Experience

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  GrantTree

  • London, England, United Kingdom

  • Customer Success Manager and Growth Project Manager

    • May 2023 - Present
    • London, England, United Kingdom

    GrantTree accelerates the success of growing businesses by connecting them with R&D Tax Relief, innovation grants and Advance Funding. Over the last 12 years, our leading team of consultants, scientists and tax experts have enabled more than 2000 UK businesses to secure over £400 million in financing.

• 

  Snowplow

  • United Kingdom
  • IT Services and IT Consulting
  • 100 - 200 Employee

  • Special Projects Manager

    • Feb 2022 - Apr 2023

    • Role working on internal cross-functional projects, helping to launch initiatives within the Customer Success function. Helped colleagues adopt and adapt to change, overcoming barriers and bringing the team on the change journey including new systems, playbooks and responsibilities.• Provided the ‘voice of the customer’ on behalf of Sales and Customer, working with Product on the launch of a new product: BDP Cloud. Created enablement materials including talk tracks, customer facing slides and internal presentations on the product's USP.• Enabled the wider Customer Team to gain a deep understanding of Snowplow’s product. Set up an enablement programme covering Commercial, Technical and Day-to-Day subjects which led to an improvement in workplace productivity and customer experience.• Produced reusable content that now forms part of the onboarding for new hires.• Aided the renewal process by identifying expansion opportunities and their associated characteristics so that they could be systematised and automated, and then utilised by the CS Team.• Produced content to aid expansion, upsell, and to help customers to accelerate their business objectives.• Built strong internal partnerships with Professional Services, Marketing, Engineering, Sales, and Product, to develop client-facing content that delivers impact at scale, and aids time to value for our customers.• Wrote content and delivered multiple customer marketing campaigns in Pardot encouraging upsell and growth, presenting new product features. Emailed over 2500 contacts, providing follow-up analysis.• Reduced manual interactions by setting up the following use cases in Gainsight – Customer HealthScoring, Post implementation survey, Stakeholder mapping and Stakeholder monitoring. Monitor andanalyse the data to ensure customers are utilising the product, with clear mitigation steps if they aren’t.• Created a churn prevention template, providing a simple ‘how to’ and steps to mitigate churn.

  • Customer Delivery Lead

    • Jun 2021 - Feb 2022

    • Leading the delivery of new Snowplow implementations across a team of skilled Solutions Architects.• Coaching the team on approaches for delivery that put customer needs at the centre of the process• Owning and documenting the onboarding process, spotting gaps in collateral, documentation and workshops and liaising with the Customer Operations & Enablement function to define creation of supporting processes & materials• Track and report delivery commitments and progress against implementation objectives, sharing reporting and visibility of state with the wider Customer Office and beyond• Put in place a framework to measure and ensure consistent quality of implementations as we scale the function• Proactively identify and communicate implementation risks and time to value risks as they arise• Scoping and putting into place a curriculum for onboarding new team members• Putting in place a professional development framework to support the path to Senior Solutions Architect and beyond• Liaising with the Customer Success Managers to schedule workshops and technical interventions on customers at critical points in the renewal cycle

• 

  Renaissance Sri Lanka

  • Volunteer Kumbuk Project Manager

    • May 2021 - Oct 2021

    6 month volunteer project manager position at an NGO building thriving sustainable Social, Economical and Environmental Ecosystems in Sri Lanka, with the UN's sustainability goals at the heart of their activities. Managed a team of 6 international volunteers in the UK, France, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Co-ordinated multiple projects, and worked on their innovative platform, Kumbuk, which links donors to online events they are interested in attending. Helped deliver a variety of events spanning business, culture and sustainability topics. Set up Trello, Slack and Linktree for the non-profit.

