Business Development Executive

About us

We are Ave – a branding and graphic design studio based in Islington, London. We specialise in working with the charity and not-for-profit sector. With an ethical outlook and a creative edge, we provide strategic brand, print and website design consultancy services to a range of clients. Collaborating only with the organisations we love, we work hard to push, evolve, and reshape our clients’ brand identities and communications with our holistic, bespoke approach. Our work combines beautifully crafted graphic design with strategic, targeted messaging, in a way that delivers real, measurable results.

The role

We are looking for an exceptional Business Development Executive with plenty of experience within the creative environment to join our busy team. The role is varied and hands on; you will be experienced as a business development executive who thrives on gathering new leads and converting these into clients. You will be an expert in selling in our services, embodying our non-salesy approach! Your primary role will be in generating new business for all of our service areas, working alongside our founder and project manager. Having a friendly and professional demeanour is important as your role includes a lot of client management.

We are at a point of exciting change where we will be expanding our client sectors and building the business and therefore you will be excited about helping lead this alongside our director.

• Salary: £26,000 - £32,000 with commission structure.
• Hours: Monday to Friday, 7.5hrs a day
• Location: We offer a flexible working pattern, with minimum 2-days a week in the London studio.
• Experience: At least 2+ years of experience in this role within the creative industry. Proven track record in business development.

Benefits:

• Uncapped commission on new projects
• 24 days holiday, plus bank holidays
• Your birthday and the days between Christmas and New Year off
• Summer and Christmas parties
• Christmas bonus
• Paid overtime
• Annual training/courses allocation
• One Friday off every 6 weeks for professional development
• We offer interest-free loans to employees and advanced purchase of travel carts/tickets
• We facilitate pre-tax charity donations from staff PAYE to ensure charities get more money from monthly direct debits
• We actively encourage sustainable commuting and limit in-person meetings to reduce our carbon footprint.

Day-to-day tasks:

• Working alongside our project manager to establish and manage relationships with our existing clients to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. This will also including communicating with existing clients to understand the requirements and challenges that have and identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
• Map out the opportunities for each sector and how to reach new prospects
• Gain traction in sectors we are not known in but wish to have a greater presence in
• Picking up the phone and sending emails to establish new leads, as well as setting up meetings
• Develop our existing credentials and sector case studies, as well as commissioning new creds decks from the internal designers to assist in new client approaches
• Building and maintaining new business opportunities through networking, alongside Ave’s founder
• Developing lead generation strategies and marketing activity
• Using research techniques to identify key decision makers and working with Ave’s founder to understand which of our services could suit their needs.

The person we would love to meet is:

• Experienced.

Your experience will enable you to feel comfortable at each stage of the new business journey, from lead to becoming an established client

• Confident.

Feeling comfortable in a fast-paced environment is going to be imperative, as is having the ability to be spontaneous and reprioritise work depending on the day to day activity

• Informed.

You will need to have experience in the creative sector and how to sell to potential clients without being salesy. This will require an understanding of the work we do and how we do it, as well as what makes Ave different

• Communicative.

Clear communication is core to your role, you will be talking frequently to potential clients via email and calls, as well as managing our pipeline. You will need to be confident in what you’re talking about, articulating clearly and in a timely fashion

• Organised.

The role will involve planning and execution, with frequent reviews with Ave’s director. Good organisation will be a huge benefit!

• Values led.

We are a team united by a shared purpose in working for cause-driven organisations and charities that are working towards making people and planet better

• Fun.

We work hard, but we play hard too! We are a quirky bunch, and want to have fun whilst we are earning a living. There is lots of music, lunches and nights out here and there too.

Interview process

• We are committed to an inclusive interview process and would invite shortlisted applicants to an online or in-person interview.
• Questions will be shared with all shortlisted applicants ahead of the interview.