As Head of Business Development & Innovation your primary focus is to collaborate with the Director of Progression to enhance prevention and housing-related support services for vulnerable young people. This involves retaining current business and strategically expanding Local Authority contracts to align with our organisational goals. Your role encompasses leading procurement and tender activities for St Basils, aiming for evolutionary services of high quality. Through forging and sustaining internal and external partnerships crucial for both retaining existing and acquiring new business and fostering positive relationships with internal teams and commissioners, providing vital support to Youth Service Managers and Head of Quality Standards and Registered Service Manager in meeting contractual commitments and KPIs.

• Conduct ongoing market research and refer to academic research to inform strategic growth. To work alongside the Performance Hub to develop business analysis frameworks and tools to monitor our performance against commissioned contracts. Collaborate with the Director of Progression to create impactful business pitches for key decision-makers, ensuring constant relevance through regular reviews.
• Ensure that all new business initiatives reflect St Basils values and deliver psychologically informed environments for the betterment of young people. Coordinate, recognise and promote our innovation by working closely with St Basils staff and young people, proposing, and developing initiatives in line with strategic objectives to end youth homelessness.
• Be a leader within St Basils, representing services both internally and externally. Model the organisation's values and priorities while providing psychologically informed, emotionally intelligent leadership. Ensure business objectives are forward-thinking, youth-focused, and inclusive.
• Actively identify opportunities to generate income in collaboration with fundraising teams. Build influential partnerships with key stakeholders, leading business development projects to expand and enhance our supported housing and progression service offer.
As the Head Business Development & Innovation, you will also be required to actively embrace St Basils values, behaviours, and commitments. Be visible to your teams, inspiring, empowering, and including them through future changes or transitions. Champion services through the promotion of equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion., As Head of Business Development & Innovation you will: Business Assurance
• Understand and be responsible for the Business Development and Bid Management Process at St Basils in collaboration with the Director of Progression (Prevention, Support and Care).
• Have day to day management and maintenance of tender portals and opportunity management through effective and timely use of regional and national tender portal systems.
• Be the lead on bid qualification and the completing of ITT, SSQ and PQQ processes for St Basils, undertake these tasks in collaboration and in an accurate and timely manner, this includes developing complex tender responses that do not put St Basils at financial, reputational, or operational risk; ensuring proposed services incorporate current or future best practice and involving relevant colleagues and young people.
• In collaboration with the Director of Progression (Prevention, Support and Care) and the Head of Finance lead on the development of accurate pricing models for support housing contracts or new funding agreements.
• Play a key role in the implementation and mobilisation of new contracts, in partnership with colleagues from across St Basils.
• Ensure critical responses to tender process are accurate and complete, including cross-referencing current internal policies, procedures and processes and bringing lapses or gaps to the attention of relevant Directors or St Basils Leadership Team to ensure future compliance with tender process.
• Have management oversight of new or existing SLA/ Contractual arrangements, with support of Company Secretary or functional director and oversee subcontracting arrangements for commissioned services in line with Policy and procedure.
Leadership and Management
• To report to senior leadership team within St Basils and be responsible for monitoring service specific KPIs and young person's outcomes alongside the Performance Hub and linked to contractual performance.
• Lead on the development of innovation in service delivery.
• Be an ambassador for St Basils at all times.
• Be the professional lead and take responsibility for maintaining market intelligence and information.
• Make sound business decisions of which opportunities to pursue and develop robust business cases for approval at Senior Leadership and Board.
• To provide line management and support to direct reports.
• Meet agreed business and financial targets and incorporate different financial models, such as social finance, that enables the expansion of St Basils services.
• Write and deliver performance reports for SLT, board and relevant sub-committees when required.
Partnership Working
• Appropriately lead business development meetings with potential commissioners or stakeholders with sufficient sector insight and awareness of the impact of conflicting priorities. This will be a combination of in person meetings and by using virtual platforms to meet with potential commissioners.
• Support the development of robust partnerships in furtherance of St Basils strategic objectives.
• Work alongside operational colleagues to ensure that all new business is deliverable within timescales and financial boundaries.
• Have collective responsibility with other team members for ensuring the delivery and seamless operation of services, in line with agreed financial and non- financial targets.
• Support the development of viable options with a variety of housing providers from registered providers through to private landlords that meet St Basils property standards.
• Identify and develop complementary strategic alliances and partnerships, with other agencies and providers, that enable young people to benefit from wider opportunities.
Strategy Outlook
• Keep up to date and analyse developments or changes in the market that may lead to new business opportunities across the supported housing and educational sectors in the West Midlands.
• Support with strategic development, planning and implementing changes based on understanding the needs of staff, young people, and key stakeholders.
• Work with colleagues to review and update our Business Plan and relevant functional strategies.
• Undertake skilled research activities to provide insight into Local Authority practices and internal governance processes.
• Work alongside the Performance Hub to develop proposals and evaluation mechanisms so that St Basils can learn from innovation, evolve our practice, and drive improvements across our services for young people.
• Be an active member of senior staff and positively engage with other senior colleagues across St Basils.
  
  Educated to Post Graduate Diploma or Degree level or have a similar level of worked experience gained within the charity, housing, or similar type of industry., A strong understanding of the Housing, Health & Social Care, Education sectors with the ability to be able to identify opportunities and apply best fit with St Basils strategic objectives.
• A good track record of winning new business or retaining business within the world of supported housing, with a complete understanding of how local authority commissioning processes work and function.
• Demonstratable relationship management skills and experience.
• Responsibility for undertaking tasks and activities throughout the procurement life cycle for example completing ITT, SSQ and PQQs.
• Demonstratable Relationship / Stakeholder Management experience.
• Financial modelling, forecasting, and working up budgets.
• Leading on Business Development opportunities and liaising with all internal departments to allow bid submission in a timely fashion.
• Experience of managing staff and dealing with performance issues.
• Able to manage workload to meet a range of conflicting deadlines, reprioritising workload to reflect crisis situations and changes in deadline requirements., Manage staff performance appraisal systems and processes including disciplinary processes.
• Proven evidence-based business development skills, with experience of delivering concepts that are commercially viable.
• Proven knowledge of business development processes and practices.
• Specific knowledge and understanding of commissioning groups and local authority commissioning and other relevant outside bodies i.e. (Health & Social Care Partnerships (HSCP) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).
• Political awareness of opportunities for charities and the voluntary sector and overall funding landscape including up-to-date knowledge of policy and analysis of key trends, and delivery trends.
• Be able to propose new business development opportunities with corresponding research and analysis.
• To be fully compliant with tendering systems and portals, and to possess key knowledge of procurement law, tender law, contract values, competition rules, and how to register on and maintain frameworks, and understand regional differences.
• Ability to manage Bid Process from 'strategy to lessons learned.'
• Ensures critical responses to tender process are accurate and complete, including cross-referencing current internal policies, procedures and processes and bringing lapses or gaps to the attention of relevant Directors or leadership team to ensure future compliance with tender process.
• Charity Governance skills and awareness of requirements relating to tenders / bids.
  
  From 2024- 2025
4,118 young people received advice and support 1,685 young people were supported by us during the year 1,053 young people lived in our 40+ accommodation schemes Up to 582 young people lived with us at any one time 91% of young people moved on from St Basils in a planned, positive way