Business Development Executive

in our earlier post on Business Development careers, we covered the basic concepts of biz dev roles. as a follow-up, we now include the Business Development job description for a few sample roles at various levels of seniority right from Business Development manager to head of bd. the sample job descriptions should give you a good idea of the roles and responsibilities, reporting framework, compensation (salary and incentives) and the key skills needed.
check it out and decide if you see yourself growing in this field. industry knowledge, networking skills, marketing / sales orientation, appreciation of customer needs, high energy levels, ability to meet sales targets, communication & presentation skills, researching & prospecting skills, sound understanding of business principles.
this is one field where your basic qualifications are less relevant compared to your ability to ‘seal the deal’. the barriers to entry are minimal.for junior roles, almost anyone with a graduation degree (some employers might skip that too), a presentable personality and street smarts can get in. however for senior roles that go beyond sales, an understanding of the wider business practices is important.an educational background in business, accounting and economics would be appreciated by employers.a top mba can help you break the glass ceiling and open up doors to senior management level jobs. the compensation usually follows a base salary + commission structure. as lower levels, this isn’t much. there’s too much leg work (i.e. pure sales) but the incentives aren’t usually in proportion. as you get into the management grade (which generally need a significant amount of on-the-ground experience or a top mba or both), the base salary as well as the commission ranges go up.