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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Development Operations

💰 $80,000 - $140,000

Business DevelopmentOperationsSales OperationsRevenue OperationsGo-to-Market

🎯 Role Definition

Business Development Operations (BD Operations) owns the systems, processes, metrics, and cross-functional execution that enable business development and partnership teams to scale efficiently. The role blends sales operations, revenue operations, analytics and program management to optimize lead-to-deal motion, improve pipeline hygiene, enable go-to-market execution, and reduce friction across CRM, quoting, contracting, and partner onboarding. BD Operations professionals translate strategic commercial goals into repeatable playbooks, metrics-driven dashboards, and automation that deliver predictable revenue outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Business Development Representative (BDR) transitioning into operations and process ownership.
  • Sales Operations Analyst or Revenue Operations Analyst focused on CRM and reporting.
  • Partnerships Coordinator or Program Manager supporting partner onboarding and enablement.

Advancement To:

  • Senior Manager / Head of Business Development Operations
  • Director of Revenue Operations or Director of Sales Operations
  • VP of Go-to-Market Operations or Chief Revenue Operations Officer

Lateral Moves:

  • Sales Operations
  • Revenue Operations (RevOps)
  • GTM Strategy & Enablement

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Own end-to-end CRM strategy and data integrity for business development teams, including architecture design, field mapping, validation rules, and ongoing data hygiene processes to ensure accurate pipeline reporting and forecasting.
  • Design, implement, and optimize lead routing, qualification criteria and handoff processes between marketing, SDR/BDR teams, AEs, and channel partners to maximize conversion rates and shorten sales cycles.
  • Build and maintain executive-facing and operational dashboards (e.g., in Tableau, Looker, Power BI, or Salesforce Reports) that track pipeline velocity, funnel conversion, win rates, ACV, churn risk indicators, and other KPIs to drive weekly/monthly commercial reviews.
  • Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Product to manage the quote-to-cash workflow, including CPQ configuration, pricing governance, discount approval workflows, contract templates, and order processing to accelerate revenue recognition.
  • Lead territory and quota planning initiatives using quantitative models and stakeholder interviews, delivering territory maps, capacity planning, and quota allocations that align with company revenue targets and fairness principles.
  • Manage forecasting cadence and methodology—consolidate inputs, apply consistent assumptions, validate forecast pulls, and communicate forecast risk and confidence levels to CRO and executive leadership.
  • Create, document, and socialize repeatable playbooks and onboarding curricula for new BD hires and partner managers, including role-specific KPIs, sales motions, objection-handling scripts, and tooling training.
  • Administer and continuously improve the BD tech stack (Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft, Gong, Clari, ZoomInfo, Excel/Google Sheets macros, and integration middleware like Zapier or Workato) to automate repetitive tasks and eliminate manual bottlenecks.
  • Implement and run A/B tests and process experiments to identify high-impact changes (cadence adjustments, messaging templates, sequence changes, qualification filters) and measure lift through rigorous control/variant analysis.
  • Operate as the single point of contact for complex deal desk requests: build deal structures, model revenue outcomes, manage approvals for exceptions, and track one-off commercial commitments to ensure margin and legal compliance.
  • Maintain partner operations and enablement for alliances and channel programs, including partner onboarding checklists, co-selling processes, joint pipeline tracking, and channel incentive reconciliations.
  • Develop and maintain SLA agreements across teams (marketing lead responses, legal turnaround times, finance invoicing) and report on SLA adherence and root causes for missed commitments.
  • Lead cross-functional projects that improve GTM efficiency—M&A commercial integrations, new product launches, pricing transformations, or go-to-market realignment—managing timelines, dependencies, and stakeholder communications.
  • Serve as the subject matter expert for KPI definitions, establishing consistent metrics, data lineage, and business rules so reports are trusted and replicable across finance and sales planning cycles.
  • Conduct regular audit cycles and compliance checks on data privacy, contract lifecycle, and revenue recognition handoffs to reduce operational and financial risk.
  • Build pipeline acceleration programs such as targeted outbound playbooks, high-intent lead scoring, and deal rescue protocols that include coaching handoffs and escalations for at-risk opportunities.
  • Lead vendor evaluation and procurement for GTM tooling—define requirements, run RFPs, perform pilot evaluations, and own vendor onboarding and integration into the existing tech stack.
  • Translate business questions into analytics and deliver actionable insights using SQL, Python or BI tools—provide recommendations that inform lead-scoring models, churn mitigation tactics, and segment-specific strategies.
