Business Development Consultant (£100-200k OTE) in Portsmouth

The Role as a Business Development Consultant, you own the front end of the SERT recruitment lifecycle from identifying and opening new client relationships through to landing signed commercial agreements.

This is a new-business hunting role: you'll spend your time researching target markets, reaching decision-makers, pitching SERT's services, and negotiating terms.

Once a client is won, you hand the role over to the Delivery/Account Management team to run recruitment day-to-day, though you stay closely involved — attending job specification calls where the client relationship calls for it, managing the ongoing client relationship, and identifying opportunities to expand into new departments and stakeholders within existing accounts.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and research target client organisations within the technical and green energy sectors
• Identify and engage key decision-makers within target accounts
• Conduct outbound outreach and discovery calls to uncover hiring needs and build early-stage relationships
• Secure and lead pitch meetings to present SERT's recruitment services and value proposition
• Negotiate and close commercial agreements and terms of business, escalating to Director sign-off above agreed deal value thresholds
• Join job specification calls alongside the Delivery/Account Manager where the client relationship requires it (attendance optional, at your discretion)
• Manage relationships with existing client managers and departments to protect and grow accounts
• Lead quarterly face-to-face account reviews with key clients, with Delivery attending as backup support
• Land & expand: proactively engage new managers within existing client accounts to open new business lines
• Build and maintain relationships with senior client stakeholders
• Work towards individual and team new-business targets
• Keep up to date with market trends and industry developments across technical and green energy sectors

What We're Looking For

We're looking for people with the right attitude, mindset, and communication skills rather than a specific recruitment background. You'll likely be:

• Confident and comfortable opening conversations with people who don't know you yet
• Commercially minded with a genuine sales-hunter mentality
• Naturally relationship-focused and able to build rapport and credibility quickly
• Motivated by new-business targets, progression, and personal success
• Resilient and persistent — comfortable with rejection and outbound prospecting

We particularly value people who are:

• Curious and inquisitive, always asking questions and seeking to understand a client's business
• Action-oriented with a strong bias for getting things done
• Adaptable and coachable, with a willingness to learn and evolve
• Self-starters who can thrive in a dynamic environment
• High in emotional intelligence (EQ), able to read situations and build trust effectively
• Driven by long‑term client relationships rather than short‑term wins

Previous Experience

We welcome applicants from backgrounds such as:

• Business Development
• Account Management
• Retail or Hospitality Leadership
• Call Centre or Telesales Environments

Previous recruitment or 360 experience is beneficial but not essential.

What SERT Offers

• Comprehensive training and ongoing development
• Clear progression opportunities
• Supportive and ambitious team culture
• Opportunity to work within high-growth technical and green energy markets
• Competitive salary and uncapped commission structure