Reporting to: Group CEO, Teqnion West
Location: Hybrid / Birmingham
Scope: 8–10 subsidiary businesses within the Teqnion West portfolio
Do you want to drive growth and commercial performance across a portfolio of British industrial SMEs – inside a listed serial acquirer built on permanent ownership and long-term thinking?
Teqnion is looking for a Business Unit Lead for Teqnion West, with responsibility for 8–10 subsidiaries in our UK portfolio. In this role, you sit alongside the companies’ Managing Directors and help them run better businesses – working through the real problems with them, offering practical options drawn from having done the job yourself, and giving Group clear visibility into portfolio performance.
This is a role for someone who leads through trust rather than formal authority, and whose instinct when an MD has a problem is to help solve it – not to ask for more analysis and answers, this role plays a part in the solution.
About Teqnion
Teqnion is a listed serial acquirer founded in 2006, today made up of 40+ subsidiaries across Sweden and the UK. Teqnion West is the group’s UK platform and currently holds 17 acquired SME businesses. Each company keeps its own identity, its own Managing Director and full operational autonomy – Teqnion adds patient capital, a long-term home, and senior commercial support rather than central control.
The group’s companies operate in narrow technology niches across a broad spectrum of industries. Teqnion’s strategy is built on active ownership, steady operational improvement of each subsidiary, and growth through acquisition.
About the Role
As Business Unit Lead, you work with a portfolio of 8–10 acquired SME businesses within Teqnion West. Each subsidiary has its own Managing Director with full operational autonomy. This role exists to make those MDs better at running their businesses – to be the person they call when something is going wrong, who has been there themselves and can help them work it out with a minimum of 5 years at MD/GM level. Alongside that, you keep Group clear-sighted on how each business is performing, and spot problems early.
You report to the Group CEO, Teqnion West, based in Birmingham. MDs retain full authority over their businesses – you have no formal control, and you don’t take the wheel. Your value is measured by whether the MDs are better off for having you there. Analysis and challenge with no practical answer attached is not what this role is for.
Key Responsibilities
- Sit alongside MDs as they work through the real problems of running a small business – pricing, people, cash, customers, capacity – bringing options and ideas, not just questions.
- Bring a working toolkit from your own experience of running a business, and the judgement to know when to reach for it and when to leave it alone.
- Challenge and support MDs on strategy, pricing, hiring decisions, and growth plans.
- Monitor financial and operational performance across the portfolio – own the narrative to the Group CEO on each business.
- Identify early warning signs of underperformance and help the MD deal with it before it escalates.
- Support M&A integration for newly acquired businesses entering the portfolio
- Spot cross-portfolio opportunities (referrals, shared suppliers, talent moves) without forcing them
- Represent portfolio interests in Group-level planning and resource allocation discussions
What We Believe You Bring – and Who You Are
- Has personally run a business, not run a part of large corporate one – as an MD/GM you carried the number, owned the team, and were accountable for the outcome, in a company small enough that you did it without a corporate support structure behind you. Advisory, private equity or non-executive experience, however senior, is not a substitute – credible to the people you’re working alongside.
- Comfortable being influential without being directive – leads through trust and credibility, not formal authority.
- Strong commercial and financial acumen – reads a P&L, asks the right questions without being prompted, and knows what to do about the answers.
Personal attributes
- Puts substance over status – measures success by how much better the MDs perform, gives credit generously and absorbs blame rather than seeking visibility.
- Builds trust fast and is comfortable operating without formal control – earns a seat at the table through credibility rather than demanding one.
- Listens before speaking and reads people and situations well – asks sharp questions, genuinely hears the answers, and knows when to push and when to back off.
- Direct but respectful – gives honest, unvarnished feedback without belittling people. Secure enough to be wrong, say so, and move on without it becoming a status issue.
- Self-starting and low-maintenance – needs little oversight and creates no drama or politics.
What We Offer
This is a role with a real mandate and direct influence on how Teqnion West develops. You will work closely with subsidiary MDs, Group leadership and owners in a business with short decision paths, and a strong acquisition-driven growth culture. It is an environment where commercial sharpness and operational judgement are valued equally — and where your ability to move between strategy and the day-to-day reality of running a business makes a tangible difference.
Compensation & Benefits
We offer a competitive package reflecting the scope and seniority of this role. Base salary is £80,000–£100,000, depending on background, complemented by a performance-related annual bonus, a car allowance, and an employer pension contribution.
Practical Information
- Location: Birmingham (minimum 3 days per week in B’ham office)
- Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis but our response might be delayed due to summer holidays (thanks for your understanding)
- A background check is carried out on the final candidate.
Hiring manager
Meet the hiring manager David.