Senior Business Development Manager

Go Places is the UK's full-service, tech-enabled social commerce partner for household-name brands, and TikTok Shop's #1 UK live shopping partner. That covers always-on live shopping from 15+ in-house London studios and a 4,000-strong exclusive affiliate network, plus managed creator and affiliate programmes, ads, organic content, inventory planning and data, all powered by One Place, our proprietary analytics platform.

We are a registered TikTok Shop Partner and Affiliate Partner, and one of two UK agencies selected by YouTube for its Shopping affiliate programme. Our clients include Shark, Ninja, SodaStream, Sensodyne, LG, TRIP and PerfectTed, and in 2026 we won Gold for Best Social Commerce Campaign at the Performance Marketing Awards. We are around 60 people, data-driven and growing fast.

Role Overview

This is our senior new business lead in the UK. You will own the full cycle for enterprise brands and the most ambitious challenger brands, from first conversation to signed contract and a clean handover into delivery. You will build pipeline across four channels: our TikTok Shop partnership, complementary business partners, the events and rooms where brand decision-makers are, and targeted outbound. You will shape every proposal with our Client Strategy team, negotiate and close, then hand each new client to Client Services, who own the relationship and grow the account from there. You will also lead and develop our Business Development Executive, and set the standard for our culture code in everything you do.

Core responsibilities

Own the sales cycle

• Run the full cycle for UK enterprise brands and the most ambitious challenger brands, from first contact to signed contract, tracking every lead with clear stages, next steps and follow-ups.
• Qualify early and hard, so time goes on the brands we can win and deliver for.
• Bring in client strategy expertise once a deal is qualified, so the plan and targets are built into the proposal.
• Sell the tech, not just the service: demo One Place in pitches and use Halo Management to show brands the full value of TikTok Shop, beyond the sales TikTok itself records.
• Build commercially rigorous, tailored proposals, lead the commercial conversation and negotiate to close.

Build a pipeline across our channels

• TikTok Shop partnership: Build advocacy with TikTok Shop UK partner and category teams so Go Places is their first recommendation for enterprise and ambitious challenger brands.
• Complementary partnerships: Develop referral partnerships with businesses that serve the same brands without competing with us.
• The right rooms: Choose and work the category events, briefings and industry forums where brand decision-makers are.
• Targeted outbound: Run focused, account-based outreach into a defined list of target brands.

Hand over cleanly

• Stay involved through client kick-off, then hand over to Client Services, who own the relationship and ongoing client revenue.
• Make sure every new client starts with a plan, targets and a team they already know.

Represent GoPlaces and support the team

• Be the external face of Go Places to UK brands, at category events, briefings and industry forums.
• Build and keep a network of client-side decision-makers across the full breadth of category verticals.
• Feed what you hear from the market back to inform and educate the business.
• Manage, coach and develop our Business Development Executive, with clear meeting and pipeline targets, and keep raising the bar on how we sell.
• Run the weekly pipeline review and keep forecasting honest.
• Lead the regular cross-department business development meetings for your area.

Who you are:

• 5+ years in business development, closing large, complex deals with enterprise and high-growth brands, with the numbers to show it.
• Pipeline built beyond inbound: partners, platforms, events and targeted outbound.
• Confident with senior brand stakeholders, and commercially sharp creating detailed P&Ls and business cases.
• Experience coaching a junior seller, with disciplined lead tracking and follow-ups, and the drive to work with autonomy.
• Analytical: you read the data, spot where deals stall and act on it.
• At home in a fast-growth start-up or agency, where you build the process as you go.

Ideally:

• Experience selling social commerce, ideally TikTok Shop.
• An established network in beauty, wellness, household or FMCG brands.
• Experience selling tech-enabled services or data products.

What we offer:

• Up to 15% Bonus
• Uncapped new client bonus
• Phantom Share Options
• Summer working hours – finish at 1pm every Friday from June to August
• The ability to work from abroad for 2 weeks per year
• 25 days holiday + your birthday off + public holidays
• Hybrid working: 3 days in our Archway office and 2 optional WFH days