Business Development Assistant

Reports to: Flex Assure Scheme Administrator

Location: The office is in Westminster, London. The Flex Assure team works both from home and in the office, so we are prepared to consider the personal circumstances of the right candidate.

Salary: £28k to 32k dependent upon experience.
Contract Type:  A full time, 6-month contract initially. The possibility of extending to permanent position following the successful completion of a 3-month probation period and the successful growth and development of the company’s compliance schemes and membership.

Start Date: Immediately. Applications will be revised on a rolling basis until a suitable candidate is employed.

Introduction:

Flex Assure is a not-for-profit company wholly owned by the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE). Flex Assure was established with the support of industry, Government, and stakeholders to set standards of practice for flexibility services providers that provide energy optimisation services to business energy users and help raise trust and ensure good customer outcomes.

The Flex Assure Code of Conduct and compliance scheme is focused on business-to-business relationships in the industrial and commercial sector, but due to the emergence of new domestic flexibility services, Flex Assure was also awarded funding for the HOMEFlex project, to develop a new, voluntary code of conduct and a proposals for a compliance scheme for the emerging domestic market of energy flexibility, with hopes to launch during 2025.

Strong sales abilities and excellent communication skills are essential for this role. We are looking for someone with an outgoing personality who is confident talking to a range of stakeholders, both in face-to-face and virtual meetings and over the phone. An ability to develop strategies and confidently engage with businesses to help convince them of the value of scheme membership will be vital along with an ability to communicate clearly to stakeholders.

At Flex Assure we believe that we succeed by having happy, motivated people and we will support and invest in the successful candidate. There will be plenty of opportunity for advancement within the group of companies for the right person. In exchange we look for proactive team players who are ready to ensure a fair deal for energy consumers.

Main Scope of the Role

The primary focus of the role is to work closely with the Scheme Administrator and the ADE Director of Business Development to grow membership of both the existing Flex Assure Compliance Scheme and the new HOMEflex Compliance Scheme, which is expected to launch during 2025. This would be primarily through developing a recruitment strategy, maintaining a recruitment pipeline, engaging with potential scheme members and organising events, in collaboration with National Grid NESO and the regional Distribution System Operators (DSOs). The duties would also include providing some assistance to the Scheme Administrator on the general day to day running and administration of the Flex Assure company. The Recruitment Assistant will need to become familiar with the existing Flex Assure Code of Conduct and the new HOMEflex Code. The role will include engaging with the leading providers of flexibility services, interacting with a wide range of industry stakeholders, including Government. This will be a great opportunity to develop a functional understanding of the energy flexibility marketplace and the related policy landscape, whilst also building a wide network of stakeholder's organisations.

Responsibilities

The Business Development Assistant will work under the supervision and instruction of the Scheme Administrator to:

Scheme Promotion and Business Development

• Develop a concise membership recruitment strategy.
• Maintain an up to date and detailed pipeline of membership recruitment leads.
• Onboard new members to the schemes, including evaluation of membership applications.
• Respond to general email and telephone enquiries about the scheme from stakeholders and potential members.
• Create an industry event strategy and build relationships with event organisers.
• Attend suitable industry events that will attract potential members and also broadcast existence of the scheme stakeholders.
• Develop scheme and company presentation materials and speak at suitable industry and stakeholder events.
• Create recruitment statistics and reports for internal use and presentation to directors.
• Coordinate and communicate promotion of the scheme amongst industry, stakeholders, and Government.

Recruitment Event Administration

• Work with the Scheme Administrator to plan and coordinate all aspects of recruitment events, including venue selection, budget management, invitations and logistics.
• Source and negotiate with vendors, such as caterers, production and audiovisual technicians
• Schedule event planning meetings with partners, including the taking and filing of meeting minutes and actions items.
• Create detailed event plans including timelines, task lists and schedules.
• Coordinate event setup, including arranging collateral & equipment.
• Develop and maintain event budgets.
• Oversee event registrations and delegate lists.
• Provide on-site event management and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
• Conduct post-event evaluations and gather feedback, surveys and statistics for future improvements.
• Co-ordinate with the Scheme Administrator and ADE Office Manager to ensure contractor and supplier payments are budgeted for and paid as per all finance procedures.

• Work with the Scheme Administrator to develop challenging objectives and a personal development plan, including the recording of personal progress toward targets and objectives.
• Adequately prepare for and complete quarterly reviews against objectives with the Scheme Administrator.
• Developing initiatives that ensure the schemes activities are carried out in the most efficient, cost effective and sustainable manner.
• Ensure consideration of the wider social and environmental impact of the scheme’s activities.
• Contribute to a process of continuous improvement through periodic reviews of significant projects, tasks and campaigns.

Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave, rising by one day per year of employment.
• An interest free “new starter” loan of up to £1,000 to help you prepare for taking on your new role – be it to support travel arrangements, or to help you get your home office set up in advance.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Option to access private health insurance as a benefit in kind after successful completion of probation period.
• Pension contributions will be matched up to a maximum of 8%.

About You

Key skills we are looking for:

• Social and confident personality.
• Some sales and business development experience.
• High level of business acumen.
• Clear and confident speaker.
• Experienced in the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Strong administration skills and attention to detail.
• Good communication skills (online, written and oral).

Desirable but not critical:

• Familiarity or experience with energy policy or energy markets (particularly energy flexibility / demand side response).
• Understanding of, or an interest in, customer assurance and protection.
• Experience of industry standards/certification schemes.

If you’d like to learn more about working for us, please contact Charlotte Roniger (charlotte.roniger@flexassure.org) with any other questions you might have.

To apply for this position, please send a CV and covering letter explaining in your own words why you think you would make a good candidate for the position. Interviews will take place on a rolling basis as we wish to fill the position at the soonest opportunity.