Business Development Manager - (remote)

Babington; England; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 40,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 Days annual leave plus Bank hollidA

Additional annual leave purchasescheme

Job summary

Babington is seeking a Regional Business Development Manager to build employer partnerships across England, promoting our Business Foundation Pathway Programme and securing apprenticeship opportunities. The role is remote with occasional travel in England, and offers a base salary of £38,000–£40,000 with uncapped bonus (OTE).

You will work with SMEs to recruit apprentices in professional business disciplines, help employers address skills gaps, and support learners into meaningful careers.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to generate new business opportunities and manage a sales pipeline.
• Experience engaging and influencing senior stakeholders and business owners.
• Strong relationship-building and networking skills.
• Commercial awareness and a results-driven mindset.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work independently across a national territory.
• Apprenticeship, education, training, recruitment, or employability sector experience (Desirable).
• Knowledge of apprenticeship funding and workforce development programmes (Desirable).

Responsibilities

• Develop new employer partnerships across England and secure apprenticeship opportunities.
• Promote and grow our Business Foundation Pathway Programme.
• Identify recruitment opportunities with SMEs.
• Recruit apprenticeship vacancies within professional business disciplines.
• Support young people in securing professional business apprenticeships.
• Help employers attract, develop and retain emerging talent.
• Build strong relationships with business owners and decision-makers.
• Manage a full business development cycle from prospecting to vacancy placement.
• Advise on apprenticeship solutions and workforce development.
• Support national initiatives reducing NEET.
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure employer and learner outcomes.

Skills

New business development

Sales pipeline management

Stakeholder engagement

Relationship building

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Independent working

Commercial awareness

Education

Experience in apprenticeship sector

Job description

Help Young People Launch Their Careers. Help SMEs Build Their Future Workforce.

Are you a consultative sales professional who wants to do more than just hit targets?

At Babington, we’re looking for a passionate and commercially driven Business Development Managers to support employers across England and promoting our Business Foundation Pathway Programme. You’ll be at the heart of helping businesses recruit future talent, supporting social mobility, and making a real contribution to tackling the NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) agenda.

If you’re motivated by building relationships, creating opportunities, and making a measurable difference, we’d love to hear from you.

Location:

Remote based role with occasional travel in England

Salary: £38,000 - £40,000 base salary with uncapped bonus (OTE)

Hours:

37.5 a week - Monday to Friday

As a Regional Business Development Manager, you’ll be responsible for developing new employer partnerships and securing apprenticeship opportunities across England.

Working closely with SMEs, you’ll demonstrate how recruiting apprentices through our Business Foundation pathway can help businesses address skills gaps, build sustainable talent pipelines, and support long-term growth.

Your role will focus on:

• Promoting and growing our Business Foundation Pathway Programme
• Engaging with SMEs across England to identify recruitment opportunities
• Recruiting apprenticeship vacancies within professional business disciplines
• Supporting young people in securing professional business apprenticeships
• Helping employers attract, develop and retain emerging talent
• Building strong relationships with business owners and decision-makers
• Managing a full business development cycle from prospecting through to vacancy placement
• Acting as a trusted advisor on apprenticeship solutions and workforce development
• Supporting national initiatives aimed at reducing the number of young people who are NEET
• Working collaboratively with internal teams to ensure excellent employer and learner outcomes

Why This Role Matters

This isn’t just another business development role.

Every employer partnership you secure creates opportunities for young people to start meaningful careers. Every apprenticeship vacancy you generate helps a business strengthen its future workforce. Your work will directly contribute to:

• Creating professional career pathways through apprenticeships
• Helping SMEs access high-quality talent
• Driving regional and national economic growth
• Tackling the NEET agenda and improving social mobility

Experience and Knowledge:

• Proven ability to generate new business opportunities and manage a sales pipeline
• Experience engaging and influencing senior stakeholders and business owners
• Strong relationship-building and networking skills
• Commercial awareness and a results-driven mindset
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to work independently across a national territory
• Apprenticeship, education, training, recruitment, or employability sector experience (Desirable)
• Knowledge of apprenticeship funding and workforce development programmes (Desirable)

*Due to the nature of this role a driving licence and ability to travel in England.

At Babington, we’re passionate about developing better futures for our learners and our people, and our values run through everything we do:

Curious. Passionate. Brave. Determined. Caring.

We’re proud to be an inclusive employer and welcome applications from diverse backgrounds. You’ll join a supportive, ambitious team where your ideas are heard, your development matters, and your work makes a difference.

Babington Engage

• 25 Days annual leave plus Bank holidays
• Additional annual leave purchase scheme

We’ll be conducting interviews on a continuous basis and reserve the right to take down the advert when we have found the right candidate.

The Knovia Group is committed to safeguarding, protecting and promoting the welfare of learners, children, young people and vulnerable adults. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

We expect all colleagues to share this commitment and to contribute to a culture where people feel safe, respected and able to achieve their potential. As part of our safer recruitment processes, appropriate pre-employment checks, including DBS, right to work, reference and social media checks where required, will be undertaken.

We’re a Disability Confident Employer and have a guaranteed interview scheme in place to ensure that nobody is overlooked or discriminated against because of their disability. If you meet the minimum criteria when you apply and you have informed us in your application that you have a disability, you will be guaranteed an interview for that role.

To promote and maintain an inclusive working environment, as part of your application process we will ask you to share data on certain characteristics. These answers will not form part of the selection and recruitment process and will not be shared with anyone outside of the People Team.

Babington is committed to the safeguarding and wellbeing of our learners and colleagues and we implement robust safer recruitment practices to support this. Dependent on the role you are applying for, we may undertake a number of necessary checks to confirm you are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults, which may include a Disclosure and Barring Service check. We are also committed to promoting equality and inclusion throughout our colleague and learner populations.