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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Vice President of Business Development

💰 $ - $

Business DevelopmentExecutive LeadershipSalesPartnerships

🎯 Role Definition

The Vice President of Business Development (VP, BD) is a senior leadership role charged with creating and executing the organization's business development strategy to accelerate revenue growth, enter new markets, and create long-term strategic value. This leader identifies high-potential growth opportunities, builds and manages a high-performing BD and partnerships team, negotiates complex commercial agreements, oversees strategic alliances, and partners closely with Product, Marketing, Finance and Legal to deliver measurable commercial outcomes. Key responsibilities include pipeline management, forecasting, P&L accountability for BD initiatives, due diligence for M&A or investments, and representing the company in board-level and industry forums.

Core keywords: Vice President Business Development, VP BD, strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, go-to-market strategy, M&A, channel partnerships, revenue growth, pipeline development, Salesforce CRM, contract negotiation.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Director of Business Development / Head of Business Development with proven enterprise experience
  • Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships or Head of Alliances
  • VP of Sales, Head of Enterprise Sales, or Director of Corporate Development

Advancement To:

  • Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)
  • Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
  • President or General Manager of a business unit

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Strategic Partnerships & Alliances
  • VP of Global Sales or VP of Corporate Development
  • Head of Go-to-Market / VP of Growth

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, own and execute a comprehensive business development strategy and annual plan that outlines target markets, vertical focus, partnership models, revenue targets, KPIs and timelines to achieve multi-year revenue growth.
  • Build, lead and scale a high-performing business development, partnerships and strategic accounts team; hire, mentor and develop managers and individual contributors, set team OKRs, and implement compensation plans tied to measurable outcomes.
  • Source, qualify and manage a pipeline of enterprise and partner-led opportunities worth $X–$100M+; use a disciplined sales process to forecast pipeline velocity, conversion rates and ARR/NRR impact.
  • Identify and evaluate new market entry opportunities (geographic expansion, verticals, or adjacent products), produce business cases, and lead go-to-market launches in coordination with Product and Marketing.
  • Drive strategic alliances and channel programs: design partner tiers, incentives, onboarding processes, co-selling motions, and performance metrics to scale partner-sourced revenue.
  • Lead complex commercial negotiations and close large enterprise contracts, master service agreements, licensing agreements, reseller agreements, and multi-year SaaS deals while protecting company interests and margin.
  • Own commercial due diligence and lead BD aspects of M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and strategic acquisitions — from target selection to integration planning and revenue synergies realization.
  • Partner with Finance and Legal to model deal economics, design pricing and packaging strategies, approve discounting thresholds, and ensure contract compliance and revenue recognition alignment.
  • Drive cross-functional GTM initiatives: collaborate with Product, Marketing, Customer Success and Sales to create compelling value propositions, product bundles, and go-to-market collateral that accelerate adoption and upsell.
  • Establish and monitor KPIs and reporting frameworks (pipeline coverage, deal velocity, win rate, ACV, ARR, CAC payback) and deliver concise executive-level updates to the CEO and Board.
  • Implement and optimize CRM systems and sales operations practices (Salesforce, HubSpot), enforce pipeline hygiene, lead scoring, territory planning and forecasting rigor to improve predictability and scale.
  • Create and manage budgets for BD programs, channel incentives, events and travel; allocate resources to highest-return initiatives and track ROI on strategic investments.
  • Represent the company at industry events, conferences, analyst briefings and customer executive meetings to raise brand awareness, create strategic introductions and accelerate partner engagement.
  • Lead account-based strategies for strategic customers and prospects: coordinate cross-functional pursuit teams, executive sponsorship, custom solution development and post-sale expansion plans.
  • Negotiate and manage strategic partner co-marketing, co-selling and technology integration agreements; drive joint product roadmaps where beneficial to accelerate adoption.
  • Design and execute competitive strategies: map competitive landscape, develop win/loss analyses and enable the commercial organization with positioning, objection handling, and competitive battlecards.
  • Oversee post-deal transition and enablement plans with Customer Success to ensure smooth onboarding, early value realization and high retention/expansion rates for partner- or BD-sourced accounts.
  • Set and enforce governance for partner and reseller relationships, including performance SLAs, reporting cadence, dispute resolution processes and termination terms.
  • Drive innovative commercial pilots, proof-of-concepts and rapid experimentation with priority customers to accelerate product-market fit and create referenceable case studies.
  • Collaborate with Talent and HR to design leadership development, succession planning and performance management for the BD organization.
  • Lead continuous improvement initiatives: implement scalable processes, playbooks, CRM automations and training programs to increase rep productivity, shorten sales cycles and reduce churn.

