Pre-Sales / Solution Consultant - Supply Chain Planning

About Bedford

At Bedford, you’ll become part of one of Anaplan’s largest and longest-running Gold partners, recognised year after year for excellence and innovation. We are a team committed to going Beyond the Expected for one another, our customers and our partners.

As we continue to grow across EMEA, we look for people who are curious, think ahead, communicate clearly, take ownership and consistently deliver high-quality work with excellent outcomes.

Beyond the Expected means asking thoughtful questions, anticipating needs, bringing clarity to complexity and solving problems proactively. Our culture is built on partnership, innovation, customer focus, humility and teamwork. If that sounds like you, Bedford will feel like home.

Role Opportunity

To proactively create, shape and win opportunities for Bedford by combining deep Anaplan expertise with commercial curiosity, market engagement and world-class solution storytelling. The role is accountable for identifying where Anaplan can create value, building demand across Bedford’s customer base and target market, and converting that demand into high-quality sales opportunities.

This is not a reactive pre-sales role that waits for an opportunity to be handed over. The Solution Consultant is expected to actively find work: engaging Bedford customers, prospects and Anaplan Account Executives before an opportunity is fully formed; uncovering business challenges; creating compelling points of view and use cases; and demonstrating why Bedford gives Anaplan and the customer the strongest chance of a successful outcome. Once opportunities are created or qualified, the role leads discovery, solution design, demonstrations and Proof of Concept activity to materially improve win rates and ensure a seamless transition into delivery.

Reports to: Chief Revenue Officer

Location: UK based / Remote – with travel required as needed for client-site engagements, meetings and industry events.

Direct Reports: n/a

Job Description and Accountabilities

• Proactively identify and create new opportunities across Bedford’s existing customer base, target accounts and the wider Anaplan ecosystem, using customer insight, use-case knowledge and market signals to uncover where Bedford can add value
• Build strong, proactive relationships with Anaplan Account Executives and sales leaders so Bedford is front of mind as the partner most likely to help shape, progress and win opportunities
• Engage directly with customers and prospects before a formal opportunity exists, using consultative discovery to identify business challenges, latent demand and high-value planning use cases
• Develop domain-specific propositions, solution stories, demonstrations and messaging that create interest in the market and give Bedford a differentiated point of view
• Design and deliver world-class face-to-face and remote demonstrations of the Anaplan platform that are tailored to the audience, tell a compelling business story and clearly demonstrate measurable value
• Build high-quality Proof of Concept and demonstration models where they will materially advance an opportunity, validate the proposed solution or differentiate Bedford from competitors
• Actively contribute to Bedford campaigns, events, webinars, account-based marketing and thought leadership, helping generate awareness, engagement and qualified pipeline rather than participating only once demand already exists
• Work with Bedford Account Executives, Commercial Directors and practice leaders to target the installed base systematically, identify whitespace and create expansion opportunities across new use cases, departments and geographies
• Shape opportunities from first conversation through solution definition, ensuring the customer problem, business value, decision criteria and compelling solution story are clear before formal sales stages progress
• Navigate sophisticated customer and prospect environments to build consensus, create confidence in the Anaplan solution and increase the likelihood of Bedford being selected to deliver it
• Cross-train teammates on solution expertise, repeatable demonstrations, industry use cases and successful sales plays, and ensure a smooth handoff of won opportunities to Professional Services teams
• Maintain strong internal discipline by completing pre-sales deliverables, opportunity inputs, project activity and Bedford governance processes accurately and on time

Create and Drive Revenue Growth

• Own a proactive role in pipeline creation as well as opportunity conversion. Generate and shape opportunities within Bedford’s customer base and target market, support new-logo pursuits, identify expansion potential, and use solution expertise to materially improve conversion and win rates

Create Market Demand & Awareness

• Develop and activate compelling use-case propositions, demonstrations, webinars, customer conversations and campaign content that create awareness of what is possible with Anaplan and generate new conversations for Bedford

