Senior Business Development Manager

RELX INC; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Aid

Retirement plan

Disability cover

Critical-illness cover

Life and funeral cover

Study leave

Job summary

LexisNexis Legal & Professional, part of RELX, is hiring a Senior Business Development Manager in Johannesburg. The role focuses on driving revenue growth through complex-deal leadership, coaching, disciplined pipeline management, and cross-pod collaboration.

The successful candidate will manage both existing-book growth and new-logo acquisitions. You will influence deals, support qualification, strategy, and negotiation while ensuring governance and compliance across pricing and contracting.

Qualifications

• Senior commercial experience across new-business acquisition, account growth, and retention.
• Success influencing complex, high-value, multi-stakeholder deals.
• Strong coaching capability without formal people-management authority.

Responsibilities

• Deliver commercial targets across existing-book growth, retention, and new-logo acquisition.
• Lead or support complex, high-value opportunities and progress them to commercially sound closure.
• Coach Account Managers and Business Development Managers in prospecting, discovery, value articulation, negotiation, closing, and account growth.
• Build capability through joint customer engagements, field coaching, deal reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Prioritise coaching and deal support across pods based on commercial needs and risks.

Job description

Johannesburg

Full time

R

About the Role

The Senior Business Development Manager is a senior individual-contributor role responsible for commercial performance across an assigned sector or sub-sector. You'll drive revenue growth through complex-deal leadership, cross-pod coaching, disciplined pipeline management, and flexible capacity cover, while carrying the commercial result for your assigned scope. You'll lead through commercial expertise, collaboration, and influence. You'll carry a blended existing-book and new-logo commercial target.

About the Team

LexisNexis Legal & Professional serves customers in more than 150 countries and is part of RELX. We use AI and advanced technologies to improve productivity and transform the business and practice of law.

Responsibilities

Commercial Performance and Deal Leadership

• Deliver commercial targets across existing‑book growth, retention, and new‑logo acquisition.
• Lead or support complex, high-value opportunities and progress them to commercially sound closure.
• Support opportunity qualification, deal strategy, negotiation, and customer engagement.

Sales Coaching and Capability Building

• Coach Account Managers and Business Development Managers in prospecting, discovery, value articulation, negotiation, closing, and account growth.
• Build capability through joint customer engagements, field coaching, deal reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Prioritise coaching and deal support across pods based on commercial needs and risks.

Pipeline and Forecast Management

• Drive disciplined pipeline creation, progression, and qualification.
• Support pipeline inspections, deal reviews, and evidence-based forecasting.
• Identify conversion, coverage, and revenue risks and recommend corrective actions.

Commercial Cover and Collaboration

• Provide defined, time-bound commercial support during vacancies, leave, ramp‑up periods, or capacity gaps.
• Collaborate with Sales Operations, Product, and other stakeholders to resolve deal dependencies and improve customer outcomes.
• Maintain compliance with pricing, contracting, customer, data, and internal‑governance requirements.

Decision‑Making Authority: You may recommend deal strategies, prioritise coaching, challenge forecasts, and coordinate agreed commercial cover with the relevant Manager or Head.

Requirements

• Senior commercial experience across new‑business acquisition, account growth, and retention.
• Success influencing complex, high‑value, multi‑stakeholder deals.
• Strong coaching capability without formal people‑management authority.
• Relevant sector, customer, product, and commercial‑model knowledge.
• Advanced pipeline management, forecasting, negotiation, and closing skills.
• Ability to balance competing commercial demands across teams.
• Strong stakeholder influence, communication, judgement, and ethical‑selling skills.
• Ability to lead through expertise, share best practice, and strengthen commercial execution.

How Success Is Measured

• Achievement of blended existing‑book and new‑logo commercial targets.
• Pipeline quality, coverage, progression, and forecast accuracy.
• Complex‑deal conversion and commercially sound wins.
• Measurable coaching impact and improved seller capability.
• Effective commercial cover and revenue continuity.
• Cross‑functional collaboration and governance compliance.

About the Business

LexisNexis Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision‑making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world.

Work in a Way That Works for You

We promote a healthy work‑life balance and support flexible working hours to help you work when you're most productive.

Working for You

Benefits in South Africa include Medical Aid, a retirement plan with disability, critical‑illness, life and funeral cover, modern family benefits including adoption and surrogacy, and study leave.

We know your well‑being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits.

We are committed to providing a fair and accessible hiring process.

We are an equal opportunity employer: qualified applicants are considered for and treated during employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship status, disability status, protected veteran status, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

USA Job Seekers: EEO Know Your Rights.

RELX is a global provider of information‑based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers, enabling them to make better decisions, get better results and be more productive.

Our purpose is to benefit society by developing products that help researchers advance scientific knowledge; doctors and nurses improve the lives of patients; lawyers promote the rule of law and achieve justice and fair results for their clients; businesses and governments prevent fraud; consumers access financial services and get fair prices on insurance; and customers learn about markets and complete transactions.

Our purpose guides our actions beyond the products that we develop. It defines us as a company. Every day across RELX our employees are inspired to undertake initiatives that make unique contributions to society and the communities in which we operate.