REASON FOR THE SEARCH

The new business development manager will be aiding the portfolio company’s EBITDA & revenue growth.

Northern Engineering had drastically grown and they were aiming to triple their revenue in the next 3 years. They needed a business development manager to assist in achieving this goal and asked for this to be completed as an urgent search.

THE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM

Arcline Investment Management is a growth-oriented private equity firm with $8.9B in cumulative capital commitments. Arcline invests in niche, technology-driven businesses in high-value industries such as defense, aerospace, industrial technology, life sciences, energy transition, and specialty materials.

THE PORTFOLIO COMPANY

Northern Engineering (NES), a part of Integrated Polymer Solutions (IPS), is a specialist manufacturer of advancing elastomeric technologies.

NES was founded in 1983 and is a UK-based manufacturer that produces bespoke engineered solutions, including encapsulated O-Ring, hot vulcanized O-Rings, and extruded profiles.

They were previously privately owned before becoming part of the IPS group of companies and being acquired by Private Equity firm Arcline.

The business is well-positioned for growth with very good margins, but they wanted to transition from distribution sales to OEM with direct-to-customer sales.

THE SEARCH REQUIREMENTS

Due to the nature of their business and the niche manufacturing, they needed someone with a very specific set of skills and experiences:

• Sealing technology / custom highly engineered products
• Elastomeric or Polymer knowledge
• Sales and marketing experience
• International sales experience
• Track record of growing revenue
• Mechanical aptitude
• Minimum 5 years experience selling to distributors and OEMs
• Sold into the industrial sector previously

WHY RAW SELECTION

Northern Engineering was on the lookout for a new Business Development Manager to join their team and they wanted to find someone who not only fit the search requirements but someone who was a good culture fit. Therefore, they turned to Raw Selection, who are proven in completing difficult searches across Europe and North America.

Upon starting this search, Raw Selection’s managing partner Alex supplied the hiring manager with a full description of the job, the firm, and the company to build out a full picture of the company, the employees, and the culture. Once this was approved, they knew exactly the type of profile that was needed to succeed in this position.

PROCESS

To secure the candidate, Raw Selection followed their extensive 15-step process to ensure a great match was found for the vacancy.

Alex had previously worked with IPS on another search where he had flown out to their HQ in California to meet with the hiring manager and other key team members, so he already had a good relationship with the hiring managers and knew a lot about the company, the employees, and the culture.

After conducting over 150 screening calls and 30+ interviews, Raw Selection identified a great profile who was subsequently hired for the role.

Raw Selection followed their extensive 14-step search process, identifying over 440 potential profiles which were then cut down to a shortlist of 13, all of whom had been fully interviewed and measured for culture fit.

The profile who was hired was working for a direct competitor of NES with experience in all the key areas that NES required.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS THINK

"Alex came highly recommended by our HQ in California after a successful search with them earlier in the year.

In what was already a challenging time due to Coronavirus, Alex was on hand managing the whole process from start to finish. His communication was excellent, and he was always available, so I was never left wondering what stage the search was at. I always felt confident that Alex had our best interests at heart and was doing everything he could to ensure a swift and successful placement.

Alex presented us with a final shortlist of two profiles, both from competing businesses, and both fit our requirements so well we would have been happy to offer either of them the job.

Alex even introduced us to some potential customers for our business from his network, he went totally above and beyond through the whole process."

Libby Thompson, Commercial Manager, Northern Engineering

WHAT OUR CANDIDATES THINK

"Alex worked on my behalf as a candidate for a Business Development Manager role. I started talking to Alex at the very beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, so he was really up against it from the start.

This process unfortunately stalled during lockdown, but Alex kept me updated throughout, saw the process through to offer, and negotiated a superb package on my behalf.

I would highly recommend using Alex for any recruitment requirements."

Justin Greenbank, New Business Development Manager, NES

OUR THOUGHTS ON THE SEARCH

Integrated Polymer Solutions had worked with us on multiple occasions to secure talent for their business across Europe and North America. This was a critical hire for them as part of their further expansion of Europe to meet their revenue growth targets and acquire new clients in the Aerospace & Defense sector.

We had a clear mandate from IPS to secure talent from the direct competitors, who had both Aerospace and defense contacts but also a solid understanding and knowledge of the sealing technology industry. We drafted up a large slate of talent all from similar and competing businesses, and Dean’s drive, energy, and connections with key target customers for IPS stood out.

OUR THOUGHTS ON THE CANDIDATE

Dean demonstrated a huge amount of product and market knowledge right from the outset. He demonstrated very strong commercial acumen by asking probing questions and truly looking to understand the challenges that IPS faced and how he could contribute to overcoming them.

Dean was a pleasure to work with and introduce me to the IPS business. His keenness to get started and request for research documentation both on the product and potential target customers gave me a clear indication he would be a great success in this role.

Alex Rawlings, Managing Partner & Founder

GET IN TOUCH

Raw Selection favors a meticulous approach to talent research. Our process for selecting the right talent means we can boast a 100% success rate for all our retained and engaged C-Suite clients, with 96% of placed candidates still in their roles after 12 months.

If you are looking for new talent, please get in contact with Alex today, at alex.rawlings@raw-selection.com.