Senior Business Development Director

RWS; United States; Remote; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Business Development Director to lead strategic initiatives that foster long-term client relationships and drive revenue growth in the field of linguistic validation. This role demands a proactive approach to identify new business opportunities within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in sales, client management, and market analysis, ensuring alignment with regulatory compliance. Join a dynamic team that values innovation and collaboration, where your contributions will directly impact global communication and understanding. If you are passionate about breaking language barriers and thrive in a fast-paced environment, this opportunity is for you.

Benefits

Generous paid time off

401(k) Retirement plan with company match

Flexible work arrangements

Opportunities for professional development

Paid volunteer time

100% paid parental leave

Qualifications

• 5+ years in outbound revenue generating roles with a strong sales record.
• Experience in selling SaaS and B2B services, with proven negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive sales growth by targeting key pharmaceutical and biotech firms.
• Build long-term client relationships and ensure compliance with regulations.

Skills

Sales Strategies

Client Relationship Management

Market Analysis

Negotiation Skills

Communication Skills

Lead Generation

Organizational Skills

Self-Motivation

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Job Purpose

The Senior Business Development Director will be responsible for executing both strategic and tactical initiatives to establish and maintain long-term client relationships, ultimately driving new business opportunities and sustainable revenue growth with a focus on Linguistic Validation within COA and eCOA.

Leveraging deep expertise in product and business development, they proactively engage with clients to identify opportunities, foster strong partnerships, and contribute to overall business expansion.

Job Overview

Key Responsibilities

1. Sales & Revenue Growth
   • Identify and target pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, contract research organizations (CROs), and biotech firms needing regulatory-compliant localization services.
   • Develop and implement sales strategies to secure high-value contracts for clinical trial translations, regulatory submissions, and multilingual labeling.
   • Meet or exceed revenue targets by acquiring new clients and expanding services within existing accounts.
2. Lead Generation & Prospecting
   • Research and engage with localization managers, regulatory affairs teams, clinical operations leaders, and medical writers to understand their multilingual needs.
   • Generate leads through networking at industry events and conferences.
   • Leverage CRM data and industry reports to identify new business opportunities.
3. Client Relationship Management
   • Build and maintain long-term strategic relationships with key decision-makers.
   • Act as a trusted advisor by educating clients on the importance of linguistic validation, medical translation accuracy, and regulatory compliance (ISO 17100, EMA, FDA, MDR, IVDR, HIPAA, GDPR).
   • Ensure seamless client experience by aligning language services with clinical trial timelines, product launches, and global regulatory requirements.
4. Market & Competitive Analysis
   • Monitor industry trends, regulatory updates, and localization requirements across FDA, EMA, PMDA, and CFDA.
   • Analyze competitor offerings and position differentiated solutions such as AI-powered medical translation, linguistic validation, and structured content management.
   • Provide market intelligence to shape pricing strategies, service enhancements, and go-to-market approaches.
5. Proposal & Contract Negotiation
   • Develop and present tailored proposals, RFP responses.
   • Negotiate enterprise-level contracts for multilingual content workflows, medical translation technology integrations, and compliance-driven localization.
   • Ensure agreements align with industry regulations and quality standards (ISO 13485, ISO 9001, ISO 27001).
6. Cross-Functional Collaboration
   • Work closely with project managers and quality assurance teams to deliver high-quality, compliant translations.
   • Collaborate with the Solutions Team to deliver appropriate information and presentations to potential clients.
   • Contribute ideas and information to the America’s team.
7. Reporting & Performance Tracking
   • Maintain sales forecasts, pipeline data, and activity in Salesforce.
   • Track and analyze conversion rates, revenue growth, and service adoption trends to refine sales strategies.
   • Deliver market insights and quarterly business reviews to demonstrate ROI and quality improvements in localization efforts.
8. Networking & Industry Engagement
   • Represent the company at life sciences and localization conferences to build brand awareness and establish credibility.
   • Stay informed on new developments in AI translation, regulatory technology (RegTech), and multilingual compliance solutions.
   • Partner with clinical research organizations (CROs), regulatory consultants, med-tech and Pharma to expand business opportunities.

Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of experience in an outbound revenue generating role.
• Specialization selling Software (SaaS) and Services B2B.
• Proven track record of meeting sales targets.
• Ability to communicate software solutions and ideas in detail and at a high level.
• Ability to cold call into an organization and identify key decision makers and influencers.
• Self-motivated and able to appropriately set and pursue own goals in support of the organization's goals.
• Organized, flexible and able to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously; pays attention to detail and able to report results in a concise format.
• Able to plan, organize and follow job activities in accordance with their importance and respond appropriately to changes and interruptions.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce.com preferred, but not required.
• Must be a skilled communicator with a dynamic and engaging phone presence who excels in questioning and listening to determine the prospect's needs.
• Must be a fast learner who enjoys self-education.
• Must be able to generate well written correspondence to targeted customers.
• Focused, polite and persistent; knows how to learn and derive strength.

Location

Candidates must reside in State advertised to be considered: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

Benefits

• Amazing benefits! (Seriously!)
• Generous paid time off package, starting at 25 days per year (10 sick and 15 vacation), plus company holidays, birthday day off, paid volunteer time, and 100% paid parental leave.
• 401(k) Retirement plan with company match.
• Company-wide agile work policy with flexible work arrangements.
• Opportunities for training, professional development, and personal growth.

Base Pay

$80,000 - $100,000 / year

Actual rate of pay may vary based on factors including, but not limited to: position offered, location, education, training, and/or experience. Total compensation may also include variable incentives, bonuses, benefits, and/or other perks, as outlined in any formal offer made.

Life at RWS

At RWS, we’re here for one purpose: unlocking global understanding.

As a unique, world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content, and intellectual property services, we remove the barriers to communication to make global connection possible. Our unrivalled experience and deep understanding of language have been developed over more than 60 years. As we look to shape the future, our ambition is to create a world where understanding is universal for everyone.

We work with over 80% of the world’s top 100 brands, more than three-quarters of Fortune’s 20 ‘Most Admired Companies’ and almost all the top pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, law firms and patent filers. Our client base spans Europe, Asia Pacific and North and South America. Our 65+ global locations across five continents service clients in the automotive, chemical, financial, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications sectors.

Over the past 20 years we’ve been evolving our own AI solutions as well as helping clients to explore, build and use multilingual AI applications. With 45+ AI-related patents and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, we have the experience and expertise to support clients on their AI journey.

If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about breaking down language barriers and giving back to their communities, then you’ll love life at RWS. Our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong.

We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career. In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner with colleagues and clients, to adopt a pioneering spirit, to be positive in progressing the work we do, and always to deliver what we promise.

RWS Values

Get the 3Ps right – Partner, Pioneer, Progress – and we´ll Deliver together as One RWS.

For further information, please visit: RWS.

RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics.

Covid Vaccination - All RWS employees hired for positions that require working on-site at RWS offices, customer offices, travel on behalf of RWS, and/or in-person meetings will be required to comply with the RWS USA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Policy. RWS complies with federal, state, and local laws regarding accommodations related to this policy.

Recruitment Agencies: RWS Holdings PLC does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward any unsolicited resumes to any RWS employees. Any unsolicited resume received will be treated as the property of RWS and Terms & Conditions associated with the use of such resume will be considered null and void.

RWS is an Affirmative Action Employer. For more information about EEO/AAP legislation please visit: EEO/AAP legislation.