• 

  MSX International

  • Europe

  • Senior Project Manager

    • Apr 2017 - Aug 2019
    • Europe

    • Agency role for Jaguar Land Rover Europe. Project management, leadership and customer experience improvement.• Designed & launched a cross-country, multi-functional programme plan, documenting the scope, schedule, resource requirements, budgets, risk, issues, & quality.• Successfully delivered organisational change strategy including strategy, systems, & policies, defining key performance indices & SLAs.• Led a successful, inclusive and transformational change programme in a major and diverse organisation. Focused on behaviour change to cultivate a culture of openness & co-operation.• Recruited, trained, mentored, & led a team of 5. Ability to recognise the strengths of individuals, & delegate tasks. • Held employee engagement workshops & events, to drive performance, promote inclusion & increase wellbeing for a department of 60 people from 18 different countries. • Identified & monitored risks, ensuring planned responses. • Produced presentations, reports, & statistics highlighting key user stories & impact trends C-Suite executives throughout the project lifecycle.• Held workshops with external stakeholders to gather information on key customer impact trends.• Improved internal communication, oversaw key milestones, & strengthened innovative customer processes, reducing escalated customer cases by 50% (aim was 30%), saving over €15M.• Co-ordinated decision making led to greater transparency, an improvement of problematic issues & increased customer satisfaction using Lean & Agile methodologies.• Helped launch a new system to reduce technical issues, increase efficiency, & improve the customer experience. Defined bespoke market requirements & project managed the creation of custom features. Trained cross-functional teams on the new platform to ensure programme goals were achieved.• Single point of contact on cross-functional, cross-country projects. Followed up & tracked progress of multiple projects. Chaired internal workshops providing support.

• 

  BlackRock

  • Drapers Gardens, London

  • Customer Project Manager (Associate)

    • Sep 2013 - Sep 2016
    • Drapers Gardens, London

    • Project Management role (DB & DC pensions) and client relationship role for the onboarding of new client’s investment mandates using Agile methodologies.• Co-ordination of up to 150 complex, cross-country, multi-stakeholder projects that ran concurrently. The largest project saw the successful completion of a $1Billion Client Investment Mandate that involved coordinating cross-continent teams in the USA, Europe, and Asia to simultaneously launch the projects to invest the client’s money on the same day across 15 portfolios.• Implementation of complex investment mandates in volatile markets using Agile methodologies. • Defined client requirements to create bespoke solutions and guided clients through the set-up process.• Experience of drafting and reviewing bespoke project proposals with Contracting and Onboarding.• Developed relationship networks with clients and consultants, through meetings and daily telephone contact. • Actively identified opportunities for organic growth and new business and passed on sales opportunities to the Sales teams. • Helped define client requirements. Managed the creation of custom features to tight deadlines.• Created and implemented policy documents, after ‘lessons learnt’ exercises conducted at the completion of each project to create efficiencies for following projects.• First point of contact for investment strategy and queries. Required great communication skills and the ability to clearly articulate difficult investment concepts, written and verbally. Produced well structured and clear written content in line with a strict regulatory environment.• Accurate, detail-oriented work. Work well with ambiguity, being able to prioritise workload was imperative in such a high-pressure, fast-paced environment.• Worked with developers on creating developing and testing a new dealing system for customers. Ensured after implementation that the team was trained on the new technology to ensure that all risks were mitigated.

• 

  Octopus

  • Old Bailey, London

  • Customer Success (Associate)

    • Jul 2012 - Aug 2013
    • Old Bailey, London

    • HNW client relationship management and project role in an entrepreneurial company with a focus on sustainable energy and green technology. Octopus Investments sells tax efficient investments to retail clients and provides investment and guidance to start-ups.• Fed back to the investment team on product development ideas. Worked with Marketing on producing support materials and communications, including start-up company impact stories for retail clients.• Co-created scalable customer-focused processes for a rapidly expanding business.• Involved in a new SaaS product launch, creating an online client investment portal. Deciphered stock information after numerous share consolidations and rights issue. Ensured the language was clear for retail clients. Involved in the testing and implementation of the new technology.• At the forefront of an innovative scheme offered on a range of the VCT ranges to raise additional funding for small businesses. Team representative at weekly VCT internal meetings with Marketing, Sales, Operations, and Investment Teams.• Resolved inbound enquiries, providing information on the tax benefits of the range of Octopus products and information about the start-up companies given financing through these vehicles e.g. Secret Escapes, Graze, Faction Skis • Empathetic and friendly, and able to anticipate customer needs according to the issue. Ability to multi-task and prioritise tasks for independent work or when collaborating on multi-stakeholder projects.• Involved in projects with senior stakeholders, organising visits to potential investment sights for solar energy farms. • Helped chose the new nominee company for Octopus stock, meeting the leadership teams, and making the final choice.• Part of a cross-functional team that planned meetings, workshops, and events to improve employee engagement and wellbeing. Helped organise quarterly team events and provided input for the Summer and Christmas work parties.

