Seller-Doer Coaching Lead

Delve Underground; Cleveland (OH); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 187,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full benefits program

401(k) & ESOP

Work from home flexibility

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Wellness reimbursement

Job summary

Delve Underground seeks a Lead Business Development Manager to head the Seller-Doer Coaching operation and grow a team of coaches focused on client development and winning work. You will set coaching standards and drive training across the organization, partnering with senior leadership to maximize impact.

You will coach, co-lead pursuit strategies, and manage a personal caseload while mentoring others toward Senior Coach roles. This role emphasizes servant leadership and measurable growth.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in AEC business development, marketing, or pursuit strategy.
• Deep knowledge of the AEC pursuit cycle, including go/no-go strategy, proposal development, and interview preparation.
• Proven track record of driving strategy for complex mega project pursuits.
• Experience in underground, transportation, water, or heavy civil markets preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, communications, marketing, business, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Sets coaching standards, portfolio caseload sizing, and curriculum for the Seller-Doer coaching team.
• Is a consulted party on mega pursuits go/no-go decisions; final authority rests with regional manager.
• Owns data accuracy for CRM entries with the coaching team.
• Lead, develop, and manage the Seller-Doer coaching team (senior and entry-to-mid).
• Co-lead Seller-Doer training programs with the Director of Growth and CSO.
• Drive intelligence, positioning, interview prep, and pursuit strategies for mega pursuits.
• Maintain a personal coaching portfolio sized to leave capacity for leadership.
• Build and maintain coaching standards, templates, and playbooks.
• Provide regular mentoring and career development paths for direct reports.
• Track coaching activity and outcomes; report to the Director of Growth.
• Coordinate with Proposal team on timelines, strategy docs, and interview prep materials.
• Identify emerging coaching talent and pathways into the coaching team.
• Participate in pursuit review meetings and prioritization with leadership.
• Coordinate efforts with senior leadership as appropriate.

Job description

About this position

About Delve Underground

Delve Underground is a leader in underground and heavy civil engineering serving the transportation, water, wastewater, and energy industries. Specializing in tunnel design, we provide practical solutions to the most challenging underground problems. We offer comprehensive design, construction management, and construction claims services, with expertise extending across a wide range of engineering disciplines, including civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering. Our primary focus is to make a significant impact on the advancement of infrastructure projects, which in turn shape and enhance the communities we serve. Founded in 1954, as Jacobs Associates, Delve Underground is an employee-owned firm with 25 offices and 350 team members throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

We want our employees to make a career doing what they love to do. We encourage an entrepreneurial spirit and help our team members forge their own path within the company. We support their efforts to stay on the cutting edge of technology while fostering a great work-life balance. In addition to working hard, we also have fun. We socialize and celebrate achievements at summer picnics, holiday parties, and company outings.

Lead Business Development Manager (Seller-Doer Coaching Lead)

Benefits: Full Benefits Program consisting of Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability, FSA or HSA, EAP, 401(k), ESOP, and company stock ownership program, 9 Paid Holidays, generous paid-time-off program, Work from home flexibility, and Health & Wellness Reimbursement

Pay: $103,033 - $186,818 annually

About the role

The Seller Doer Coaching Lead is a new position at Delve Underground. The head coach of Delve Underground's Seller-Doer coaching operation will lead and build a team of senior and entry-to-mid-level Seller-Doer coaches whose purpose is to make Seller-Doers more adept at client development and earning work. They will help develop Delve Underground’s Seller-Doer Coaching Program, and will run the training infrastructure, set the coaching standard, and work alongside the Director of Growth, Chief Strategy Officer, and Market Leads to ensure the firm's most important business development investment is delivering results.

This is a player-coach role. The team lead does not just manage coaches — they model what great coaching looks like and participate in coaching of selected individuals, co-leading pursuit strategy sessions, attending client meetings, and working through proposal reviews. As the coaching team grows, the personal caseload this role carries will adjust.

This is also a people-first, servant-leadership role that supports our Seller-Doers. This person leads a team whose entire job is developing other people's confidence and capability — that only works if the team lead's own coaches experience the same investment in their growth that they are asked to give Seller-Doers.

Key Responsibilities

• Sets coaching standards, portfolio caseload sizing, and curriculum for the Seller-Doer coaching team, in consultation with the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Director of Growth and Senior Seller-Doer Coaches.
• Is a required consulted party on every go/no-go decision for mega pursuits but does not hold final go/no-go authority — that rests with the Regional Manager for the pursuit's region.
• Is accountable, alongside every coach on the team, for the accuracy of pursuit and Seller-Doer data each coach enters into the CRM; this role owns the team's discipline in using it correctly.
• Lead, develop, and manage the Seller-Doer coaching team, including senior coaches and entry-to-mid coaches
• Co-lead Seller-Doer training programs alongside the Director of Growth and Chief Strategy Officer
• Drive the intelligence gathering, positioning, interview prep and pursuit strategies for the firm’s mega pursuits
• Carry a personal coaching portfolio of Seller-Doers requiring the highest level of pursuit support, sized to leave real capacity for team leadership
• Build, establish and maintain coaching standards, templates, and playbooks for consistent team-wide delivery
• Provide regular one-on-one mentoring and documented career development for every direct report, with a clear, actively supported path from Seller-Doer Coach to Senior Seller-Doer Coach
• Track coaching activity and outcomes across the team; report performance metrics to the Director of Growth
• Coordinate with the Proposal team on proposal timelines, pursuit strategy documents, and interview-preparation materials
• Identify emerging coaching talent within the firm and develop pathways into the Seller-Doer coaching team
• Participate in the firm's standing pursuit review meetings and pursuit prioritization as a required consulted party, alongside the Director of Growth, ahead of the relevant Regional Manager's go/no-go decision
• Coordinates efforts with senior leadership as appropriate.

Who You Are

• A natural coach who cares deeply about others' success and knows how to develop it
• A people-first, servant leader who measures your own success by your team's growth and retention as much as by pipeline results – you want to support people to success
• Competitive and team-oriented, capable of developing and executing winning strategies and pursuit plans
• Organized and accountable — you manage a team and a personal caseload without dropping anything
• Fluent in the AEC pursuit process, from early relationship-building through shortlist to interview
• Calm under pressure, and solutions‑oriented
• A relationship builder who earns trust with technical people who did not set out to be salespeople

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in AEC business development, marketing, or pursuit strategy, with demonstrated success in coaching, mentoring, or team leadership
• Deep knowledge of the AEC pursuit cycle, including go/no-go strategy, proposal development, and interview preparation
• Proven track record of driving the strategy of complex mega project pursuits
• Experience in underground, transportation, water, or heavy civil markets preferred
• Strong facilitation and communication skills; comfortable presenting to technical audiences and firm leadership
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, communications, marketing, business, or a related field

Success Metrics

• Coaching-team caseload and portfolio health against defined capacity thresholds, with positive feedback from those being coached
• Win rate and pipeline conversion among coached Seller-Doers
• Promotion rate from Seller-Doer Coach to Senior Seller-Doer Coach
• Direct‑report retention and engagement, gathered through regular one‑on‑ones or a pulse check, as a direct measure of this role's mentoring and people leadership
• Coaching activity and outcomes tracked and reported consistently in the CRM

Why This Role

This role is the operational center of Delve Underground's growth model. You will have a direct line to the Director of Growth, full support from firm leadership, a team of coaches to lead and develop, and a mandate to build a coaching culture that changes how the firm earns work.

Delve Underground is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and will make all employment related decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Compensation reflects the cost of labor across our geographic markets. Pay is based on several factors including market location, experience, knowledge, and skills.

No recruiters, please.