Building a senior commercial leadership to accelerate growth at S-TEC Group

3Search Executive’s Bradley Winstanley was introduced to S-TEC Group, one of the UK’s leading smart solar and clean energy solutions providers, through the company’s main investor. At this point, the business was entering into a critical period of scale, as the Founder considered its long-term growth and exit plans. 

Bradley worked closely with the founder, leadership team, and investor group in an advisory capacity. Ultimately, their partnership resulted in two senior level appointments, a Chief Commercial Officer and a Sales Director, to reach their next stage of growth. 

Building a senior commercial leadership to accelerate growth at S-TEC Group

The story of S-TEC Group

Founded in 2008, S-TEC Group delivers renewable energy solutions across the UK and Europe that are simple, practical and deliver results. As the business matured, the founder and investors recognised the need to evolve the leadership structure to support the next phase of growth.

Challenge: Preparing the business for scale and exit

With a 3–5 year exit horizon in mind, S-TEC Group was focused on strengthening commercial leadership, improving revenue performance, and building a structure that would stand up to external scrutiny.  

When Bradley was first engaged by the business, there was no predefined brief at the outset. Rather, he partnered with the founding team and investor group to assess the business at a strategic level. Through this process, it became clear that the business lacked the experienced senior commercial leadership required to achieve their plans. 

To unlock the next phase of growth - and to allow the founder to step back and begin engaging the market - S-TEC Group needed to appoint a Chief Commercial Officer and a Sales Director who could professionalise the commercial function and drive performance. 

Solution: A true advisory partnership

The business required more than a transactional search partner. They needed a trusted advisor who could take ownership of the search strategy and align leadership decisions with growth, revenue, and exit objectives. 

Bradley took full responsibility of the search, including: 

  • Building role specifications and competency frameworks 
  • Benchmarking salary, compensation, and equity packages 
  • Advising the board and founder on market expectations 
  • Leading the end-to-end executive search process for the Sales Director and CCO roles

Outcome: Transformational commercial appointments

The impact of the appointments was transformational. 

The Chief Commercial Officer reviewed the business in detail, resulting in a restructuring of the commercial model. They also worked closely with the Sales Director to create and implement a more scalable and profitable growth strategy.

As a direct result of improved performance and renewed revenue momentum, the business has since paused its planned exit, choosing instead to continue scaling with the strengthened leadership team in place. 

Conrad Stevenson, Managing Director & Founder
Bradley was introduced to me through our main investor during our second funding round. In an advisory capacity, he worked closely with our senior leadership team and investor board, providing clear guidance on our C-level hiring plan as we prepared for the next stage of growth. His insight brought a new level of vision, aligning our leadership strategy directly with both operational and revenue objectives. As a result, Bradley has since become a trusted board advisor and a key strategic partner to our business. The impact of building out our Commercial Senior Leadership Team has been transformational. Bradley’s input, market knowledge, and advice around hiring strategy, compensation, and equity planning have fundamentally influenced the trajectory of S-TEC Group’s growth.

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