Business Development Manager

Core Accountabilities Strategic Responsibilities: • Execute the business development plan, sales targets, and account priorities defined by the Head of Commercial & Marketing Affairs. • Build and maintain a qualified pipeline across Connect 21's services, focused primarily on government and real estate clients and secondarily on adjacent sectors and accounts. • Identify new clients and partnership opportunities within target sectors and recommend go-to-market approaches to the Head of Commercial & Marketing Affairs. • Contribute market intelligence, competitor insight, and client feedback to the development of the commercial strategy and service offerings. • Ensure all business development activity complies with approved pricing frameworks, margin targets, and Delegation of Authority governance. • Represent Connect 21 in client and partner engagements as delegated. Pipeline Development & Lead Generation • Prospect, identify, and qualify new opportunities through targeted outreach, networking, events, and referrals, with emphasis on government entities and real estate developers/operators. • Manage government pursuits through the required tender processes (e-tender portals, vendor registration, pre-qualification, and compliance documentation), respecting formal procurement protocol and longer cycles. • Maintain disciplined opportunity qualification, stage progression, and deal tracking in the CRM / pipeline register. • Develop and maintain account plans for assigned key clients and prospects. Account Management & Customer Growth • Own and grow assigned existing customer accounts, protecting retention and driving upsell, cross-sell, and expansion within the account. • Build long-term relationships with client stakeholders and decision-makers to secure repeat and expanded business. • Conduct regular account reviews to surface new requirements and convert them into qualified opportunities. • Act as the customer's commercial point of contact post-award, coordinating with Delivery to ensure satisfaction and continuity. Opportunity Management & Deal Execution • Prepare commercial structuring inputs for assigned opportunities (scope definition, pricing inputs, and commercial terms) within approved pricing frameworks. • Coordinate RFPs, bids, quotations, and proposals with Technology, Delivery, Commercial, and Finance teams, ensuring on-time and high-quality submissions. • Negotiate contracts up to the defined delegated-authority threshold, escalating strategic, high-risk, high-value, or non-standard matters to the Head of Commercial & Marketing Affairs. • Ensure all quotes, proposals, approvals, and commercial documentation are complete, accurate, and auditable prior to submission. • Support handover of awarded opportunities to Project Delivery and Commercial Affairs, ensuring scope, pricing, and contractual assumptions are clearly transferred. Commercial Operations & Reporting • Maintain accurate pipeline, forecast, and win/loss reporting for assigned opportunities. • Provide regular business development performance updates to the Head of Commercial & Marketing Affairs. • Coordinate with Finance on forecasting, client registration, invoicing alignment, and revenue tracking for awarded contracts. • Document commercial assumptions, pricing logic, and client commitments for every opportunity. People Responsibilities: • Act as a hands-on business developer, directly owning client relationships and opportunities. • Work closely with Delivery, Operations, and Finance teams to ensure end-to-end execution of opportunities. • Guide and support junior business development resources where applicable. • Promote a structured, accountable, and performance-driven commercial culture. KPIs • Pipeline growth (number and value of qualified opportunities), weighted to government and real estate • Revenue and order intake vs. targets • Bid and proposal win rate • Deal margin and pricing compliance • New client and partner acquisition in target sectors • Existing-account retention, upsell, and expansion revenue • Recurring vs. one-off revenue contribution • Timeliness and quality of proposal submissions • Forecast accuracy and CRM / reporting discipline • Client satisfaction Show more Show less