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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Development Lead

💰 $ - $

Business DevelopmentSalesPartnershipsGo-to-Market

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Development Lead (BD Lead) is a revenue-focused strategist and operator who identifies, qualifies, and closes new market opportunities while deepening strategic partnerships and enabling scalable go-to-market execution. This role sits at the intersection of sales, partnerships, product, and marketing and is responsible for building a high-quality pipeline, negotiating commercial agreements, and coordinating internal stakeholders to deliver predictable bookings and long-term strategic value.

Key SEO/LLM keywords: Business Development Lead, BD Lead, business development, revenue growth, strategic partnerships, go-to-market, enterprise sales, pipeline management, SaaS, CRM, sales strategy.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Business Development Manager (BDM) — proven pipeline owner with enterprise deals
  • Senior Account Executive — experience selling to mid-market or enterprise customers
  • Strategic Partnerships Manager — experienced in building partner ecosystems

Advancement To:

  • Head of Business Development
  • Director of Business Development or Director of Strategic Partnerships
  • VP Sales / VP Revenue / Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Partnerships / Strategic Alliances
  • Product Growth Lead or Growth Manager
  • Customer Success Director (enterprise focus)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute a focused business development strategy and territory plan that accelerates recurring revenue growth, expands market share, and hits quarterly and annual bookings targets.
  • Own the entire sales cycle for strategic and enterprise opportunities—from lead qualification, discovery, solution design, proposal, negotiation, to contract signature—ensuring high close rates and predictable conversion metrics.
  • Build, manage, and prioritize a healthy pipeline using CRM best practices; forecast monthly/quarterly revenue and maintain >X% forecast accuracy through disciplined pipeline hygiene.
  • Identify and cultivate high-value channel and alliance partnerships (technology partners, resellers, system integrators) that drive incremental revenue and accelerate customer acquisition.
  • Lead commercial negotiations for complex deals (multi-year, multi-product, or enterprise agreements), including pricing strategy, SLA terms, statement of work, and renewal structures.
  • Design and run go-to-market (GTM) motions for new products, vertical plays, or geographic expansions in cross-functional collaboration with marketing, product, legal, and customer success.
  • Develop compelling value propositions, sales collateral, ROI/business-case analyses, and tailored proposals that align product capabilities to customer outcomes and procurement requirements.
  • Create and deliver persuasive executive-level presentations and product demos to C-suite and procurement stakeholders, articulating strategic impact, ROI, and competitive differentiation.
  • Conduct market and competitive research to identify new target segments, emerging customer needs, and product-market fit adjustments; feed insights to product and marketing teams.
  • Manage and mentor junior BD team members or cross-functional deal teams, sharing best practices in qualification, storytelling, and negotiation to scale sales effectiveness.
  • Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as lead-to-opportunity conversion, average deal size, sales cycle length, win rate, and customer lifetime value to inform strategy.
  • Collaborate with legal and finance to ensure compliant contracting, risk mitigation, and consistent commercial terms across deals while protecting company margins.
  • Lead complex RFP/RFI responses and coordinate subject matter experts to produce timely, high-quality submissions that differentiate competitively.
  • Build and maintain an executive-level network across target industries; represent the company at industry conferences, partner events, and customer forums to drive lead generation and brand recognition.
  • Drive repeatable, scalable playbooks for account-based selling and strategic outreach including cold outreach strategies, partner-led campaigns, and joint marketing activities.
  • Coordinate with customer success to design onboarding and pilot programs that reduce time-to-value and increase upsell/expansion potential post-close.
  • Identify opportunities for strategic investments, partnerships, or M&A targets and provide go/no-go analysis and initial outreach where appropriate.
  • Implement pricing and packaging experiments in partnership with product and finance to maximize deal velocity and long-term contract value.
  • Facilitate cross-functional deal reviews (legal, product, engineering, support) to eliminate blockers, align customer expectations, and ensure successful implementation.
  • Track and report business development progress to senior leadership with data-driven insights and actionable recommendations for scaling revenue operations.
  • Drive continuous improvement by iterating sales playbooks, CRM processes, win/loss analyses, and competitor intelligence to sharpen competitive positioning.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc market intelligence, exploratory data analysis, and win/loss postmortems to improve close rates and refine target segmentation.
  • Contribute to the organization’s partner strategy and roadmap by recommending new partner types, co-sell motions, and incentive structures.
  • Collaborate with marketing to design and execute demand generation programs, ABM campaigns, and joint webinars that feed inbound and outbound pipelines.
  • Ensure timely and accurate CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) data entry, opportunity tagging, and activity logging to support forecast reliability and revenue reporting.
  • Assist finance and operations in deal structuring, revenue recognition planning, and commercial documentation to ensure smooth handoffs to implementation and billing teams.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies when working with product teams on customer-driven feature requests or pilots.
  • Provide competitive briefings and product feedback to enable product management to prioritize roadmap items linked to commercial opportunities.
  • Support internal enablement by creating training materials, battlecards, and demo scripts for sales, customer success, and partner teams.
  • Coordinate logistics and content for trade shows, partner summits, and sales kickoffs to maximize pipeline acceleration and partner engagement.
  • Help scope and manage pilot or proof-of-concept engagements to validate commercial value and reduce procurement friction for new customers.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Enterprise sales and complex deal structuring experience (multi-stakeholder, multi-product deals).
  • Strong background using CRM and revenue operations tools (Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft) and maintaining pipeline hygiene.
  • Financial modeling and commercial analysis skills to build business cases, TCO/ROI models, and pricing proposals.
  • Contract negotiation and commercial terms experience, including NDAs, SOWs, MSAs, and licensing agreements.
  • Proficiency with sales enablement and presentation tools (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Loom, demo platforms).
  • Experience running partner programs, channel deals, and co-selling processes with measurable outcomes.
  • Data-driven decision making using analytics tools (Excel advanced functions, Looker, Tableau, or similar BI tools).
  • Familiarity with SaaS metrics (ARR, MRR, churn, CAC, LTV) and subscription commercial models.
  • Experience managing RFP/RFI responses, procurement cycles, and vendor selection processes.
  • Practical knowledge of vertical go-to-market motions (e.g., fintech, healthcare, enterprise software) relevant to the hiring organization.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinker with a bias for action and the ability to translate strategy into execution plans that deliver measurable revenue.
  • Exceptional communication and storytelling—able to present complex technical solutions in plain business terms to executives.
  • Strong relationship builder with high emotional intelligence and a consultative sales approach.
  • Influential negotiator who can align diverse stakeholders and drive consensus under pressure.
  • High resilience and adaptability in fast-changing markets; thrives in ambiguous environments and pivots quickly.
  • Collaborative leader and team player who mentors peers and fosters cross-functional alignment.
  • Excellent time management and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple long-cycle opportunities simultaneously.
  • Analytical problem-solver who leverages data to diagnose issues and recommend corrective actions.
  • Customer-centric mindset focused on delivering outcomes and building long-term partnerships.
  • Results-oriented with a track record of meeting or exceeding sales quotas and KPIs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or other advanced degree with emphasis on strategy, finance, or entrepreneurship preferred for senior roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Finance/Economics
  • Computer Science or Engineering (for technical/SaaS product environments)
  • Strategic Management / Entrepreneurship

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–10 years of progressive experience in business development, enterprise sales, strategic partnerships, or channel sales.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years in high-growth SaaS, technology, or industry-specific enterprise sales with proven quota attainment.
  • Experience leading cross-functional deal teams and mentoring junior sellers.
  • Demonstrated track record closing enterprise deals ($50K+ ARR or equivalent), building partner ecosystems, and launching GTM plays that scaled revenue.
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