Head of Presales

About the job

Company Description

Talan is an international consulting and technology expertise group that supports and accelerates the digital transformation of its clients through the levers of technology, data and innovation.

For over 20 years, Talan has been advising and supporting companies and public institutions in defining and implementing their transformation and innovation projects in Switzerland and internationally.

Present on 5 continents in 21 countries, the Group, certified Great Place To Work, has more than 7000 employees.

Equipped with a Research and Innovation Centre, Talan places innovation at the heart of its development and operates in areas of technological change such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Intelligence, Blockchain, to serve the growth of large groups and mid-sized companies in a committed and responsible approach.

By placing "Positive Innovation" at the heart of its strategy, Talan is convinced that it is by serving humanity that technology amplifies its impact on society as a whole.

#TalanSuisse

Job Description

The Head of Presales leads the presales function of Talan Switzerland. He or she defines the common working framework, sizes capacities, develops tools and team skills, and monitors the function's performance. The role remains directly involved in Strategic opportunities when the situation requires it.

Your mission:

• Define, document and evolve the presales process and governance, including Basic, Standard and Strategic levels, associated roles and rituals.
• Manage the capacity of the Bid Managers pool and anticipate workload peaks related to opportunities and framework agreements.
• Build the repository of content, templates and best practices used by the presales teams.
• Develop the skills of Bid Managers, Solution Leads and Opportunity Owners.
• Personally intervene as Solution Lead or Bid Manager on Strategic opportunities as needed.

Presales function management:

• Define, monitor and share performance indicators, including coverage, success rate and workload by role and Business Line.
• Arbitrate capacity tensions between Business Lines and propose action plans.
• Ensure adoption of governance, tools and presales standards across Talan Switzerland.
• Ensure continuous improvement of the operational model and its practices.

Resource planning and bench management

• Maintain a rolling resource forecast over three to six months, aligned with the pipeline and strategic priorities.
• Balance activity rate objectives with the capacity needed for business development and practice development.
• Manage resource allocation throughout the presales process.
• Identify tensions and resource shortages and recommend recruitments, upskilling actions or external reinforcements.
• Coordinate practice leaders and delivery teams to optimise resource deployment.

Activity rate forecasting and analysis:

• Build and maintain models reflecting company capacity, sales pipeline and presales delivery schedules.
• Produce monthly and quarterly reports and analyse variances.
• Anticipate trends and identify risks to profitability.
• Make data-driven recommendations to improve capacity utilisation and planning.
• Support pricing and resource allocation decisions with reliable analyses.

Skills and references management:

• Maintain a company-wide skills mapping by practice, level, geography, specialty and language.
• Conduct regular assessments and identify capacity gaps.
• Provide data useful for recruitment, training, talent development and staffing decisions.
• Maintain a centralised and searchable database of up-to-date CVs and references, compliant with company standards.
• Organise regular CV updates and enable their rapid adaptation to tenders and client requests.
• Ensure confidentiality and governance of associated data.

Certification and accreditation tracking:

• Maintain a comprehensive register of certifications, accreditations and professional references.
• Monitor deadlines and renewals and alert employees and managers in advance.
• Ensure compliance with client and regulatory certification requirements.
• Analyse certification coverage by practice, level and specialty and communicate gaps to management.

Qualifications

Expected skills:

• Strong experience in presales and bid management on complex opportunities.
• Ability to influence and gain buy-in without direct hierarchical authority.
• Mastery of data-driven management, including capacities, workload, ratios and activity rate.
• Coaching, support and team development skills.
• Ability to combine cross-functional management and operational involvement on Strategic opportunities.

Your profile:

• Minimum eight to ten years of experience in presales, bid management or complex solution sales.
• Experience managing pursuit processes at an organisational level.
• Experience collaborating with multiple Business Lines, practices or sectors.
• Comfort with resource planning, profitability and commercial performance issues.
• Professional proficiency in French and English. German is an asset.

How performance will be evaluated:

• Bid Manager capacity coverage rate compared to actual workload.
• Success rate of Standard and Strategic opportunities.
• Adoption rate of governance and presales tools by Business Lines.
• Coverage of workload related to framework agreements and references.
• Quality of resource forecasts and control of variances between capacity, pipeline and delivery.
• Currency and coverage of skills data, CVs and certifications.

Additional Information

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