Head of Commercial Marketing

Who is the company?

Knight Dragon is a team of experienced and creative developers, marketers, planners, and financiers, creating new places and setting new standards for urban living. Regeneration is about more than bricks and mortar. They harness the power of culture, art and design to build socially and economically sustainable communities. They’re investing £8.4 billion into Greenwich Peninsula, a blank canvas twice the size of Soho.

Emerging as the capital’s most boldly modern landscape, the Peninsula will have 15,000 new homes, 13,000 new jobs and 7 diverse new neighbourhoods. With a leading-edge digital media University Ravensbourne, a new Design District which opened in 2021, and an elevated garden walkway, this is a celebration of new creative energy and ideas, all enveloped by the iconic Thames.

What was the situation?

After starting the search internally, the team at Knight Dragon chose to retain deverellsmith to carry out the project. Anna McGeorge, Account Manager for Marketing at deverellsmith, lead the search to find Knight Dragon’s Head of Commercial Marketing.

It was a newly created role and a significant opportunity for any marketeer to take ownership of shaping the biggest regen scheme in Europe. Being the right cultural fit was of high priority for Knight Dragon, so personality and attributes was just as important as experience and knowledge.

Were there any challenges?

The search was conducted during the pandemic which added another layer of complexity to the search, as it was an unstable market and the pool of talent which was willing to move was much smaller.

An initial offer was made but due to changes in the candidate’s situation, Anna had to quickly source an alternative candidate. Going back into the market head on Anna secured a candidate for Knight Dragon who had all the right attributes to fit right into the company culture.

What was the process?

Following the initial search conducted by Anna, a shortlist of 6 was presented to Knight Dragon, however, there was a stand-out candidate which the client immediately connected with. The candidate had a wealth of experience in the real estate space. After only joining their previous company 6 months prior, they were seeking more progression and their attitude aligned with Knight Dragon’s ambition.

Anna utilised Linkedin Recruiter, job boards, hers and deverellsmith’s extensive network as well asking contacts for referrals and recommendations.

What was the outcome?

The successful candidate started with Knight Dragon in January 2021 and settled into the role quickly and efficiently. Early on, the candidate demonstrated the value of their experience and deverellsmith received extremely good feedback from the hiring manager. Taking on a Head of position with a commercial focus is always a challenge, but the candidate rose to the occasion and achieved successful results almost immediately after joining Knight Dragon.