Derek Mathieson-Davies
Dunfermline,Fife
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
Summary
Enthusiastic Project Manager offering 9-year background overseeing complex strategic changes in telecommunications and contact centres. Polished in chalking out launch approaches for products, whilst working within regulatory guidelines and minimising impacts to people and customers. A likeable, communicative and forward-thinking professional familiar with all aspects of a project lifecycle from business casing to implementation.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Senior Propositions Manager (Go to Market)
Sky TV
London
05.2023 - Current
- Head hunted to roll out Sky's flagship Sky Glass, Sky Stream and Sky Live propositions to a new retailer, with responsibility for the Go to Market element of delivery
- Set up a Go to Market framework from scratch, initiating meeting cadence and risk management / governance approaches that allowed work to commence at pace, whilst safeguarding the flow of information in line with competition law guidelines and regulatory obligations
- Delivered through others to align our respective brand narratives, shaping our Digital and Retail approaches, protecting the customer experience whilst maximising sales opportunities
- Amalgamated our complex training materials and systems to ensure a coherent learning experience for advisors in both companies
- Planned and delivered stakeholder engagement activities to develop effective working relationships and ensure that stakeholder needs and concerns are identified and met
Senior Commercial Manager
Sky Mobile
London
03.2020 - 05.2023
- Expedited 12-month lead times, without capital expenditure, to launch a new product category in just three months
- Led, amongst others, the agent training, device testing, product build and marketing strategy elements of delivery, with the project on track to deliver incremental revenue of >£10m
- Innovated Sky's outbound telemarketing strategy, diving deep into data sets and customer cohorts to produce a quarterly plan that exploited the base to its full potential, increasing Sales, revenue and margin
- Built relationships with stakeholders at all levels of seniority, remote and in person, to remove barriers to success, anticipating or responding quickly to market trends and real time performance impacts
- Showed leadership and charisma to cut through the noise in callcentres not focussed on my product, delivering 52k incremental sales to plan generating >£900k revenue
- Improved the wellbeing of others in my wider team supporting Directorate-wide Wellbeing events and completing training as a Mental Health First Aider
- Inspired, motivated and line managed 5 consecutive new start Graduates, delivering commercial ambitions through them, ensuring they are properly coached and performance managed through regular cadence of mentoring, PDPs and training
- Developed mutually beneficial relationships with handset manufacturers, identifying trends, summarising findings and giving feedback on contract performance which was used as input to new contract processes and renegotiations
- Secured additional budget to build advocacy in contact centres and retail, extending manufacturer funded onsite support and improving knowledge through websites, tools, roadshows and incentives.
- Led the team responsible for improving mobile handset upgrades to our existing base, producing plans to underpin delivery and a 37% YoY increase in sales
- Curated a deep understanding of customer upgrade behaviours, drivers and experience using qualitative, quantitative, competitor and behavioural data. Utilised this insight to define the strategy, formulating an ambitious upgrade plan and marketing campaigns to drive proactive and reactive upgrades, whilst defining and optimising the upgrade offer toolkit and decisioning rules to balance effectiveness versus cost
- I was highly regarded for my ability to influence stakeholders, identify opportunities to improve upgrade activity and built compelling business cases for change: persuading other teams, up to Managing Director level
Commercial Manager
Sky Mobile
London
03.2019 - 02.2020
- Successful Commercial and Go to Market Manager for the UK's fastest growing virtual mobile network operator, delivering expert execution of strategic initiatives, including end to end planning launch of devices crucial to ambitious growth plans
- Led Sky's action plan for our most successful Apple launch to date
- Sales up more than 57% YoY, condensing a 12wk program of work into just three days
- Increased monthly sales on accessories from c.800 units to 4,000 units per month, implementing ranging principles, working with external and internal stakeholders to ensure all interactions offer the right range of options to enhance sales and maximise customer experience
- Ensured all stakeholders from Analyst to Director across the full business were informed of progress of multiple initiatives, and were completing actions on time to ensure tight timescales were adhered to
Operational Change Manager
Sky UK
Livingston, West Lothian
02.2016 - 03.2019
- Expert in change management, business analysis, process improvement, implementation and project management, delivering change to 15 contact centres (national and international), retail and home service, encompassing over 15k staff; providing insight, driving revenue and improving operational efficiency, business metrics and customer experience
- Self-starting, independent worker, championing positive use of project methodology to assess and mitigate risk, monitoring and communicating progress to all stakeholders
- Project managed the upskilling of existing Sales heads to Retention (Mobile), seeking expert insight to deliver an action plan that changed mind-set through training, incentives, and a new operating model
- Increased sales performance by 20ppts over 3months, laying foundations that have led to market-leading churn of c.8%
- Utilising extensive network of contacts across Sky to deliver several other strategic initiatives, including cross functional and regulatory projects
Education
Mental Health First Aider -
03.2019 -
MA (Hons) - English Literature and Theatre Studies
09.2007 - 06.2011
GPA: 2:1
Skills
- Regulatory risk
- High-value project management
- Corporate governance
- Risk prevention programmes
- Data analysis
- Process improvement
- Project Management
- Presentation ability
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
- Time management
- Team building
- Customer-focused
Interests
Other Career Roles / Volunteering Experience
Secretary Local Community Council 2022 - Present
Trading Manager Sky UK 2013 - 2016
Project Assistant Sky UK 2012 - 2013
Retention Sales Advisor Sky UK 2012
Volunteer Listener University of Glasgow Nightline, later Samaritans 2008 - 2015
Shift Supervisor Ladbrokes Coral Group plc 2008 - 2009
Welfare Officer Glasgow University Students' Representative Council 2008 - 2009
President Glasgow University Diverse Students' Association 2008 - 2009, Other Mental Health First Aider MHFA England, 2019
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Sky UK, 2019
Languages
English
Native
Work availability
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Timeline
Senior Propositions Manager (Go to Market) - Sky TV
05.2023 - Current
Senior Commercial Manager - Sky Mobile
03.2020 - 05.2023
Mental Health England - Mental Health First Aider,
03.2019 -
Commercial Manager - Sky Mobile
03.2019 - 02.2020
Operational Change Manager - Sky UK
02.2016 - 03.2019
University of Glasgow - MA (Hons), English Literature and Theatre Studies
09.2007 - 06.2011