Business Development Specialist

National Physical Laboratory (NPL); Teddington; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is seeking a Business Development Specialist to engage industry-leading clients, understand needs, and align our capabilities with customer goals. You will help articulate value and drive opportunities across our advanced manufacturing portfolio.

You will support proposals, tenders and bids, while developing external and internal relationships to ensure every business opportunity is explored. The role focuses on growth, collaboration, and industry leadership.

Qualifications

• Superior interpersonal, networking and communication skills.
• Strong relationship management and ability to explain complex technical concepts.
• Proven track record to meet or exceed targets and goals.
• Positive and energetic phone skills, listening and writing abilities.
• Proficient with standard productivity tools (email, MS Office, CRM).
• Self-motivated with ability to work independently and in a team.

Responsibilities

• Client Interaction: nurture current and prospective clients via phone and email.
• Follow-up: qualify inbound leads and schedule follow-up meetings.
• Inspiration: develop customer relationships and buy-in to the NPL brand.
• Development of a sales pipeline and achieve monthly targets with the team.
• Participate in meetings and customer events.
• Master industry trends and best practices; utilize new tech and resources.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Networking

Communication

Relationship management

Proactive attitude

Self-motivation

Excellent writing skills

CRM applications

MS Office

Tools

CRM applications

MS Office

Job description

About the Role

Put simply, we set the standards by which everything is measured. In doing so, the National Physical Laboratory is directly helping innovators and industrialists to make ground breaking discoveries, adopt novel technologies and scale up manufacturing processes for economic impact, productivity and national prosperity.

About the role:

The Business Development team is in the true epicentre of NPL activity. As we continue to discover innovative applications for our work, the opportunity for growth is clear.

As Business Development Specialist, you’ll enjoy incredible opportunities to engage with and advise industry‑leading clients. You’ll soon be an expert in our products and capabilities that have made NPL an innovator in the advanced manufacturing sector.

It’s about understanding what we do, listening to potential customers’ needs and seeing how we can join the two together in a mutually beneficial way. Excitingly, you’ll have the opportunity to support proposals, tenders, and bids.

You’ll also focus on developing relationships - externally and internally- so that no stone goes unturned, and every business opportunity is explored.

Day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Client Interaction: nurturing our current and prospective clients via phone and email. We want customers to feel excited and comfortable with our products and services
• Follow-up: Receive & qualify inbound leads by assessing the prospect's needs, qualifying the opportunity, and scheduling follow-up meetings
• Inspiration: build and develop customer relationships by aiding a “buy in” to the NPL brand; including company vision, business model and “no stress” collaborative approach to sales
• Development and maintenance of a sales pipeline: Achieve both personal and group monthly metric targets in conjunction with wider team strategy
• Participate in company meetings and customer events
• Master industry trends and best practices, including utilization of new technology and resources

About You

The ideal Business Development Specialist will possess superior interpersonal, networking and communication skills with a strong awareness of appropriate behaviour when supporting customers.

By utilising our incredible suite of equipment and laboratories, you’ll enjoy educating and inspiring our clients through demonstrating our capabilities in research excellence for consultancy.

Essential Criteria

• A team player with a proactive, never-fail attitude in the face of adversity or ambiguous situations.
• You should have the ability to work and motivate yourself independently while also working with teammates for the greater good of the team and Organisation
• Self-motivated & passionate with ability to work effectively in a collaborative sales environment
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to explain complex technical concepts
• Proven track record to meet or exceed targets and goals
• Positive and energetic phone skills, excellent listening skills, strong writing skills
• Proficient with standard productivity tools (email, voicemail, MS Office, internet navigation, CRM applications)

It would be advantageous to have experience in:

• Manufacturing Engineering and Manufacturing Systems Integration
• Clean Growth Technologies (including materials for hydrogen, electrification of propulsion, novel electronics, wind turbines, batteries manufacture and assembly)
• Industrial Digitalisation / Digital Engineering (the development of techniques to transform physical test into data driven engineering design, simulation, and certification)
• Advanced materials testing and verification (including graphene, test and characterisation, composites, meta materials)
• Semiconductors (including test and verification for design, packaging and manufacture, especially of compound semiconductors)
• Instrumentation development and use (including novel techniques for test, measurement and control)

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that nationality, residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work at NPL, you will need to obtain BPSS security clearance.

You will need to have an SC clearance with no restrictions, or you must have the ability to obtain an SC clearance.

About Us

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a world-leading centre of excellence that provides cutting‑edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK. Find out more about what it is like working here - The measure of us - Overview

NPL and DSIT have strong commitments to diversity and equality of opportunity, and welcome applications from candidates irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or age, providing they meet the required criteria. Applications from women, disabled and black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates in particular are encouraged.

All disabled candidates (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) who satisfy the minimum criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

At NPL, we believe our success is a result of the diversity and talent of our people. We strive to nurture and respect individuals to ensure everyone feels valued by treating everyone on the basis of their own individual merits and abilities regardless of their own or perceived identity, as part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we ensure we’re creating an environment where all our colleagues feel supported and welcome. More about this on our Diversity & Inclusion page.

We are committed to the health and well-being of our employees. Flexible working and social activities are embedded in our culture to create a positive work-life balance, along with a broad range of rewards, benefits and recognition. Our values are at the heart of what we do, and they shape the way we interact, develop our people and celebrate success. To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss, please contact us.