• 

  BPP Business School

  • London, United Kingdom

  • MBA student

    • Jan 2011 - Jan 2012
    • London, United Kingdom

    The MBA covered courses in strategy, accounting, finance, marketing, human and organisational behaviour, economics, management, operations, business ethics, and entrepreneurship. The curriculum developed our analytical skills, strategic and critical thinking, networking, leadership, and project management skills working with a diverse cohort.We had an opportunity to project manage multi-stakeholder projects and put the key activities, principles, and concepts of project management into practice, including scope, forecasting, budgeting, risk mitigation, resource, and time management. We completed assignments and presentations individually and collaborated as a team.The course helped me develop my communication skills, people skills and strategic thinking. We hosted workshops with a diverse set of stakeholders and debated different theories using real business examples. We produced challenging work in a variety of formats, including presentations, reports, case studies and statistics and to tight deadlines.The MBA reinforced behaviours taught on my undergraduate degree, to work independently, be self-driven and manage multiple projects to tight deadlines.The course taught us how to think entrepreneurially and cultivated a culture of innovation. The leadership theories were particularly interesting, especially the purpose and culture-led change management, sustainable business practices, behaviour change and employee engagement.The MBA comprised of four core modules and four elective modules.Core modules: • Markets & Marketing, • Managerial Decision Making, • Strategy, Systems & Operations, and • Organisations & LeadershipElective modules: • Frameworks for Business Improvement, • Innovation Management, • Strategic Analysis & Implementation, and • Private Equity & Venture CapitalBusiness Intelligence project: Should the UK follow Norway’s example and introduce quotas to increase the number of women in the board room?

• 

  JM Finn

  • London, England, United Kingdom

  • Investment Advisor (Graduate Programme)

    • Sep 2007 - Jan 2011
    • London, England, United Kingdom

    • Learnt the principles of Wealth Management working with a Senior stockbroker in the Front Office. • Taught how to buy and sell stock, research, and analyse sectors, decipher financial data, financial modelling, analyse portfolio performance, and question C-Suite executives about company financials. • Managed and nurtured High Net Worth client relationships with over 200 key account holders during the volatile 2008 financial crisis. Maintained a significant knowledge of individual portfolios, financial positions, and relevant life changes.• Managed the full lifecycle of the customer journey. Defined client requirements to create bespoke solutions and guided clients through the client account set-up process.• Involved in a business development project. Outlined strategy and produced a targeted marketing plan.• Compiled high quality research and analysis company case studies. Produced reports on domestic and international stocks across all business sectors for the company’s knowledge management system. • Participation in client facing meetings and involvement in company meetings with FTSE 100 companies chaired by CEOs and CFOs.• Ad hoc requests to provide clients with information relating to market indices, share prices and company research.• Bespoke individual analysis of client portfolio performance. • In depth knowledge of all administrative procedures, dealing records, portfolio analyses and regulatory rules.• Completed the CISI certificates in Regulation, Securities, and Investment & Risk and the first module of the Masters in Wealth Management.

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  Aon

  • London, England, United Kingdom

  • Team Secretary

    • Aug 2006 - Apr 2007
    • London, England, United Kingdom

    • Managed my time to serve senior staff and partners in the D&O when working across multiple projects.• Managed team member’s expense reimbursements using Sage, ensuring that receipts are uploaded in time for month-end payment.• Worked on various blue-chip client projects, including a research report on the number of Chinese companies listing on AIM.• Helped set up, greet, and onboard new team members.• Book meetings and helped organise lunch time development workshops.• Organised international travel arrangements, including flights and accommodation.• Arranged events, ranging from small internal workshops to large corporate events.• Provided support to other team members covering absences to work on other ad-hoc tasks.• Undertook a 6-week work experience placement which gave an overview of the Insurance Industry and the roles of various members within the D&O team.