Business Development Executive

Working Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM UK Hours

Salary: R25,000.00 CTC

Location: Remote

Reports To: Founder

About the Role

We are looking for a driven and commercially minded Business Development & Commercial Executive to join a growing Microsoft consultancy. This will be a key commercial role, working directly alongside the Founder to build the company’s sales pipeline and establish the processes needed to support long-term growth.

The successful candidate will be responsible for identifying new markets and prospective clients, researching key decision-makers, generating and qualifying leads, and developing strong relationships with potential customers and strategic partners. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys business development and wants to play an active role in building the commercial function of a growing company from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development & Lead Generation

• Research and identify prospective organisations and new commercial opportunities.
• Identify and connect with key decision-makers within target organisations.
• Build and maintain high-quality prospect and lead lists.
• Conduct outbound prospecting through LinkedIn, email and telephone.
• Build relationships with prospective customers and generate qualified opportunities.
• Develop relationships with referral partners, Microsoft partners, MSPs and professional networks.
• Attend networking events where appropriate.
• Arrange qualified discovery meetings for the Founder.

Market Research & Commercial Strategy

• Work closely with the Founder to identify and refine target sectors.
• Research industries, organisations and relevant market trends.
• Help define and continuously improve the company’s ideal customer profile.
• Identify new markets and opportunities for business growth.
• Provide feedback and commercial insights from the market to help shape the company’s go-to-market strategy.

Pipeline & Opportunity Management

• Qualify prospective clients to understand their organisation, challenges, needs and objectives.
• Maintain an organised and accurate sales pipeline.
• Follow up consistently with prospects throughout the sales process.
• Maintain momentum following discovery meetings and proposals.
• Ensure all prospect and opportunity information is accurately captured within the CRM.
• Monitor pipeline activity and contribute to weekly commercial updates.

Commercial Operations

• Work with the Founder to develop and improve sales processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve prospecting and outreach strategies.
• Maintain high-quality CRM data and accurate records.
• Monitor sales activity and pipeline performance.
• Help establish repeatable lead-generation and business-development processes as the company grows.

Requirements

• Previous experience in Business Development, Sales, B2B Sales, Lead Generation, Recruitment, Account Management, Customer Success or a similar commercial role.
• Strong prospecting and relationship-building skills.
• Confident communicating with senior stakeholders and decision-makers.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Strong research skills and the ability to identify relevant organisations and contacts.
• Commercially minded with the ability to recognise potential business opportunities.
• Highly organised, self-motivated and comfortable working independently.
• Proactive and willing to take initiative rather than waiting for direction.
• Resilient, positive and comfortable working toward commercial targets.
• Experience within technology, software or professional services would be advantageous.
• Microsoft technology experience is advantageous but not required.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who is naturally curious, confident and commercially driven. This position would suit someone who enjoys speaking to people, researching potential opportunities and building relationships from scratch.

As the company’s first commercial hire, this is not a traditional sales position where you will inherit an established pipeline and sales process. You will work closely with the Founder to help build these processes and will have the opportunity to directly influence how the company approaches business development and commercial growth.

The Founder will remain responsible for technical discussions, solution design, proposal writing and project delivery, allowing you to focus primarily on developing relationships, generating opportunities and building a strong commercial pipeline.