Enterprise Business Development Director

About Our Client

Our client empowers the world’s leading researchers with an ecosystem of software products that make their lives easier, so they can focus on delivering the ground-breaking research of tomorrow. With customers in 14 countries and over 2 million research projects supported, they’re entering a new phase of global growth. Their platforms are trusted by research-intensive universities, healthcare institutions, and regulatory bodies to manage complex processes with confidence. As they enter a new phase of strategic growth focused on securing national and regional partnerships, they’re looking for commercially minded individuals who excel at building relationships, opening new doors, and helping organisations unlock the value of well-designed research management systems.

Position Overview

We’re looking for a commercially astute, networked, and highly credible Business Development Director to join the team and lead the Enterprise Growth Initiative. Reporting to the CEO, this senior sales role is instrumental in expanding our client's footprint in the research management and clinical trials management software space by surfacing opportunities across public and private sector research ecosystems, including national and regional bodies, multi-national organisations, public health entities, NHS trusts, and Governments – and then guiding their response from first contact through to successful close. This is a high-impact role for a senior individual contributor with a strong network and proven experience in sectors such as Research, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, or Government - ideally within a technology or professional services setting. A strong and relevant professional network is a prerequisite.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Opportunity Identification: Proactively identify and target major strategic opportunities, including public sector tenders, jurisdiction-level deals, and multi-entity partnerships.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build and nurture relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers across research-intensive organisations, funding bodies, and government agencies.
• Positioning and Value Proposition Development: Work closely with product, marketing and executive teams to develop tailored, strategic proposals that resonate with executive-level priorities.
• Bid Leadership: Lead complex bid responses and RFP submissions, coordinating cross-functional teams to ensure high-quality, compliant, and persuasive bids.
• Market Intelligence: Track trends, procurement cycles and competitive movements in target markets to inform strategy and account planning.
• Pipeline Management: Maintain a robust, forward-looking pipeline of high-value opportunities and use CRM (HubSpot) to ensure rigorous tracking and reporting.
• Commercial Negotiations: Drive contract discussions through to closure with the support of legal and finance stakeholders, ensuring commercial viability and long-term customer success.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with internal teams including marketing, product, implementation, and customer success to ensure alignment on strategy and delivery.

Qualifications and Skills

• Demonstrable success in securing high-value, complex B2B deals—particularly within the research, clinical trials, healthcare or public sector domains.
• 8+ years in business development, enterprise sales, or strategic partnerships, with at least part of that experience in software, SaaS, or professional services.
• Strong existing network within one or more of the following sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Public Health, NHS, Government.
• Deep understanding of clinical trials, research governance or frameworks is highly advantageous.
• Experience managing long sales cycles, stakeholder-rich environments, and responding to formal tender and procurement processes.
• Confident communicator with strong interpersonal and presentation skills; adept at influencing at C-suite and government levels.
• Self-motivated, strategically minded and comfortable operating with autonomy while collaborating across global teams.
• Educated to degree level in a relevant field (e.g. science, technology, business, healthcare).

Salary & Benefits

Salary Range: £85,000 - £100,000
Commission based on annual targets
Participation in the client's Bonus Plan
Pension
BUPA Healthcare (optional)
25 days annual leave plus public holidays

Working Location

This role is offered as hybrid (our client’s preference), or fully remote. If hybrid, the successful candidate will be based in their UK office in Esher, Surrey – most of the team work 3 days a week from the office or customer/conference site, and the other 2 days at home. If remote, they would facilitate the successful candidate to be present at the Esher office c. 2 days per week during the first few weeks of their induction, and one day per month thereafter for team events.