Senior Business Development Leader

Location: KSA or UAE (regionally mobile, with travel focused on international and regional markets to source companies expanding into Saudi Arabia. Who We Are AstroLabs is the largest business expansion platform in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf's leading platform for high-growth companies expanding into Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Over the last decade, we've enabled more than 1,500 global ventures to set up and grow in the Gulf, combining market entry, company formation, corporate services, talent, coworking, and bespoke programs to help international companies successfully enter and scale across the region. Who You Are - A Commercial Hunter You are a senior business development leader who knows how to create revenue from a standing start. You do not wait for inbound leads or depend on marketing to fill your pipeline. You bring a strong, credible network of C-suite executives, founders, investors, and senior decision-makers and know how to turn relationships into commercial conversations and closed business. You are highly comfortable walking into a room of senior executives, building trust quickly, identifying opportunities, and creating momentum where none existed before. You actively put yourself where business happens: industry events, conferences, investor circles, executive networks, and international markets, continuously building new relationships while activating existing ones. What You'll Do Build & Own Your Pipeline • Build and own an independent pipeline with minimal reliance on inbound or marketing-generated leads. • Activate your existing network to originate opportunities with companies considering expansion into Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. • Continuously expand that network through targeted outreach, introductions, events, conferences, and executive-level relationship building. • Identify high-value strategic accounts and proactively create routes into their senior decision-makers. Originate & Close Revenue • Own the commercial cycle from initial relationship through opportunity development, negotiation, and close. • Carry a direct revenue target and maintain clear accountability for sourced pipeline and closed revenue. • Structure commercial opportunities across AstroLabs' portfolio of business expansion services. • Maintain disciplined forecasting and pipeline hygiene in HubSpot. Represent AstroLabs in the Market • Represent AstroLabs with C-suite executives, founders, investors, government stakeholders, and other senior decision-makers. • Attend relevant regional and international conferences, expos, and industry gatherings with a clear commercial mandate. • Build AstroLabs' presence within the business and investment circles where future clients are making expansion decisions. Build a Repeatable Hunting Engine • Turn relationship-led selling into a repeatable company capability rather than a purely personal network. • Document successful routes into accounts, sales plays, market segments, and relationship strategies. • Feed market intelligence on competitors, demand, pricing, and emerging opportunities into commercial planning. What You Bring • 12-15+ years of experience in business development, enterprise sales, strategic accounts, or similar commercial roles. • A demonstrable personal network of senior corporate decision-makers across the GCC and/or international markets. • A proven track record of creating pipeline from scratch without relying on inbound leads. • Strong evidence of personally originating, negotiating, and closing significant B2B deals. • Experience carrying a meaningful individual revenue target. • Strong C-suite presence and ability to build relationships as a peer. • A highly proactive, externally oriented approach: you naturally create opportunities rather than wait for them. • Business fluency in English; Arabic is strongly preferred. • Willingness to travel extensively across regional and international markets. • Experience in market entry, corporate services, consulting, professional services, or ecosystem/platform businesses is a strong advantage. How Success Will Be Measured • Self-originated qualified pipeline • Closed sourced revenue • New strategic accounts opened • Pipeline coverage and conversion • Strength and growth of AstroLabs' senior commercial network Core mandate: Create new pipeline and revenue that would not have existed without this role. Show more Show less

15+ years in business development, partnerships, or enterprise sales. Experience in market entry, business setup, corporate services, consulting, or ecosystem/platform businesses is a strong plus. Existing relationships with Saudi government or semi-government entities is a plus. Experience having built a function or a market, not only managed a territory, is a plus.