Sales Lead
Sword Group · Aberdeen, UK
Open 8 days
New Business + Account Growth: you win new customers and grow existing ones.
- Base
- Not disclosed
- OTE
- Not disclosed
- Quota attainment
- Not disclosed
- Posted
- 9d ago
Why it matters: OTE tells you what you could earn. Attainment tells you how realistic it is.
Ask: “What percentage of fully ramped reps hit quota last year?”
Still open · checked 6h agoon Sword Group's careers page
The job
- What you'd do
- Find new customers and grow existing ones in the energy sector and other vital national services, selling engineering and data work. You'll find most of your own new business and hand won deals to delivery teams.
- What you'd sell
Helps energy and public groups update old computer systems safely
When an energy company or a public agency has to keep its old computer systems running, it usually keeps patching them by hand. The problem is, those systems break at the worst moments, and a hacker or a failure can stop the work people depend on. Sword modernises those old systems and secures daily operations, so vital organisations lower their risk and can grow safely.
In plain English, from their own job posts. Something wrong? Tell me · More Industry-specific software companies →
- Who you'd sell to
- Not stated in the posting.Ask: “Who's the economic buyer, and who else is in the deal?”
- Where deals come from
- Mostly you. Expect a lot of outbound: cold calls, emails and LinkedIn.
The Braun Read
Ask hard questionsToo much is left unsaid. Make them answer before you invest.
- Pay
- No pay listed at all.
- Transparency
- Says nothing about quota, attainment, deal size, territory or sales cycle. Ask about all five.
- Time on market
- Open 8 days.
- Company hiring
- 2 sales roles open, hiring at a steady pace.
Red lights
- Pay. No pay listed at all.
Green lights
None spotted.
Based only on what the posting says. Lights are a starting point for your first call, not a final judgment.
Questions to ask on the first call
Built from what this posting leaves out. How they answer tells you as much as what they say.
- 1.
What percentage of fully ramped reps hit quota last year?
OTE is what you could earn. This is how likely you are to earn it.
- 2.
What percentage of reps on the team have been here more than 18 months?
Tenure shows whether people stay long enough to get paid.
- 3.
Has the comp plan changed in the last 12 to 18 months? What changed?
A plan that changes every year means the goalposts keep moving.
- 4.
Who sits with reps and reviews calls each week?
Coaching is often what's behind a good or bad attainment number.
- 5.
What are the base and the OTE for this role?
Before You Apply
Find out where you fit, and where you don't, before you hit submit.
Why I built it this way ↓
Most résumé tools try to make you look like a match. I'd rather help you find out if you are one.
Nothing made up.
Nothing goes on your résumé that you didn't do. If a line would need a number you didn't give me, I ask. I don't guess. On Braun Board it's checked in code, not just promised.
Curiosity before conclusions.
If the job wants something your résumé doesn't show, I ask before I assume. Plenty of sellers have done the thing and just never wrote it down.
Sorting, not selling.
Some jobs won't line up with what you've done. Finding that out before you apply isn't a loss. It's an hour back, spent on a job that fits.
No score.
A match score tells you how well you copied their words. It doesn't tell you whether you'd be good at the job, or happy there.
It's the same way I teach selling. We don't control who says yes. We do control where we spend our time, and whether everything we say is true.
Josh
More on this1 Is the job worth it?
Ask hard questions. Too much is left unsaid. Make them answer before you invest.
- No pay listed at all.
Might be worth asking about this before you spend an hour on a tailored résumé.
See the full Braun Read2 Where you fit
Upload once, see where you fit on any job.
Sign in and add your résumé. I'll show you where you line up, ask before I assume, and never add anything you didn't do.
Sign in →What people say about working at Sword Group ↓
Got an offer from Sword Group? Not sure about it?Ask me. I read every message myself. · JoshAsk Josh
Rather talk it through? Call or text me: 954-695-0844 (text)
Full posting
Sword is the trusted partner for critical technology. We deliver the operational resilience and practical innovation that are essential for the most demanding enterprise and critical national infrastructure environments. By modernising legacy systems and securing daily operations, our expert teams help vital organisations lower risk, protect operations, and grow safely.
