Business Development Executive

More Years; Nottingham; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic pet food start-up in the UK is seeking a Business Development Lead to identify, build, and scale partnerships that align with their mission of improving pet health. You will navigate fast-scaling challenges, support international expansion, and influence commercial direction. The ideal candidate has strong experience in business development or partnerships within consumer-focused industries. Benefits include health coverage, a learning budget, and flexible work options.

Benefits

Car allowance

Extensive health care cover

Annual Learning & Development budget

Annual Wellbeing budget

Up to 2 weeks working abroad

Monthly recognition program

Volunteer day per year

Subsidised team events

Exclusive discounts

Lunch & Learn sessions

Casual dress

Your birthday off

Sell unused holiday

Qualifications

• Strong experience in business development, partnerships, or growth roles.
• Proven ability to build commercial cases and deliver outcomes.
• Excellent relationship-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Identify and develop new commercial opportunities.
• Drive cross-functional delivery on live projects.
• Shape new commercial models for future initiatives.

Skills

Business development

Commercial strategy

Partnership building

Data analysis

Communication skills

Adaptability

Job description

Join Our Pack🐶🍽️

From a bold idea to revolutionising dog food, Years has grown into a fast-scaling business dedicated to helping dogs live longer, healthier lives.

In just 3 years, we’ve built a great start up business, serving happy customers, all while striving to achieve our mission.

Our goal? To give dog owners a better, fresher, and healthier way to feed their pets. We provide human cut, personalised meals designed to support each dog’s unique needs, delivered straight to their door - no preservatives, no compromises, just real nutrition.

You can find our customers across the UK, with future ambitions to scale internationally and continue transforming how people care for their dogs.🚀

Your Mission

In this hybrid role (2 days in the office, 3 days in the field), your mission is to identify, build and scale high-impact partnerships that grow Years’ reach while staying true to our brand values. You’ll balance hands-on delivery with strategic thinking - spotting opportunities, validating ideas quickly and shaping commercial pathways that support both UK and future international growth.

1. Team Purpose & Challenges

• Secure new partnership opportunities that expand Years’ reach and growth but most importantly fit with our brand values.
• Navigate fast-scaling challenges by prioritising high-value initiatives and validating ideas quickly.
• Build repeatable, scalable partnerships while staying ahead of evolving customer and market needs.

2. Strategic Focus & Priorities

• Identify and deliver high-impact partnerships, channels, and market opportunities.
• Support international expansion and build frameworks that enable long-term scalable growth.
• Balance fast execution with shaping strategic commercial pathways for the future.

3. Reporting & Leadership

• Report directly to the Head of Retail with increasing ownership of major workstreams.
• Influence commercial direction through regular engagement with senior leadership.
• Evolve responsibilities as the business scales, contributing to both delivery and strategy.

4. Collaboration

• Partner closely with Marketing, Product, Operations, Finance, and Customer Experience.
• Lead cross-functional projects such as market assessments, GTM plans, and proposition testing.
• Ensure initiatives are aligned, operationally viable, and customer centric.

5. Hands-On vs. Strategic Balance

• Blend strategic thinking with hands-on delivery of key initiatives.
• Lead workstreams end-to-end, from commercial modelling to external partner engagement.
• Stay close to detail while driving long-term commercial impact and opportunity creation.

Key Responsibilities

Identify and develop new commercial opportunities through outreach, research, and partner conversations :

• Build business cases, analyse performance data, and track the impact of ongoing initiatives.
• Drive cross-functional delivery on live projects, coordinating with Marketing, Product, Ops, and CX to keep pace on growth.
• Develop scalable partnership and channel strategies that support UK growth and international expansion.
• Shape new commercial models, propositions, and go-to-market frameworks for future initiatives.
• Lead high impact workstreams that influence long-term commercial direction and investment decisions.

Requirements

What You'll Bring

Strong experience in business development, commercial strategy, partnerships, or growth roles within a fast-paced consumer, eCommerce, subscription, FMCG, or start-up environment :

• A proven ability to spot opportunities, build commercial cases, and turn ideas into high-impact outcomes.
• Confidence working with data — from market sizing to performance analysis — to support clear decisions.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence internally and externally.
• A proactive, curious, and resilient approach, comfortable navigating ambiguity and testing new ideas quickly.
• The versatility to switch between hands-on execution and strategic thinking as priorities evolve.
• A genuine passion for improving the lives of pets and building products that make a real difference to owners.

Benefits

What’s In It For You? Years Benefits

• Car allowance (specific to role)
• Extensive health care cover including full cancer coverage and a choice of hospitals or consultants (AXA top package)
• Annual £250.00 Learning & Development budget for courses, books or other self-learn activities
• Annual £100.00 Wellbeing budget
• Up to 2 weeks working abroad per year (selected roles)
• Monthly recognition through our Yappa of The Month programme
• 1 Volunteer day per year – dog themed or not : it’s your choice!
• Subsidised employee groups – from five a side to padel there’s loads to get involved in or the chance to start up your own group
• Quarterly subsidised team events from Axe throwing, crazy golf to cocktail making
• Exclusive discounts on Years and Years treats for yourself and friends / family
• Lunch & Learn programme – from dog first aid to financial savviness we’ve got sessions planned to cover all kinds of topics
• Casual dress
• Your birthday off or different day if it falls on a non-working day
• Ability to sell any unused holiday back to Years at the end of the Holiday Year (maximum 1 working week)