideas to senior managers. Is proactive in accessing and analysing data to enable problem solving. Is curious to explore possibilities and able to work with incomplete information

Leadership: Inspires and supports people through change. Challenges appropriately the norm and status quo. Ensures that the purpose and vision of the organization are understood and demonstrated by all staff. Is an active contributor within the Middle Management Team and has valuable suggestions for the Senior Management to work with