The West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) promotes the West Midlands as a location in which global organisations can invest, grow and thrive. Following the success of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and the region cementing itself as the largest recipient of foreign direct investment outside London, this is a fantastic time to join a high-performing team influencing the future of the West Midlands. 

West Midlands Growth Company helps create new jobs, build and expand businesses, attract regional investment and encourage tourism.

Working as part of a wider sector team, the Business Development Manager – Business, Professional & Financial Services (BPFS) will be responsible for stimulating and securing inward investment and business expansion projects from the Business, Professional & Financial Services Sector, leading to sector growth and job creation across the West Midlands region.

The role will also take an operational lead on driving job-creating public sector relocation into the West Midlands geography, by leveraging the UK Government’s commitments on levelling-up, the work of the Government’s Places for Growth Programme, and the West Midlands Deeper Devolution Deal, signed in partnership with UK Government.

The West Midlands Growth Company has committed to securing a significant and ambitious quantity of new investments into the region, as well as effectively promoting the West Midlands key economic sectors nationally and internationally, and this role will be key to delivering on this commitment.

Main Responsibilities and Key Activities

BPFS Investment Promotion

• Work with the Senior BDM BPFS to identify and translate the strengths of, and opportunities within, the West Midlands into a compelling value proposition to attract jobcreating investment within the BPFS sector, from key global and domestic investment markets.
• Develop a strong knowledge of, and network within, the BPFS sector in the West Midlands.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of a BPFS sector plan, composed of a mix of direct business development, and events activation, which will drive investment interest in the West Midlands.
• Generate and manage and progress a pipeline of qualified investment projects to deliver a number of successful investment commitments and high-value job creation in the region.
• Conduct effective account management engagement with strategically important incumbent West Midlands businesses, to better understand their objectives and opportunities, with the aim of generating business growth and securing expansion projects.
• Build and leverage effective relationships with a range of private and public sector stakeholders, across the West Midlands, and beyond, to raise awareness of the West Midlands investment opportunity.
• Work closely with West Midlands partners to curate compelling ‘advocacy’ for prospective investors, and identify opportunities to connect investors with commercial partners of WMGC for mutual benefit.

Public Sector Relocations

• Build, maintain and leverage relationships with key teams and individuals within the civil service (within the West Midlands, and in Whitehall).
• Agree and deliver a joint programme of engagement with key stakeholders (including UK Govt’s Places for Growth team) to drive further civil service relocation to the West Midlands.
• Work with WMGC colleagues and representatives from WMCA Local Authorities to create compelling ‘local’ propositions to attract civil service department, agency and personnel relocations to locations across the West Midlands.
• Steer and support the work of consultants appointed by WMGC, to identify opportunities and target agencies/departments for WMGC to engage as prospective investors into the West Midlands.
• Directly engage a pipeline of government agencies and departments exploring role relocations and expansion within the West Midlands, to accelerate and expand the scope of their plans.
• Capture key activities and outcomes on WMGC’s CRM system and against a centrally held Public Sector Relocation project plan, to ensure WMGC’s shareholders across the West Midlands have visibility on value added by WMGC colleagues.

Delivering Regional and Local Priorities

• Where relevant to the BPFS and Public Sector relocation agendas, leverage expertise and relationships to support WMGC’s Local Authority shareholders with achieving their local economic development priorities.
• Capture all key activities and outcomes of work undertaken on WMGC’s CRM system and contribute to the progression of internal project plans and shareholder reports, to ensure Page 3 WMGC’s shareholders across the West Midlands have visibility on the value added by WMGC. 

You can view the full job description including key skills and competency requirements, here. 

If you are interested in applying for the Invesment Manager - Strategic Real Estate role, please send your CV to recruitment@wmgrowth.com