Business Development Manager

This is a new role within our growing organisation, and we are looking for someone who isn’t afraid of an uphill challenge and building something from scratch. You will own the full sales funnel, from top‑of‑funnel lead generation through to engaging with potential clients, qualifying sales opportunities, and then working with business leads to close the deal. You’ll design, run, and optimise a modern, insight‑driven sales function that consistently delivers high‑quality, high‑intent conversations with decision‑makers with a range of clients across multiple sectors. This is a hands-on, strategic role for someone who loves hunting for business and then turning interest into revenue. You’ll be the first face of Avocado55 when engaging with prospective clients and ultimately the guardian of our sales pipeline; the architect of a scalable, repeatable sales engine.

About Avocado55: Avocado55 are the Customer Experience Sherpas™ — guiding organisations from operational base camp to peak performance. We take overstretched customer operations and lead them to measurable, lasting results. Using our ASCENT framework, we help leaders in high‑pressure sectors cut through complexity, align their teams, and deliver changes that stick. Avocado55 has extensive experience across many different industries, including: airline, travel, retail, foodtech, fintech, drinks & distilling, wealth management, charity, healthcare & public sector. Supporting organisations to design, deliver and operate high-quality, industry-leading services. The Avocado55 team works hard, but individual efforts won’t go unnoticed. Working with a growing organisation will be both challenging and rewarding. We are looking for people wanting to make their mark on the business. You’ll get plenty of autonomy and learning opportunities. Plus the chance to work flexibly.

Your main duties will include:

• Strategic Planning & Market Research

• Identifying Opportunities: Researching and identifying new business opportunities, including new markets, growth areas, trends, customers, partnerships, products, and services.
• Developing Strategies: Creating and executing strategic business development plans to expand the company’s customer base and market presence.
• Market Intelligence: Monitoring industry trends and competitor activities to keep the company competitive.

• Generating leads through cold calling, networking, social media (like LinkedIn), and attending industry events.
• Pitching: Preparing and delivering persuasive presentations and pitches to potential clients.
• Sales Pipeline Management: Managing the sales process from initial contact to closure, ensuring a healthy pipeline of prospects.

• Client Retention: Building and maintaining strong, long-lasting relationships with existing customers to encourage repeat business and loyalty.
• Stakeholder Management: Networking with key stakeholders, industry professionals, and decision-makers.
• Collaboration: Working closely with internal teams to ensure that client needs are met and that the company can deliver on its promises.

• Performance Tracking: Tracking personal and company KPIs and reporting on sales goals and forecasts to senior management.
• Feedback Loops: Providing feedback from clients to the Ops Board & Marketing functions to help improve product offerings.

You must have: Avocado55 will always take a candidate's relevant experience over qualifications. However, for such a senior role, experience backed up with a Degree level education is preferred. Personal qualities and attributes: We are looking for an individual who has experience as a sales professional and can operate autonomously but also collaboratively within the team. We will expect you to demonstrate:

• Essential

• Minimum 4 years’ service business development experience with demonstrable success.
• A background in recruitment (permanent placement).
• Immaculate personal presentation and preparation when attending client meetings or events.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to add value to the team through sharing of ideas to ensure we are continually improving the way we do things.
• Ability to stay focused and motivated working remotely.
• An ambition / desire to grow with the business.

• Managing lead generation applications.
• Contact centre exposure.
• Practical day to day experience of managing and using a CRM system, ideally Bigin/ZOHO.
• Curious about how we can leverage technology to increase efficiency and improve the prospect experience.

This is a remote role with frequent travel, so it is vitally important that you are self-motivated, driven and comfortable working under your own initiative. The ideal candidate would be located in the North West/East Midlands area to attend regular in person meetings with one of the Directors. You must hold a current UK driving licence and be authorised to work in the UK. We will supply the required equipment, assessed according to your needs. We ask that you have a stable and strong internet connection. Our minimum requirement for internet speed is 10Mbps Download and 4Mbps Upload. You must have a dedicated, quiet workspace with a desk, plenty of natural light, access to fresh air and no distractions. This cannot be a communal area or a space that is shared.

What we offer:

• Salary range: £40,000 depending on experience.
• Commission based Bonus scheme.
• Comprehensive training, onboarding and personal development programme.
• 25 days holiday per annum plus public/bank holidays.
• 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.
• Pension scheme.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Death in service cover.

Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging: No matter who you are, what you look like, who you love, or where you are from, you can find your place here. We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture, encouraging diversity of people and thinking, in which all employees feel they truly belong and can bring their most colourful selves to work every day.

Social and Environmental: We have committed to reducing our overall greenhouse gas emissions, and aim to incorporate all working from home in this commitment. All workers are expected to make every effort to reduce their carbon consumption when working from home. The three main emission categories include utilities, office waste and transport. We want you to be part of our purpose-led way of working by agreeing and working to our sustainable home working arrangements. You will also be given the opportunity to volunteer in your local community or support other environmental projects.