New Business Development Executive - Bury St Edmunds

We are seeking a driven sales professional to join our client as a New Business Development Executive at their head office in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. This is a permanent, full-time opportunity working five days per week in the office from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday (no option for remote or hybrid working), though there will be the opportunity to travel as required. There is a basic salary of £32k per annum + bonuses. OTE circa £40k per annum.

The Company

Our client is a well-established, privately owned supply chain solutions firm who have been trading for over 35 years offering high quality products to customers globally. They specialise in the supply and distribution of consumables to industry. The head office team sits at just over 50 employees, and is a modern office with a friendly, professional working culture.

The Job

You’ll be one of the 10-person Sales department, supported by four Sales Administrators and led by the Head of Sales. The focus of this role is new business development, identifying, targeting and converting high-value prospects. Whilst the company’s customers are spread globally, around 70% are located within Europe. The role is office-based in Bury St Edmunds, but ultimately, you’ll have the opportunity to travel to meet customers, up to a few times a week if required.

Duties will include:

• Act as a dedicated new business hunter, responsible for identifying, targeting, and converting high-value prospects within assigned territories.
• Generate sustainable revenue growth by building a consistent pipeline of new business opportunities and closing profitable deals.
• Focus on acquiring new customers and opening new markets, with limited responsibility for ongoing account management beyond initial onboarding.
• Develop and execute a structured territory penetration strategy, aligned to company growth objectives.
• Position the business as a preferred partner through proactive outreach, value-based selling, and competitive differentiation.
• Achieve and exceed monthly and quarterly new business revenue targets, with a primary focus on new logo acquisition.
• Deliver high levels of prospecting activity (cold calling, email outreach, LinkedIn engagement, networking, events) to generate qualified leads.
• Build, manage, and maintain a robust, high-quality sales pipeline, ensuring consistent progression from lead to close.
• Identify and qualify high-potential prospects, focusing effort on opportunities with the greatest revenue impact.
• Lead the full sales cycle from initial contact through to negotiation and close.
• Conduct needs analysis and solution-based selling, tailoring proposals to win new business.
• Prepare and deliver impactful presentations, proposals, and pitches to prospective clients.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all new business activity, pipeline stages, and forecasts in Salesforce and Exchequer.
• Monitor and report on conversion rates, pipeline health, and sales performance metrics.
• Gather and communicate market intelligence, competitor activity, and customer insights to inform strategy.
• Work closely with marketing to maximise lead generation campaigns and inbound opportunities.
• Attend industry events, exhibitions, and networking opportunities to generate new leads and build brand presence.
• Ensure smooth handover of new clients to account management teams following successful onboarding.
• Provide regular updates to Head of Sales on new business performance, risks, and opportunities.

Requirements

This role would suit a super driven, focused sales professional who is especially skilled at gaining new business, and selling to clients internationally across a range of manufacturing industries, ideally including pharmaceutical, healthcare, electronic, biotechnology, defence and automotive. You’ll need to already have a decent amount of confidence and new business development experience, as well as an understanding of supply chain logistics from a manufacturing angle.

Other requirements include:

• Around a minimum of 2 years’ experience in a new business development role (ideally into manufacturing businesses).
• Ideally, experience in supplier relationship management.
• Ideally, experience using Salesforce or similar CRM system.
• Based near the office in Bury St Edmunds, and happy to work from the office 5 days per week.
• Able to, and happy to travel for work up to 2/3 days per week on arranged client visits and meetings, both within and outside of the UK.
• Full UK driving licence (with any convictions or points disclosed at application stage).
• Able to work independently and with own initiative, but happy to work with and support colleagues when required.
• Driven to exceed sales targets, with proven experience of doing so.

How to Apply

Please apply to Kate Howes through our website or alternatively, you can email a copy of your CV to kate@horizoneast.co.uk. We aim to respond with specific feedback to every applicant via email within 14 days. However, as we are a small two-person independent agency, if we are extremely busy this may take longer. If you would like feedback sooner, then feel free to contact us via email and we will come back to you ASAP.

About Horizon

Horizon Search and Selection Ltd is owned and run by Gemma and Kate from our private offices in Bury St Edmunds. We’ve been in business for 14 years but have a combined 35+ years’ recruitment experience between us. We’re friendly recruitment folks and love what we do. Here, we are acting as an employment agency on behalf of our client, the employer. We act as the ‘introducers’, so if you are successful, you will be directly employed by our client. We never share your details with anyone (including our client) without your consent.

GDPR

Please note that all applications and enquiries are treated in the strictest of confidence. As part of our GDPR compliance, your CV and contact details will not be held by us for longer than 30 days unless written consent to do so is requested and obtained. Your CV and contact details will never be shared by us with a 3rd party unless specific consent has been obtained to do so. For more information on our privacy policies and how we comply to the GDPR then please visit our website and click on our privacy policy at the bottom of the page.

Visit our website at www.horizoneast.co.uk