Director of Commercialisation

Director of Commercialisation | Kohtari Salary: £90,000 per annum + EQUITY   Executive Leadership Team | Reporting to the CEO Build a business at the forefront of water intelligence. Kohtari develops AI-native water intelligence. Our Kingfisher service brings together remotely collected Drone/UAV's water-quality observations, robotics and sensing into our WaterIQ platform, helping customers understand and manage their water environments. With active Kingfisher projects in the UK and the US, we're rapidly advancing this capability beyond TRL6. We're looking for a can do, outcome driven Director of Commercialisation to turn this world first capability into a commercially sustainable, growing business. You'll own Kingfisher's commercial performance, delivery and growth, taking it from demonstration through paid pilots to recurring customer contracts. This is an opportunity to shape what customers buy, establish the economics that make it work and build the relationships that turn early adoption into lasting revenue. As a member of Kohtari's Executive Leadership Team, you'll also help shape and deliver the wider company strategy. What you'll do

• Own the Kingfisher business. Lead the business plan and profit and loss, with responsibility for revenue, pricing, delivery costs, margins, forecasts and resource requirements. Establish a credible path to profitability.
• Build the proposition and route to market. Define how Kingfisher is packaged, priced and delivered beyond grant funding. Work with the sales team to identify the next ten target customers and the evidence, partners and procurement routes needed to win them.
• Turn demonstrations into contracts. Deliver the commercial pathway from the 2027 demonstrations to funded, year-long pilots targeted for 2028, then recurring service contracts. Secure customer sponsors, agree success criteria and establish clear purchasing decisions at each stage.
• Lead senior customer relationships. Engage operational leaders, innovation teams, procurement and executives. Turn early adopters into reference customers and position Kingfisher for AMP9 investment and procurement opportunities.
• Deliver programme and partner outcomes. Own Kohtari's Kingfisher outcomes within the SSHW programme, working closely with the Programme Director and project team. Lead commercial relationships with utilities, drone operators, sensor providers, universities and other delivery partners.
• Get deals and deployments over the line. Lead proposals, negotiations, procurement and partner agreements. Resolve commercial and operational barriers, drawing on specialist support where needed and protecting Kohtari's customer relationships, data and intellectual property.
• Strengthen commercial discipline. Establish practical approaches to pricing, bids, contracts, pipeline management and forecasting, extending effective practices across Kohtari with the CEO and commercial team. What you'll bring You'll be a commercially focused leader who can turn complex technology or services into something customers understand, value and buy. You'll combine strategic judgement with the willingness to work through the detail of a proposal, negotiation or deployment. We're looking for evidence of
• Building and growing a business, service or product line, with accountability for commercial performance
• Unlocking new budgets
• Converting demonstrations, trials or early customer engagements into paid contracts and repeatable revenue
• Navigating complex customer organisations and procurement processes
• Negotiating agreements and managing partnerships with sound financial and commercial judgement
• Leading collaboratively across commercial, technology, product and delivery teams Experience in water, utilities, environmental technology or similarly complex markets would be valuable. Integrity, initiative and the ability to earn trust across a growing business are essential. The opportunity to grow Success means closing out the SSHW project successfully, establishing a funded and commercially viable Kingfisher business beyond the grant, and creating a clear pathway to material, recurring revenues. Alongside a proposed starting salary of £90,000 per annum, this role offers the opportunity to build a significant business line and grow your leadership responsibilities with Kohtari. Progression to a Board Director position, with associated equity and potential board bonuses, may be available subject to demonstrated capability, agreed terms and the relevant company approvals.