Senior Associate - R&D & Innovation Sales

Carter Murray; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full training and development

Flexible benefits platform

Pension and life assurance

Employee Assistance Programme

25 days holiday

25 days holiday

Job summary

A specialist advisory firm is seeking a driven Senior Associate to join its team in Greater London. You will engage with UK scale-ups in a high-growth ecosystem, developing a targeted pipeline of businesses and leading outreach efforts. Desired candidates are experienced in business development, have a curiosity for innovation, and can thrive in a collaborative environment. Key skills include client relationship management and commercial intelligence. The position offers opportunities for training and development along with flexible benefits.

Qualifications

• Experience in business development within professional services or a consultancy.
• Familiarity with UK scale-ups and innovation.
• Ability to build pipeline relationships from scratch.
• You thrive in a small, sociable team, value shared success, and enjoy working closely with another commercial lead.
• A background in technical disciplines (engineering, software, manufacturing) or financial/professional services is advantageous but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a target list of 300–400 UK scale-ups.
• Deliver revenue in line with annual targets.
• Conduct thoughtful outreach and present proposals.
• Deliver revenue in line with annual targets
• Lead predominantly cold outreach via phone, email, events and social channels
• Immerse yourself in the high‑growth and tech ecosystem to understand client drivers
• Attend relevant events, seminars and exhibitions to build relationships and insight
• Manage your pipeline through SalesLoft and MS Dynamics from prospect to close
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across the business to shape and win opportunities
• Translate client needs internally and coordinate early‑stage delivery support
• Build strong working knowledge of R&D Tax and Patent Box
• Write pitch documents and confidently present proposals
• Work flexibly across face‑to‑face and remote client interactions

Skills

Business development

Commercial intelligence

Client relationship management

Research and outreach

Communication

Tools

SalesLoft

MS Dynamics

Job description

Sector:

Innovation Advisory / R&D Tax / High‑Growth Ecosystem

The Opportunity

A specialist advisory firm is seeking a driven, intellectually curious Senior Associate to join its commercial team. You’ll immerse yourself in the UK’s high‑growth and innovation ecosystem, engaging with some of the most exciting scale‑ups and technology‑led businesses in the country. This is a complex, competitive market — success is earned through research, insight, timing and tenacity.

You’ll build a targeted pipeline of R&D‑rich businesses, understand their journey, and approach them at meaningful milestones with compelling, insight‑led outreach. This is a role for someone who loves creating something from nothing, thrives in a small high‑performing team, and brings both commercial sharpness and genuine curiosity.

What You’ll Do

• Build and manage a defined target list of 300–400 UK scale‑ups and innovation‑led businesses
• Track trends across the unicorn and future‑unicorn landscape
• Craft thoughtful, well‑researched outreach that tells a compelling story
• Deliver revenue in line with annual targets
• Lead predominantly cold outreach via phone, email, events and social channels
• Immerse yourself in the high‑growth and tech ecosystem to understand client drivers
• Attend relevant events, seminars and exhibitions to build relationships and insight
• Manage your pipeline through SalesLoft and MS Dynamics from prospect to close
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across the business to shape and win opportunities
• Translate client needs internally and coordinate early‑stage delivery support
• Build strong working knowledge of R&D Tax and Patent Box
• Write pitch documents and confidently present proposals
• Work flexibly across face‑to‑face and remote client interactions

Who This Suits

You’re an experienced business development professional from professional services, consultancy or another solutions‑led environment. You enjoy the challenge of building a pipeline from scratch and have the resilience to see it through. You understand scale‑ups, are naturally curious about innovation, and bring commercial intelligence to every conversation.

You thrive in a small, sociable team, value shared success, and enjoy working closely with another commercial lead. You prefer thoughtful, insight‑driven outreach over volume‑based selling and are motivated by both personal achievement and collective performance.

A background in technical disciplines (engineering, software, manufacturing) or financial/professional services is advantageous but not essential.

What Success Looks Like

• You quickly absorb financial and technical training and grow toward subject‑matter expertise
• You consistently deliver against revenue objectives
• You integrate seamlessly into a high‑performance, collaborative culture
• You become a trusted, credible business developer within the innovation ecosystem

What’s Offered

• Full training and development
• Flexible benefits platform (5% of salary contribution)
• Pension, life assurance (3x salary), private medical (post‑probation)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays, with buy/sell options