Business Development Director - Maternity Cover (9 month FTC)

Times Higher Education; Madrid; On-site; EUR 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Times Higher Education in Madrid, Spain, is seeking a Business Development Director on a maternity cover contract. You will lead enterprise sales, identify strategic opportunities, and build partnerships with universities and corporate partners to drive growth.

You will manage end-to-end deal processes, mentor a growing team, and navigate complex procurement, tenders and RFPs while traveling to key markets.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in business development or enterprise sales within a data, information or SaaS business, including leading or mentoring others.
• Proven record of winning large new logos and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals.
• Experience selling into higher education (or adjacent corporate organisations) with understanding of university decision-making.
• Experience building partnerships or channels (e.g. government bodies, consortia, foundations).
• Credible with senior leaders such as Vice-Chancellors, DVCs, Registrars and CIOs or equivalent stakeholders.
• Grounded in a formal sales methodology and qualification framework (e.g. BANT); confident Salesforce user with disciplined forecasting.
• Experience across international markets; willingness to travel.
• Experience with tenders and RFPs, including public-sector, private-sector or university procurement processes.

Responsibilities

• Develop market-entry and growth strategies for priority regions and segments, contributing to go-to-market planning and sales strategy.
• Identify and pursue high-value institutional opportunities, leading complex sales involving multiple stakeholders.
• Build relationships with senior university leaders and sector influencers.
• Develop strategic partnerships that support growth objectives.
• Support, train and mentor Business Development Managers.
• Qualify new opportunities quickly and route through the Deal Desk for approval; log contract value and dates.

Skills

Enterprise sales

Strategic partnerships

Mentoring

Forecasting

Salesforce

Deal negotiations

Public-sector procurement

Travel willingness

Higher education sales

Job description

Business Development Director - Maternity Cover (9 month FTC)
Based in Madrid, Spain

Times Higher Education is the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. As the company behind the world’s most influential university ranking, and with almost five decades of experience as a source of analysis and insight on higher education, we have unparalleled expertise on the trends underpinning university performance globally. Our data and benchmarking tools are used by many of the world’s most prestigious universities to help them achieve their strategic goals and our events series act as the home of higher education thought leadership around the world.

About the role

The Business Development Director is responsible for winning strategic new business opportunities and accelerating market expansion across priority institutions, regions and sectors – identifying and establishing relationships with the world’s most ambitious universities or Corporate Partners to support them with complex strategic challenges. The role focuses on enterprise-level sales, complex procurement processes, strategic partnerships and major growth opportunities.

Business Development owns new institutions through to close; once a deal is won, the institution moves to Account Management to ensure impactful delivery as well as for retention and future growth.

Key Responsibilities

Market strategy & expansion

• Develop market-entry and growth strategies for priority regions and segments, contributing to go-to-market planning and sales strategy.


• Identify emerging opportunities and underserved markets.


• Maintain competitive intelligence and run win/loss reviews on closed deals, sharing insights with Product and Marketing.

Enterprise sales

• Identify and pursue high-value institutional opportunities, leading complex sales involving multiple stakeholders.


• Build relationships with senior university leaders and sector influencers.


• Manage major procurement exercises, tenders and RFP processes.


• Structure large-scale commercial agreements and partnerships.

Partnerships

• Develop strategic partnerships that support growth objectives.

Team leadership

• Support, train and mentor/ or manage dependent on requirement, Business Development Managers.

Deal process & handover

• Qualify new opportunities within 2 business days of first contact and log discovery in the CRM.


• Route bespoke or high-value deals through the Deal Desk for approval, bringing delivery specialists into pre sale where needed.


• Mark deals Closed-Won and log contract value and dates within 24 hours of contract, then hand over to Account Management with a strong brief.

Skills & Experience

• Significant experience in business development or enterprise sales within a data, information or SaaS business, including leading or mentoring others.


• A proven record of winning large new logos and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals.


• Experience selling into higher education (or adjacent corporate organisations), with an understanding of how universities make decisions.


• Experience building partnerships or channels (e.g. government bodies, consortia, foundations).


• Credible with senior leaders such as Vice-Chancellors, DVCs, Registrars and CIOs or equivalent corporate stakeholders.


• Grounded in a formal sales methodology and qualification framework (e.g. BANT); confident Salesforce user with disciplined forecasting.


• Experience across international markets; willingness to travel.


• Experience with tenders and RFPs, including public-sector, private-sector or university procurement processes.

You do You
You do You. With colleagues located around the world, we know that our individuality and diversity of experiences are our greatest strengths. That’s why we want THE to be a place where you are welcome to be who you want to be at work; where you can share whatever part of your life or self-identity you want, without obligation or facing discrimination; and where all abilities and perspectives are recognised and accommodated.