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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Market Development Manager

💰 $110,000 - $175,000

SalesBusiness DevelopmentMarketingStrategy

🎯 Role Definition

A Market Development Manager is a strategic driver of growth, responsible for identifying and penetrating new markets, channels, and customer segments for an organization's products or services. This role sits at the intersection of sales, marketing, and strategy, focusing on long-term opportunities rather than day-to-day sales quotas. The professional in this position is a pioneer, tasked with creating the roadmap for expansion, building foundational relationships, and laying the groundwork for future revenue streams. They are expert researchers, strategists, and relationship-builders who turn untapped potential into tangible business success.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Sales Representative / Account Executive
  • Product Marketing Manager
  • Business Development Representative (BDR/SDR) Team Lead
  • Strategy or Management Consultant

Advancement To:

  • Director of Market Development / Business Development
  • Head of Sales or Regional Sales Director
  • Vice President of Growth or Strategy
  • General Manager of a new business unit

Lateral Moves:

  • Senior Product Marketing Manager
  • Strategic Alliances / Partner Manager
  • Enterprise Account Director

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Identify, research, and validate new geographic markets, industry verticals, and customer segments to pursue for business expansion.
  • Develop and execute comprehensive, data-driven go-to-market (GTM) strategies to successfully launch products and services in identified target markets.
  • Conduct thorough market intelligence and competitive analysis to understand market dynamics, trends, key players, and potential barriers to entry.
  • Build and nurture a robust pipeline of strategic partnership opportunities, including channel partners, resellers, and technology alliances, that can accelerate market entry and adoption.
  • Initiate, lead, and close complex commercial negotiations with key partners and foundational clients, ensuring mutually beneficial and sustainable agreements.
  • Cultivate strong, long-term relationships with industry influencers, key opinion leaders, and major stakeholders within target markets to build brand credibility and presence.
  • Collaborate intimately with Product Management and Engineering teams to provide market feedback and ensure product-market fit for new territories or segments.
  • Author compelling business cases, complete with financial modeling, ROI analysis, and risk assessment, to secure executive buy-in and investment for new market initiatives.
  • Define, monitor, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) and success metrics for all market development activities, providing regular updates to senior leadership.
  • Act as the company's ambassador at key industry conferences, trade shows, and networking events to promote the brand and uncover new opportunities.
  • Drive the initial sales engagements in a new market, acting as the "first boots on the ground" to secure anchor customers and validate the sales motion.
  • Develop and manage the annual budget for market development activities, ensuring efficient allocation of resources to maximize impact and ROI.
  • Work cross-functionally with Marketing to guide the creation of localized messaging, sales collateral, and demand generation campaigns tailored to new market nuances.
  • Analyze market and sales data to continuously uncover emerging opportunities and refine existing expansion strategies.
  • Lead pilot programs and proof-of-concept projects in new markets to test hypotheses, gather learnings, and de-risk full-scale launches.
  • Stay consistently informed on global economic trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements that could impact the company's expansion plans.

Secondary Functions

  • Support the development and refinement of the organization's long-term corporate strategy and growth roadmap.
  • Contribute to building a culture of data-driven decision-making by sharing market insights and analysis across the organization.
  • Collaborate with Legal and Finance teams to ensure all partnership and client agreements are commercially sound and compliant.
  • Provide training and enablement support to sales teams as they scale operations in a newly established market.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Market Research & Analysis: Deep proficiency in conducting qualitative and quantitative market analysis, including market sizing, trend analysis, and competitive intelligence gathering.
  • Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy: Proven ability to design and implement comprehensive GTM plans for new products or new markets.
  • Financial Modeling & Business Case Development: Skill in building detailed financial models (e.g., P&L, ROI, payback period) to justify strategic initiatives.
  • Complex Contract Negotiation: Expertise in structuring, negotiating, and closing sophisticated partnership, channel, and sales agreements.
  • Pipeline Management & CRM Proficiency: Mastery of CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) for managing a long-cycle pipeline of strategic opportunities.
  • B2B Sales Methodologies: Strong understanding of solution selling, value selling, or other consultative sales frameworks.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic & Analytical Thinking: The ability to see the bigger picture, connect disparate data points, and formulate a clear, actionable strategy.
  • Exceptional Communication & Presentation Skills: Capable of articulating complex ideas persuasively and with confidence to diverse audiences, from engineers to C-level executives.
  • Influence & Negotiation: A natural ability to build consensus, influence stakeholders without direct authority, and navigate difficult negotiations to achieve positive outcomes.
  • Resilience & Adaptability: Thrives in ambiguous environments, demonstrates tenacity in the face of setbacks, and can pivot strategies as market feedback dictates.
  • Relationship Building & Networking: An innate talent for building authentic, long-term relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Entrepreneurial Spirit & Self-Motivation: A proactive, results-oriented mindset with a strong sense of ownership and the ability to drive initiatives from conception to completion independently.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA) or equivalent advanced degree with a focus on strategy, marketing, or international business.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Economics
  • International Relations

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 7-12 years of progressive experience in business development, strategic sales, product marketing, or a related field.

Preferred:

  • Demonstrable track record of successfully identifying and entering new markets, resulting in measurable revenue growth.
  • Experience working in a B2B technology, SaaS, or high-growth environment.
  • International business experience and fluency in a second language are highly advantageous.
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