Head Of Emerging Markets

About The Role

You will be a senior leader within CDP accountable for identifying, shaping, and driving commercial success in high-potential emerging markets. Using your strategic insight, and cross-functional influence, you will define and execute market-entry and market-growth strategies aligned to CDP’s long-term strategy. It’s also a ‘hands on’ role where you will be actively engaged in the sales journey including lead generation and nurture.

As a leader, you will collaborate across sectors, service offers, and business development teams to build and convert a pipeline of new opportunities, establishing CDP’s presence, credibility, and commercial traction in markets poised for growth.

This is a highly commercial role requiring a balance of strategic foresight, opportunity creation, and operational rigour. You will champion emerging markets across CDP and act as a senior representative externally — building partnerships, identifying anchor clients, and securing meaningful new business.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

Market Strategy & Growth

• Define and execute CDP’s strategy for emerging markets, aligned with corporate strategy and long-term growth priorities.
• Maintain up-to-date market intelligence to identify high-potential regions, sub-sectors, and client ecosystems.
• Build commercially robust business cases for expansion or investment.
• Own emerging-market sales forecasts, budgets, and KPIs, reporting to the CISO.
  
  

Commercial Leadership

• Be accountable for profitable revenue growth across selected emerging markets.
• Develop and deliver strategic market-entry plans and longer-term commercial strategies.
• Build the pipeline through your own lead generation and nurture activities
• Manage a pipeline of new opportunities, using CRM to provide accurate forecasting and performance reporting.
• Strategically select and win new business, collaborating closely with BDLs, client managers, and Sector Leaders.
  
  

External Engagement & Partnership Development

• Represent CDP externally as a senior leader, attending and speaking at conferences, industry events, and partner forums in key territories.
• Develop relationships with potential anchor clients, funding bodies and influential stakeholders.
• Identify and establish strategic partnerships that unlock market access or accelerate capability building.
  
  

Cross-Organisational Collaboration

• Work closely with Sector Leaders to align emerging-market opportunities with sector propositions and delivery strengths.
• Collaborate with Service Offer Leaders to ensure CDP’s technical capabilities, processes, and resources align with market needs.
• Support talent development to build relevant market expertise.
  
  

Project Oversight & Delivery Insight

• Monitor the performance of projects originating from emerging-market opportunities, ensuring quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
• Provide escalation, remediation, and guidance for systematic issues arising in new-to-firm client engagements or geographically new deliveries.
  
  

Continuous Improvement & Leadership

• Identify areas for improvement in CDP’s approach to emerging markets and collaborate with business support teams to implement change.
• Promote teamwork, collaboration, and transparency within the emerging markets remit and across the business.
• Mentor and support CDP colleagues to build organisational Service offers in new markets.
  
  

About You

Experience and Education:

• Degree educated or equivalent.
• Significant experience developing strategy or commercial propositions in new markets.
• Strong relationships with senior stakeholders in relevant sectors or geographies.
• Demonstrable track record of successfully developing growth opportunities > £1M pa.
• Experience working in matrix teams within a consulting or innovation environment.
  
  

Essential

Skills and Attributes:

• Extensive experience in market development, international expansion, or commercial strategy.
• Strong track record in identifying, developing, and winning new business in complex or emerging markets.
• Excellent sales, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong analytical ability aligned with strategic narrative-building.
• Expertise in CRM tools and forecasting methodologies.
• Collaborative, adaptable, and confident in rapidly changing environments.
• Demonstrable experience leading or influencing cross-functional teams.
  
  

Desirable

• Experience working in consultancy or innovation-led organisations.
• Multilingual or multinational experience relevant to target markets.
• Established network within innovation, design, or technology ecosystems.
  
  

About Us

Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP) is an end-to-end innovation partner, propelling global brands and ambitious start-ups to success. We build breakthrough products and services – from insight to ideas, prototypes to production – bringing innovation to life. Our teams are multi-disciplinary, uniting scientific rigor, design ingenuity, and engineering excellence for consumer and healthcare clients. People-centred, deeply collaborative, and – above all – expert, we’re uniquely positioned to shape the future for consumers, patients, and industry. Even our ownership model is innovative: We’re 100% owned by our employees, ensuring an open culture and a total commitment to our projects’ success. As part of our benefits package, we offer:

• flexible working
• a discretionary bonus
• excellent learning and development opportunities
• a 12% non-contributory pension
• private healthcare
• electric vehicle lease salary sacrifice scheme
• share incentive plan
• 33 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays

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