Senior Business Development Manager in London

Location: 5 Howick Place office, London.

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. Building on decades of expertise and powered by Informa's international reach, we're shaping the next generation of business festivals.

We're part of Informa, a global business with a network of trusted brands in specialist markets across more than 30 countries, and a member of the FTSE 100 who are #3 in Glassdoor's Best Places to Work 2025 UK list.

At LIONS, we set the global standard for creativity and effective marketing, empowering brands and their partners to achieve excellence through our insights, advisory services, and world‐class events. Our portfolio includes Contagious, LIONS, and WARC, which collectively showcase best practices in creativity and marketing effectiveness.

Our flagship event, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is a five‐day celebration held annually in Cannes, France. It serves as the ultimate meeting place for the global marketing community, spotlighting the most outstanding and impactful work from around the world.

As a Senior Business Development Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving the growth of LIONS Learning, our suite of digital learning courses designed for marketing professionals. You will focus on targeting and selling these courses to a defined sector and agency patch, expanding our customer base and building long‐term partnerships. Reporting directly to the LIONS Learning Head of Commercial, you will be instrumental in shaping the success of our learning solutions.

Key Qualities We're Looking For

• Expertise in Learning Solutions: A clear understanding of what makes a course valuable, engaging, and impactful for marketing professionals.
• Proven Sales Success: A strong track record of achieving sales targets, ideally within an e‐learning or digital learning environment.
• Consultative Selling Skills: Experience in solution‐led, consultative selling with a focus on understanding client needs and delivering tailored solutions.
• Exceptional Communication: Persuasive, confident, and articulate, with outstanding verbal and written communication and presentation skills.
• Strategic Thinking: The ability to identify, strategise, and capitalise on new business opportunities.
• Collaborative Approach: A team player who thrives in cross‐functional environments and can work effectively across time zones.
• Adaptability: Flexibility and dependability to excel in dynamic and fast‐paced working environments.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Experience working alongside and presenting to senior management, business leads, stakeholders, and renowned industry experts.

Responsibilities

• Revenue Growth: Achieve your personal revenue target by driving activity levels, building a robust pipeline, and closing deals. Support your team in meeting their individual targets.
• Client Retention: Build and maintain strong client relationships to enhance loyalty, reduce churn, and increase repeat business, with a focus on achieving an 85%+ course completion rate.
• Forecasting: Provide accurate and effective forecasting of prospects and opportunities through to close, both for yourself and your team.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Cultivate strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including senior management and industry experts, to align goals and drive success.

What Success Looks Like

You will be credible, well‐connected, and process‐driven, with a personable and fair approach. Your ability to identify and nurture key partnerships across the market will be critical to your success. You will excel at building long‐term relationships with trade bodies and other key organisations, ensuring LIONS Learning remains a trusted partner for marketing professionals worldwide.

Qualifications

• Commercial Acumen: A demonstrated ability to develop and execute strategies that drive revenue growth and profitability.
• Stakeholder Management: Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to effectively manage relationships with senior stakeholders and clients.
• Sales & Negotiation Skills: Strong sales acumen, with the ability to craft compelling proposals, negotiate effectively, and close deals with corporate clients.
• Analytical Thinking: Proficiency in analysing market trends, customer feedback, and performance data to inform decisions and improve strategies.
• Organisational Skills: Excellent multitasking and prioritisation abilities, capable of managing multiple programmes simultaneously in a dynamic environment.
• Customer‐Centric Approach: A deep commitment to understanding client needs and delivering solutions that exceed expectations, fostering loyalty and long‐term partnerships.
• Presentation & Communication Skills: Confidence in presenting to senior stakeholders and industry experts, with the ability to articulate ideas and strategies clearly and persuasively.

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. When it's time for the next step, we encourage and support internal job moves.
• 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.

Equal Opportunities

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.