  • Monitor sales productivity and capacity metrics, identify under- and over-performing segments, and recommend resource reallocation or compensation adjustments that align behavior with strategic goals.
  • Coordinate revenue ops OKRs and roadmap; prioritize requests from BD, partnerships, and sales leadership against capacity and expected ROI to ensure the highest-impact work is delivered first.
  • Drive continuous improvement of document templates and contract playbooks, including standard SLAs, liability clauses, and co-marketing addenda to shorten legal cycles and reduce negotiation friction.
  • Provide ad hoc executive analytics and board-ready reports on pipeline health, partner performance, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, and scenario planning for quarter and year-end close.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Conduct regular training sessions and office hours for BD teams to increase tool adoption and process compliance.
  • Maintain a centralized knowledge base of playbooks, FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and release notes for all BD tooling and processes.
  • Assist with compensation plan modeling and certification of commissions calculations for BD roles in partnership with Finance and HR.
  • Coordinate cross-functional post-mortem reviews on lost deals and major escalations to extract lessons learned and update enablement materials.
  • Oversee day-to-day vendor support escalations and work with IT/security teams on access, SSO, and data security for BD tooling.
  • Represent BD Operations in senior leadership forums and working groups to advocate for operational improvements and resource allocations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proven experience configuring and administering Salesforce CRM (custom objects, workflows, validation rules, reports, dashboards) or HubSpot at scale.
  • Strong SQL skills for querying relational databases and building datasets for BI tools; familiarity with BigQuery, Redshift, or Snowflake preferred.
  • Hands-on experience with revenue intelligence and forecasting platforms like Clari, Anaplan, or Salesforce Einstein.
  • Proficiency with BI and visualization tools such as Tableau, Looker, Power BI, or Mode for building executive and operational dashboards.
  • Experience configuring and optimizing CPQ/Quote-to-Cash solutions (Salesforce CPQ, Zuora, or Netsuite) and supporting contract lifecycle management.
  • Familiarity with sales engagement and automation tools (Outreach, SalesLoft), conversation intelligence (Gong, Chorus), and enrichment platforms (ZoomInfo, Clearbit).
  • Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills (pivot tables, advanced formulas, macros, and scenario modeling).
  • Basic scripting or analytics languages (Python, R) for automation, ETL, or statistical analysis is a plus.
  • Experience with integration platforms and middleware (MuleSoft, Workato, Zapier) to streamline data flow across CRMs, marketing automation, and finance systems.
  • Knowledge of territory design tools and quota modeling methodologies; ability to run statistical and optimization models.
  • Understanding of SaaS commercial metrics (ARR, MRR, ACV, LTV:CAC, churn, expansion) and how operational levers impact them.
  • Experience with project management tools (Jira, Asana, Monday.com) and running cross-functional programs.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional stakeholder management and cross-functional influence—able to align Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Product around operational changes.
  • High attention to detail with a bias for operational excellence and reproducible processes.
  • Strong business acumen and comfort translating quantitative analyses into pragmatic, revenue-driving recommendations.
  • Effective communicator able to produce executive summaries, run FMC (forecasting, metrics, and cadence) reviews, and lead enablement sessions.
  • Problem-solving mindset with an ability to break down complex processes into simple, repeatable playbooks.
  • Project management discipline—prioritizes backlog, manages timelines, and mitigates risks while juggling multiple high-impact initiatives.
  • Change management skills; able to drive adoption of new processes and tools and measure their impact.
  • Curiosity and continuous improvement orientation—regularly surfaces opportunities for experimentation and operational scaling.
  • Collaborative team player who mentors junior analysts and provides constructive feedback.
  • Resilient under pressure and able to navigate ambiguity in fast-paced, high-growth environments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Data Analytics, Computer Science, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's plus MBA or relevant advanced degree; professional certifications in Salesforce Administration, Revenue Operations, or Analytics are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Data Science / Analytics
  • Computer Science / Information Systems
  • Marketing

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–8 years in business development operations, sales operations, revenue operations, or related GTM operations roles.

Preferred: 5+ years of progressive experience supporting enterprise or high-growth SaaS sales and partnership teams, demonstrated ownership of CRM administration, forecasting process, CPQ/quote-to-cash, and cross-functional program leadership. Experience in startup or scale-up environments and with modern GTM tooling is strongly preferred.

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