Enterprise - Business Development Representative

Forward; Illinois; On-site; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Forward Networks is looking for an experienced Business Development Representative to qualify inbound leads, conduct discovery, and set up meetings for Account Executives in the enterprise networking arena. You will articulate the value of a digital twin and help customers understand how our platform transforms networks.

You should have 2–3 years in business development or customer-facing roles, strong communication, curiosity, and the ability to learn quickly.

Qualifications

• 2–3 years in Business Development or customer-facing role.
• Experience in computer networking, SaaS or data/technology industry preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead Qualification: Respond to and qualify inbound leads from marketing campaigns, webinars, website inquiries, and other demand-generation activities.
• Prospect Engagement: Conduct discovery calls to understand prospects’ business needs, challenges, and potential use cases for Forward Networks.
• Meeting Generation: Schedule qualified meetings and demos for Account Executives to progress opportunities through the sales cycle.
• Messaging & Education: Clearly articulate Forward Networks’s value proposition and educate the prospects on the value of a digital twin.
• CRM Management: Maintain accurate and timely records in Salesforce, ensuring visibility into lead activity and pipeline.
• Collaboration: Partner with Marketing to provide feedback on lead quality and campaign effectiveness, and with Sales to ensure smooth handoffs.
• Continuous Learning: Stay up to date on Forward Networks’s platform and the dynamic changes in the networking, security and cloud infrastructure space.

Skills

Communication

Curiosity

Learning

Organization

Goal-oriented

Self-motivated

Tools

Salesforce

LinkedIn Navigator

Job description

Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry’s first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It’s the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We’re accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we’d rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment.

Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we’re most proud of our team: curious people who’d rather build what doesn’t exist than accept how things have always been done.

Forward Networks is looking for an experienced Business Development Representative

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Qualification: Respond to and qualify inbound leads from marketing campaigns, webinars, website inquiries, and other demand-generation activities.
• Prospect Engagement: Conduct discovery calls to understand prospects’ business needs, challenges, and potential use cases for Forward Networks.
• Meeting Generation: Schedule qualified meetings and demos for Account Executives to progress opportunities through the sales cycle.
• Messaging & Education: Clearly articulate Forward Networks’s value proposition and educate the prospects on the value of a digital twin.
• CRM Management: Maintain accurate and timely records in Salesforce, ensuring visibility into lead activity and pipeline.
• Collaboration: Partner with Marketing to provide feedback on lead quality and campaign effectiveness, and with Sales to ensure smooth handoffs.
• Continuous Learning: Stay up to date on Forward Networks’s platform and the dynamic changes in the networking, security and cloud infrastructure space.

Qualifications

• Experience: 2 - 3 years in Business Development, business development, or a customer-facing role (internship or full-time); knowledge of computer networking, SaaS or data/technology industry experience preferred

• Skills:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication.
  • Curiosity and ability to quickly learn technical concepts.
    Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
  • Goal-oriented and self-motivated.

• Tools: Familiarity with Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and other prospecting tools is preferred.

• Mindset: Energetic, coachable, resilient, and eager to build a career in enterprise sales.

The expected On-Target Cash Earnings for this role is between $100,000-$120,000 per year. Within this range, individual pay is determined by several factors including but not limited to, job-related skills, work experience, and relevant education/training