Business Development Manager, SocietyWorks - Remote

mySociety and SocietyWorks; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A civic technology charity is looking for a Business Development Manager to expand its client portfolio primarily in the UK local government sector. This role balances commercial objectives with social impact, requiring strong sales skills and the ability to build client relationships. The charity emphasizes a supportive work culture and offers a salary range of £40,000 to £50,000 annually, reviewed based on performance.

Benefits

4% employer pension contribution

Annual salary review

No commission structure

Qualifications

• Experience in business development or sales within Local Government or Public Sector.
• Ability to create accurate reports on sales progress against targets.
• Experience presenting to senior directors and elected representatives.

Responsibilities

• Deliver SocietyWorks’ mission aligned commercial objectives.
• Build and maintain relationships with clients.
• Conduct meetings and presentations with potential clients.

Skills

Proven sales track record

Excellent communication skills

Negotiation skills

Attention to detail

Self-starter

People skills

Tools

CRM software (e.g. Pipedrive)

Google Docs

MS Office

Job description

Overview

Are you looking for a business development role where you can use your sales skills to help make a real difference in society? A role where you’re not just selling for the sake of it, but selling to improve the way citizens like you interact with public authorities through high quality digital tools? A role where the sales you make are truly purposeful and rewarding? If it’s yes all round, it sounds like you’ve found the role you’re looking for.

SocietyWorks is the commercial division of the UK civic technology charity, mySociety, the organisation behind well loved services such as FixMyStreet, WhatDoTheyKnow, TheyWorkForYou and WriteToThem. We’re a unique not-for-profit group providing services to both citizens and public sector organisations which are used by over 11 million people annually and operate in over 40 countries worldwide.

We are an agile team working remotely from a mixture of home and co-working spaces. The role can involve significant travel for client meetings, conferences and events. We meet up regularly in teams, and as an organisation, in cities across the UK.

Our Business Development Manager will be self-motivated and strategically driven to expand SocietyWorks’ client portfolio, securing new sources of income from commercial customers primarily in the UK local government sector. They will become an expert in SocietyWorks’ product and capability USPs, and contextualise these within the wider social purposes that drive our work. They will build and maintain excellent relationships with existing and potential clients, and with the internal team, ensuring that secured sales are effectively handed over to the project delivery team. This role is unique in that it balances SocietyWorks’ commercial objectives within the ultimate purpose of extending the reach and impact of our parent charity, mySociety.

No recruiters or agencies, please.

What does the role involve?

• Deliver SocietyWorks’mission aligned commercial objectives
• Secure sales by seeking out early stage opportunities and influencing them through the sales pipeline stages, securing strategically aligned contracts
• Prepare robust and targeted tender, contract and administrative work for all stages of the sales pipeline
• Develop and maintain strong and productive relationships between SocietyWorks, its clients and potential clients
• Alongside the Commercial Director, identify new products, services and market sectors aligned with the SocietyWorks medium to longer term strategy
• Work with the Head of Marketing to ensure marketing and comms activity is aligned with the needs of targeting and lead generation
• Work proactively with the Head of Product and wider technical team for deep understanding of product capabilities and USPs

Business development

• Develop and execute a personal sales plan to identify, develop and close new business leads and expand our client base
• Arrange and lead on business meetings with prospective clients
• Represent SocietyWorks and promote the company’s products and services at trade shows, conferences and exhibitions
• Prepare quotes and respond to procurement activities
• Negotiate and prepare new sales contracts
• Maintain our database of customers, leads, prospects and personal sales target
• Prepare new business pitches and online procurement submissions
• Build long-term relationships with new and existing customers
• Liaise with internal stakeholders from the delivery team to ensure a smooth transfer from pre-sales to delivery phase
• Liaise with internal stakeholders from the marketing team to raise the profile of our client work and disseminate stories of impact through digital channels

Learning and knowledge sharing

• Document and share relevant client knowledge and insight with the internal team
• Develop a solid understanding of all the SocietyWorks products, know them inside out, ask questions internally to get a clear understanding of the USPs for each product
• Keep up to date with the activities of the wider mySociety group. This is about being knowledgeable and useful to network and build trust with clients and within the wider charitable group itself.
• Attend and contribute to team and company wide meetings

Requirements

• Proven sales track record and working experience as a business development manager, sales executive or a relevant role within the UK Local Government or Public Sector
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills. Comfortable presenting the full range of SocietyWorks services to senior directors and elected representatives through meetings and presentations
• Proficiency in online collaboration tools, Google Docs, MS Office and CRM software (e.g. Pipedrive)
• Ability to produce regular and accurate reports on sales progress against targets
• Ability to contextualise commercial activity within its ultimate social purpose

Skills/experience

• Great personal rapport and people skills, able to quickly make connections
• Demonstrable sales track record, both quantitatively in sales volume, and qualitatively in sectoral fit (civic technology and/or local government, housing or the NHS)
• An expert negotiator
• Attention to detail, time management and planning skills
• Self starter with the ability to work remotely and independently assessing, managing and ultimately closing opportunities
• Strong business sense, able to identify new opportunities and capitalise on market trends
• Strong and clear written and verbal communication
• Able to contribute to commercial strategy and direction
• Able to travel on a regular basis
• Willingness to develop technical knowledge and understanding appropriate to supporting the interplay between our technical team and the client

Have any questions? Drop an email to Yolanda Gomeson [e-mail]

This is a permanent role with a salary in the range of £40,000 to £50,000 (FTE) per year, plus pension (4% employer, 4% employee). As SocietyWorks operates within a not-for-profit group, there is no commission associated with this role, but the Business Development Manager's salary will be reviewed annually in line with performance.

You must be based in the UK and you need to have the right to work in this country.

You can read more about what it’s like working at mySociety at

mySociety Culture

Deadlines

The application deadline is Friday 31 October 2025 and interviews will take place over the following weeks via video conference. We will aim to notify applicants of whether or not they will be invited to interview by close of business on Friday 14 November 2025.

Application instructions

Your application should consist of a CV and covering letter. We’ll rely on your covering letter to show us why your skills make you a good fit for this role when we are shortlisting candidates, so take your time getting it right.

We will shortlist all applications anonymously. So please use your initials rather than your name on your CV and cover letter, and don’t include identifying details such as your name or email addresses on these attached documents.

We are particularly interested in improving the diversity of our team and we welcome applications from all suitably skilled and experienced people, and particularly from candidates with Black, Asian or other Minority Ethnic heritage, in line with our

EDI strategy.

We are monitoring our recruitment processes to ensure we are doing everything we can to encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We would ask you to please complete our optional equalities monitoring form. The information you share in the form will be anonymous and will not influence the assessment of your application.