Deliver World-Class Solution Experiences

• Lead discovery, solution storytelling, tailored demonstrations and Proof of Concept activity that makes complex customer problems easy to understand, differentiates Bedford and Anaplan, and creates confidence in the proposed outcome

Win with Anaplan

• Build trusted, high-frequency relationships with Anaplan Account Executives and sales leaders. Proactively bring ideas, customer insight and use cases to them, and establish Bedford as the partner they want involved when winning matters

Target and Grow the Customer Base

• Work systematically across Bedford’s installed customer base to identify whitespace, new use cases and expansion potential. Engage customers before opportunities are formally raised and turn insight into qualified work

Maintain Technical & Commercial Excellence

• Maintain expert knowledge of Anaplan functionality, product developments, relevant industry trends and implementation best practice, while continuously improving commercial discovery, storytelling and demonstration capability. Share repeatable assets, learnings and successful plays across the organisation

Collaborate and Execute with Quality

• Work closely with Bedford sales, marketing, practice and Professional Services teams from opportunity creation through to implementation handoff, ensuring activity is coordinated, customer-centric and completed to a consistently high standard

A bit about you

You are someone who naturally operates Beyond the Expected. You bring:

Key pre-requisites

• Proven experience working with Anaplan, including building models, demonstrations or Proof of Concept solutions.
• Anaplan Professional Model Builder certification, or an equivalent level of demonstrable Anaplan model-building expertise.
• Experience gathering and interpreting business requirements and translating them into clear, practical solution designs.
• Exceptional customer-facing communication, presentation and demonstration skills, with evidence of creating compelling, outcome-led demonstrations that influence senior stakeholders and advance buying decisions.
• A proactive consultative selling approach, with the confidence to initiate customer conversations, uncover unrecognised needs, challenge thinking and convert business problems into compelling Anaplan use cases.
• Strong commercial awareness and a clear understanding that Solution Consulting is accountable for helping create pipeline as well as converting opportunities once they exist.
• Experience managing multiple priorities and producing high-quality work within sales-led timescales.
• Strong stakeholder-management and relationship-building skills, with the credibility to build proactive relationships with customers, Account Executives, Anaplan representatives and Professional Services teams and to influence activity before a formal opportunity is created.
• A self-starting, opportunity-seeking mindset, with the ability to work independently, create momentum and take ownership rather than waiting for work to be allocated.
• A commitment to maintaining current knowledge of Anaplan functionality, product developments and implementation best practices.
• Excellent written and verbal English
• Willingness and ability to travel to customer meetings, company events and trade shows where required

Desirable Skills

• Experience working across multiple countries and multicultural environments
• Additional language skills would be advantageous
• A master’s degree or other relevant postgraduate qualification would be desirable

Our benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus 8 UK bank holidays
• Pension scheme: 5% employee and 3% employer contribution based on qualifying earnings
• Private medical insurance through Bupa
• Medicash health cash plan, helping towards everyday healthcare costs such as dental, optical and physiotherapy expenses
• YuLife wellbeing platform, offering health, wellbeing and lifestyle support
• Monthly mobile phone allowance of £100
• Employee Assistance Programme: Confidential, independent support for employees and their families, including guidance on personal, emotional, financial, legal and work-related matters
• Access to learning and development tools
• Bonusly recognition rewards and vouchers
• Death in Service cover of four times your annual salary

Salary Range

Competitive base salary and bonus package will be offered, reflecting the successful candidate’s experience, skills and technical expertise.

Company policy statement

Please note the company’s preferred selection method is to use a combination of interviews and by inviting potential candidates to one of our assessment centres. Please further note that to protect the company’s legitimate business interests, and the interests and wellbeing of current staff, the company reserves the right to lawfully undertake proportionate pre-employment checks and ongoing diligence both before the commencement of your employment and periodically during your employment.