Business Development Manager (Greater China)

Times Higher Education; Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Times Higher Education is seeking a Business Development Manager for its Singapore office. The role focuses on outbound prospecting, building a pipeline, engaging senior stakeholders, and driving new revenue with universities and other institutions.

You will work across data, analytics, marketing, recruitment and events solutions, collaborating with cross-cultural teams and traveling as needed to grow new business in Asia Pacific.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in business development, new business sales or B2B sales.
• Experience working in Greater China markets.
• Experience in Data or SaaS sales is desirable.
• Strong proactive prospecting and lead-generation capability.
• Good understanding of CRM, pipeline management and sales forecasting.
• Demonstrated ability to create opportunities rather than relying on inbound leads or existing relationships.
• Strong discovery, qualification and consultative selling skills.
• Ability to engage confidently with multiple and senior stakeholders within complex organisations.
• Strong communication, presentation and influencing skills.
• Ability to manage multiple opportunities and maintain consistent sales activity.
• Commercial curiosity and the ability to understand customer needs and translate them into relevant solutions.
• Knowledge of the global higher education sector including government policies is desirable.
• Strong working proficiency in Mandarin Chinese.
• Willing to work irregular hours and travel internationally.
• The right to work in Singapore

Responsibilities

• Execute structured outbound sales activity across target institutions and defined territories.
• Proactively generate new business opportunities through phone, email, LinkedIn, events, referrals and other channels.
• Identify and engage decision-makers, influencers and users within target institutions.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified new business opportunities.
• Act on marketing-sourced leads quickly and effectively.
• Conduct discovery meetings and qualification calls to understand customer needs, priorities and buying processes.
• Map key stakeholders, buying committees and procurement processes within target institutions.
• Present THE's solutions in a way that is aligned to customer needs, strategic priorities and business objectives.
• Develop proposals, commercial recommendations and solutions that address identified customer requirements.
• Progress opportunities through the sales cycle, from initial prospecting and qualification through to conversion and close.
• Maintain consistent follow-up and momentum across active opportunities.
• Develop a strong understanding of target institutions, their priorities and relevant market developments.
• Work closely with Marketing on campaign follow-up, lead generation and conversion activities.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date stakeholder, account and opportunity information within CRM.
• Ensure sales activity, pipeline progression and forecasting information are recorded accurately and consistently.
• Monitor pipeline performance and proactively identify gaps against new business targets.

Skills

Business development

B2B sales

Lead generation

Stakeholder engagement

Sales forecasting

Public speaking

Cross-cultural collaboration

Travel readiness

Mandarin Chinese

Relationship building

Prospecting

Tools

CRM

Job description

Business Development Manager
Singapore Office

Times Higher Education is the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. As the company behind the world’s most influential university ranking, and with almost five decades of experience as a source of analysis and insight on higher education, we have unparalleled expertise on the trends underpinning university performance globally. Our data and benchmarking tools are used by many of the world’s most prestigious universities to help them achieve their strategic goals and our events series act as the home of higher education thought leadership around the world.

About the role

The Business Development Manager is responsible for generating and converting new business opportunities within defined territories and target institutions – expanding the breadth of universities THE are able to support via their data & analytics, marketing, recruitment and events solutions. The role is focused on proactive prospecting, opportunity creation, stakeholder engagement and revenue generation from new customers and previously unexplored relationships. This is a scale role: BDMs drive new business across a large number of institutions in their territory, while still engaging senior leadership stakeholders and hand newly engaged institutions to Account Management for impactful delivery as well as retention and future growth.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development & Prospecting

• Execute structured outbound sales activity across target institutions and defined territories.
• Proactively generate new business opportunities through phone, email, LinkedIn, events, referrals and other channels.
• Identify and engage decision-makers, influencers and users within target institutions.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified new business opportunities.
• Act on marketing-sourced leads quickly and effectively.

Opportunity Development & Sales

• Conduct discovery meetings and qualification calls to understand customer needs, priorities and buying processes.
• Map key stakeholders, buying committees and procurement processes within target institutions.
• Present THE's solutions in a way that is aligned to customer needs, strategic priorities and business objectives.
• Develop proposals, commercial recommendations and solutions that address identified customer requirements.
• Progress opportunities through the sales cycle, from initial prospecting and qualification through to conversion and close.
• Maintain consistent follow-up and momentum across active opportunities.

Market & Customer Engagement

• Develop a strong understanding of target institutions, their priorities and relevant market developments.
• Work closely with Marketing on campaign follow-up, lead generation and conversion activities.

CRM & Sales Operations

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date stakeholder, account and opportunity information within CRM.
• Ensure sales activity, pipeline progression and forecasting information are recorded accurately and consistently.
• Monitor pipeline performance and proactively identify gaps against new business targets.

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in business development, new business sales or B2B sales.
• Experience working in Greater China markets
• Experience in Data or SaaS sales is desirable.
• Strong proactive prospecting and lead-generation capability.
• Good understanding of CRM, pipeline management and sales forecasting.
• Demonstrated ability to create opportunities rather than relying primarily on inbound leads or existing relationships.
• Strong discovery, qualification and consultative selling skills.
• Ability to engage confidently with multiple and senior stakeholders within complex organisations.
• Strong communication, presentation and influencing skills.
• Ability to manage multiple opportunities and maintain consistent sales activity.
• Commercial curiosity and the ability to understand customer needs and translate them into relevant solutions.
• Knowledge and understanding of the global higher education sector including government policies is desirable
• Strong professional working proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, with the ability to communicate and conduct business confidently with stakeholders across Mainland China and Taiwan, in both spoken and written Chinese
• Experience working in a cross-cultural setting or working with international clients is desirable
• Willing to work irregular hours and travel internationally
• The right to work in Singapore

You do You
You do You. With colleagues located around the world, we know that our individuality and diversity of experiences are our greatest strengths. That’s why we want THE to be a place where you are welcome to be who you want to be at work; where you can share whatever part of your life or self-identity you want, without obligation or facing discrimination; and where all abilities and perspectives are recognised and accommodated.