Join Sword and develop your career as part of a talented, collaborative team that delivers real-world impact and meaningful outcomes for our customers.
About the role:
As a Sales Lead, you will play a pivotal role in driving commercial growth and shaping how Sword positions, sells and scales its Engineering, Subsurface and Enterprise Data solutions and services across the Energy and Critical National Infrastructure sectors.
As Sword strengthens its Data, Analytics, AI and Automation capabilities, you will develop new customer relationships, identify commercial opportunities and translate customer challenges into compelling, outcomes-driven propositions. Working closely with technical specialists, delivery teams and business leaders, you will combine hands-on business development with commercial insight, pre-sales coordination and marketing engagement.
This is an opportunity for an ambitious sales & marketing professional to take the next step in their career and contribute to the direction and growth of a key business unit.
As the Sales Lead, you will:
- Identify, develop and convert new business opportunities across Engineering, Subsurface and Enterprise Data services.
- Build and manage a qualified sales pipeline, progressing opportunities from initial engagement to contract award.
- Develop trusted relationships with new and existing customers across Energy and Critical National Infrastructure.
- Support the development and execution of go-to-market plans for Engineering, Subsurface and Enterprise Data offerings.
- Shape compelling commercial propositions that align customer outcomes with deliverable Sword capabilities.
- Contribute to discovery workshops, customer presentations, proposals, tenders and commercial negotiations.
- Support appropriate pricing, commercial governance and handover of successful opportunities to delivery teams.
- Deliver against agreed sales and revenue objectives, maintaining accurate forecasts and opportunity reporting.
- Identify opportunities to expand existing accounts through additional services and cross-selling.
- Understand customer priorities and translate business challenges into relevant service propositions.
- Monitor customer needs, market developments and competitor activity to identify emerging opportunities.
- Collaborate with business unit leadership to refine service propositions and identify new routes to market.
Requirements
- Demonstrable experience selling into the Energy, Oil & Gas, Renewables or Critical National Infrastructure sectors, with a strong understanding of the market and customer landscape.
- Proven ability to identify, develop and convert new business opportunities while building and maintaining lasting customer relationships.
- Strong commercial awareness, with experience managing sales pipelines, revenue targets, forecasting and the end-to-end sales lifecycle.
- Ability to understand customer business challenges, identify commercial opportunities and develop compelling, outcomes-driven value propositions.
- Confidence engaging with senior business and technical stakeholders, influencing decision-makers and developing trusted customer relationships.
- Experience leading or contributing to proposals, presentations, tenders and commercial negotiations.
- An understanding of data management, engineering information, analytics, AI, automation or wider digital transformation solutions.
- Strong communication, negotiation and relationship management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across technical, delivery and commercial teams.
- A proactive, commercially driven approach, with the ambition to develop new markets, expand customer relationships and achieve revenue growth.
It would be great if you also had:
- Experience selling Engineering, Subsurface or Enterprise Data and Information Management solutions or services.
- Experience developing and executing go-to-market strategies, commercial propositions or new service offerings.
- An established network of customer relationships and industry contacts within the Energy sector.
Benefits
At Sword, our core values and culture are based on caring about our people, investing in training and career development, and building inclusive teams where we are all encouraged to contribute to achieve success. We offer comprehensive benefits designed to support your professional development and enhance your overall quality of life. Here's what you can expect as part of our benefits package:
- Personalised Career Development: We create a development plan customised to your goals and aspirations, with a range of learning and development opportunities within a culture that encourages growth.
- Flexible working: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance. We can’t promise to always be able to meet every request, however, are keen to discuss your individual preferences to make it work where we can.
- A Fantastic Benefits Package: This includes generous annual leave allowance, enhanced family friendly benefits, pension scheme, access to private health, well-being, and insurance schemes.
At Sword we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, ensuring that all applicants receive fair and equal consideration for employment, regardless of whether they meet every requirement. If you don’t tick all the boxes but feel you have some of the relevant skills and experience we’re looking for, please do consider applying and highlight your transferable skills and experience. We embrace diversity in all its forms, valuing individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Your perspective and potential are important to us.
If we can do anything to help make the hiring process more accessible, please let our talent acquisition team know when you apply so we can support any adjustments.
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