Director of Strategic Partnerships

About the Role

We seek a commercially savvy and exceptionally well-connected professional who excels at cultivating valuable relationships and opening key doors within the UK business landscape. Ideal candidates may have long-standing trusted connections with business owners, founders, investors, advisors, and various other professionals across sectors. This position offers a unique, entrepreneurial opportunity to leverage your extensive network in a flexible and rewarding commercial capacity.

Opportunity Overview

Des Vadgama leads initiatives uncovering hidden Enterprise Value for established businesses. Significant value, sometimes reaching millions of pounds, can be unlocked by addressing challenges such as unclear strategy, weak margins, owner dependence, underused assets, fragmented entities, missed growth opportunities, or succession planning gaps.

Your responsibility will be to pinpoint the right individuals, relationships, and environments where targeted interventions can generate substantial value increases (ranging from £1m to £10m+). This role focuses on strategic introductions, partnerships, and generating quality deal flow rather than high-volume cold outreach or automated lead generation.

Key Responsibilities

• Facilitate warm introductions to established UK business owners and founders.
• Build and nurture referral partnerships with trusted professional advisors.
• Engage and collaborate with founder groups, investor networks, and business communities.
• Spot companies on trajectories involving growth, funding, acquisition, succession, or exit strategy decisions.
• Organize exclusive briefings, roundtable discussions, and joint business opportunities.
• Originate valuable advisory, investment, acquisition, and Enterprise Value enhancement projects.

Candidate Profile

Your core strength lies in identifying lucrative opportunities, initiating meaningful conversations, and connecting the right stakeholders. You will not be expected to execute strategic consulting or close every deal personally.

Suitable backgrounds include former commercial relationship directors, accountants, lawyers, corporate finance professionals, wealth managers, business introducers, founder network leaders, semi-retired entrepreneurs with rich networks, or senior business development professionals prioritizing relationship quality over extensive prospecting.

Success Criteria

• Trusted by business owners who value your insights and calls.
• Adept at recognizing genuine commercial opportunities.
• Effective and comfortable communication with founders, investors, and advisors.
• Skillful in making meaningful, quality introductions.
• Commercially ambitious yet respectful and non-pushy.
• Committed to upholding reputation and cultivating long-term relationships.
• Passionate about uncovering and creating opportunities that previously did not exist.

What This Role Is Not

• Not an entry-level sales or appointment-setting job.
• No requirement to leverage an existing database exhaustively.
• Not a typical nine-to-five corporate position.
• Not a commission-only telesales role disguised as something else.

Compensation and Structure

This role begins as a flexible, fractional contract with results-based compensation, including participation in fees from referrals you originate, recurring income from ongoing engagements, and bonuses for larger successful transactions. Discussions will tailor the arrangement based on your experience, contributions, and network quality, with potential for a more enduring position as the platform evolves. This opportunity suits individuals motivated by autonomy, relationship-building, and uncapped commercial gains rather than traditional salary packages.

Initial 90-Day Goals

• Identify a targeted set of strategic partners.
• Secure multiple high-quality introductions to business owners or trusted advisors.
• Establish two to three productive referral partnerships.
• Initiate qualified Enterprise Value discussions.
• Support converting top opportunities into revenue-generating projects or sustained partnerships.

Application Instructions

Please submit a concise note addressing:
1. Which types of business owners, founders, or advisors currently regard you as trustworthy?
2. Provide two examples where you facilitated commercial opportunities through effective connections.
3. Identify three key relationships, groups, or partner categories you plan to explore within your first 60 days.
Confidential specifics are not required at this stage. This is a chance to demonstrate your judgment, credibility, and ability to spark meaningful business conversations.

This position offers more than a typical job; it has the potential to become a long-term role where you assist business owners in creating substantial additional value and share in the rewards generated.