Secondary Functions

  • Support enterprise sales forecasting and provide accurate revenue input to quarterly planning cycles.
  • Coordinate with Legal and Compliance to perform contract reviews, manage NDAs and ensure regulatory and privacy adherence in partner and customer agreements.
  • Provide thought leadership for go-to-market content: white papers, executive briefings and pitch decks used by Sales and Marketing.
  • Participate in executive off-sites and strategic planning sessions to align BD priorities with corporate objectives.
  • Assist in special projects such as pilot program design, strategic account escalations, and high-priority procurement engagements.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Strategic Account Management: proven experience closing enterprise deals and managing complex, multi-stakeholder procurement processes.
  • Advanced Negotiation & Contracting: mastery of commercial contracts, MSA negotiation, service schedules, SLAs and licensing models.
  • Financial Modeling & Commercial Due Diligence: build revenue and margin models, sensitivity analysis, ROI calculators and contribution margin assessments.
  • Go-to-Market Strategy & GTM Execution: design GTM plans, pricing strategies, packaging, channel programs and launch playbooks.
  • CRM & Sales Ops Platforms: expert-level experience with Salesforce, HubSpot or similar CRM systems and familiarity with sales forecasting models.
  • Pipeline Management & Forecasting: implement pipeline hygiene, lead scoring, opportunity qualification frameworks and rolling forecasts.
  • Mergers & Acquisitions Experience: lead BD-side diligence, valuation inputs, integration planning and revenue synergy capture.
  • Partnership & Alliance Development: design partner programs, co-sell/co-marketing motions and technical/strategic integrations.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: use analytics tools (Tableau, Looker, Excel/Google Sheets advanced) to track KPIs and optimize performance.
  • Regulatory & Contractual Compliance: familiarity with privacy, export controls or industry-specific regulations when negotiating global deals.
  • SaaS Commercial Models & Subscription Revenue: deep knowledge of ARR, ACV, ARR expansion levers, churn drivers and SaaS metrics.
  • Presentation & Proposal Development: create C-level presentations, RFP responses, and executive summaries that drive decisions.

Soft Skills

  • Executive Presence & Stakeholder Management: comfortable engaging C-suite executives, board members and strategic partners.
  • Strategic Thinking & Vision: ability to translate market trends into actionable long-term growth initiatives.
  • Leadership & Talent Development: coach, inspire and scale teams; drive accountability and high performance.
  • Influence & Persuasion: align cross-functional teams and external partners to pursue complex, multi-phase deals.
  • Communication & Storytelling: craft clear, compelling narratives that articulate value to diverse audiences.
  • Problem Solving & Decision Making: decisive under ambiguity and capable of structuring complex commercial problems.
  • Resilience & Adaptability: thrive in fast-changing environments and pivot strategies in response to new information.
  • Negotiation & Conflict Resolution: manage contentious negotiations productively and protect company interests.
  • Collaboration & Cross-Functional Partnership: excel at working across Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Customer Success.
  • Results Orientation & Accountability: goal-driven, metrics-focused and committed to delivering measurable outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Marketing or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in Business, Finance, Strategy, or relevant industry-specific graduate degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Economics
  • International Business
  • Strategic Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 10+ years of progressive experience in business development, strategic partnerships or enterprise sales with at least 5–8 years in a senior leadership role (Director level or above).

Preferred:

  • Extensive experience in SaaS, enterprise software, healthcare, fintech or B2B services.
  • Proven track record of closing multi-million-dollar deals, building scalable partner ecosystems, driving ARR growth, and leading M&A or strategic investments.
  • Demonstrated success managing global BD teams, building repeatable GTM motions and delivering consistent revenue performance across regions.
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