Business Development Manager, LIONS Advisory

Informa Festivals marks an exciting new chapter in B2B events, bringing some of the world’s most influential creative, technology and business festivals together. We’re combining prestigious events like Cannes Lions, Black Hat, Money20/20, GDC, and London Tech Week with cutting‑edge marketing intelligence platforms and advisory services to deliver unmissable experiences and insights. Our festival‑led approach reimagines traditional B2B events, creating powerful, immersive experiences that drive innovation and industry advancement.

About LIONS Advisory: LIONS Advisory is the Advisory arm of the LIONS business. LIONS operates across four key pillars - Events, Intelligence, Advisory and Learning. Our collective goal at LIONS is to help businesses harness creative effectiveness for growth, and our activities encompass world renowned expertise and platforms: the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WARC, Contagious, Effie Worldwide and Acuity Pricing. The ambition of the LIONS Advisory team is simple: to be the world’s best creative Advisory service for marketers across the world, fuelling cultures of creative effectiveness that deliver business growth.

This role is based in our 5 Howick Place office. The Business Manager, LIONS Advisory is responsible for developing and executing new business strategies to acquire new clients and expand market presence. The role requires a deep understanding of the industry landscape, a strong ability to identify and engage prospective clients, and a knack for tailoring solutions that align with their strategic challenges. You’ll be working closely with the marketing and creative capabilities units of major global brands; offering training, knowledge and tools to help these brands unlock the power of creativity.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in business development, a consultative sales approach, and the ability to motivate and inspire the wider LIONS Advisory Business Development team as a senior figure. The post holder will be working across both Creative Transformation and Cannes Lions Curated products.

Key accountabilities & KPIs:

• Meet/exceed quarterly new business billings targets and annual LIONS Advisory revenue targets.
• Ensure accurate and continuous commercial forecasting of new business conversations across your patch of clients, ensuring a healthy pipeline is always in place to hit your targets.
• Follow up on incoming leads, taking their initial interest and building on this through contact by phone, email, F2F or online meetings, resulting in an opportunity and then on to close.
• Proactively target new prospects, utilising data effectively to inform your outreach strategy, initiating first contact and building a relationship to the point that they are familiar with who we are and what we could do with them - resulting in a qualified sales opportunity.
• Engage with senior decision‑makers to understand their business challenges and present bespoke consulting solutions, positioning LIONS Advisory as a strategic partner that will drive their success.
• Ensure your knowledge of the LIONS Advisory product is constantly developing & increasing to further assist our client base.
• Use our CRM system to record, in a timely manner, accurate details of our relationships with clients and prospects.
• Work with the team to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and excellence.
• Work closely with other teams such as Intelligence and Partnerships, where appropriate, to create a seamless sales experience for a prospect.

Qualifications:

• Strong commercial acumen: be comfortable working to financial targets and have a proven track record of upselling and cross‑selling to achieve your targets.
• Proven track record of managing a portfolio of products with high average order values.
• Ability to analyse market data and identify growth opportunities.
• Clear, concise communication skills.
• Ability to build and maintain strong client relationships.
• Ability to interpret a brief from a client and work with the wider team to turn it into a compelling proposal.
• Extremely customer service oriented, passionate about exceeding expectations.
• Ability to work on own initiative, manage a varied workload and meet deadlines.
• Evidence of a drive and determination to hit targets.
• Evidence of working within a team to achieve both individual and wider team goals.
• Knowledge of Salesforce CRM system is preferable, but not mandatory.
• Outstanding deck building skills, ensuring you can deliver information in a compelling way.
• Energetic, curious, resilient with a ‘can‑do’ attitude.
• Ability to work well under pressure and influence at all levels as a thought‑partner.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, complex and dynamic environment.

Additional Information:

We believe that great things happen when people connect face‑to‑face. That’s why we work in‑person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at an Informa event – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely.

Benefits:

• Great community: a welcoming culture with in‑person and online social events, our fantastic Walk the World charity day and active diversity and inclusion networks.
• Broader impact: take up to four days per year to volunteer, with charity match funding available too.
• Career opportunity: the opportunity to develop your career with bespoke training and learning, mentoring platforms and on‑demand access to thousands of courses on LinkedIn Learning.
• Time out: 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after two years, plus a birthday leave day and the chance to work from (almost!) anywhere for up to four weeks a year.
• A flexible range of personal benefits to choose from, plus company funded private medical cover.
• A ShareMatch scheme that allows you to become an Informa shareholder with free matching shares.
• Strong wellbeing support through EAP assistance, mental health first aiders, a healthy living subsidy, access to health apps and more.
• Recognition for great work, with global awards and kudos programmes.
• As an international company, the chance to collaborate with teams around the world.

We’re not solely focused on a checklist of skills. We champion energy and ambition and look for colleagues who will roll their sleeves up, join in and help make things happen. If it sounds like a match and you have most – although not all – of the skills and experience listed, we welcome your application.

If you would like to request reasonable adjustments or accommodations to assist your participation in the hiring process and, or in the advertised position, please inform the appropriate Talent Acquisition Partner for the role once they have been in touch. Your request will be reviewed and considered in confidence.

At Informa, you’ll find inclusive experiences and environments where all perspectives and backgrounds are welcomed. As part of this approach and our diversity and inclusion commitments, we are also formally an Equal Opportunities Employer. This means we base decisions on relevant qualifications and merit and do not discriminate on the basis of key characteristics and statuses, including all of those protected by law.