Join the staff—Director of Business Development

Location: London, United Kingdom or New York, United States
Duration: Full-time
Salary: Competitive, plus benefits
Hours: 35 hours per week

About the role

Job purpose: At the IFRS Foundation, the Director of Business Development will lead a growing team tasked with expanding the organisation’s commercial relationships with companies, investors, accounting firms, consultants, law firms, corporate reporting software firms and corporate consultants. The role is responsible for all Earned Revenue sales goals and sales execution. The Director of Business Development will:

• drive strategies to reach and respond to prospective client firms that can benefit from using the product lines;
• take ownership of high-value client negotiations and relationship building; and
• work across teams to ensure that IFRS Sales is receiving the support it needs from other departments to work efficiently and effectively.  

The role works closely with many types of organisations in order to identify solutions that IFRS Foundation products can provide.  

Reports to: Director of Earned Revenue

Principal accountabilities 

Sales 

• Develop an enterprise sales strategy for all IFRS Foundation products.  
• Design and lead the sales strategy while communicating clearly, accurately and convincingly about IFRS Foundation offerings. 
• Manage, nurture and empower a high-performing sales team, setting stretch sales goals. Coach and develop the team to maximise their performance and potential. 
• Spearhead all high-value deals across all product lines. Deliver sales presentations as and when required. 
• Lead high-value sales opportunities exceeding established thresholds, encompassing comprehensive documentation preparation, tender submissions and execution of strategic negotiations to secure favourable outcomes.
• Cultivate ongoing client relationships and build a strategy for renewing and renegotiating with high-value existing clients. 
• Oversee the client response process for the Sales team. 
• Define a strategy to research key market segments and individual organisations, including key decision makers within those organisations, to identify potential clients for IFRS Foundation offerings. 
• Identify sales leads and leverage available networks to secure an introduction (IFRS Foundation networks, board members’ networks and/or your own network).  
• Oversee the collection of client feedback that can be fed into the product development process. 
• Collaborate with departments that support IFRS Sales to ensure the Sales team has the support it needs to succeed. 
• Develop product pricing strategy along with the Head of Earned Revenue and the Director of Product. 

Operations management and data analytics 

• Manage the team to ensure they are following and enforcing processes in Salesforce, to ensure good record-keeping on contact information for prospective organisational clients. 
• Manage the sales operation process and ensure it is operating efficiently, including the contracting between IFRS Legal and clients. 
• Develop tracking and dashboarding, showing the health of IFRS sales at all stages of the pipeline. 
• Maintain accurate records of sales (prospective and closed) in Salesforce and routinely review for data accuracy and completion. 

Qualifications and experience 

Essential

• Extensive and proven experience with demonstrated skills relevant to B2B business development. 
• Proven experience managing a high-performing sales team. 
• Experience creating and developing sales strategies that maximise revenue. 
• Proven track record of delegating work efficiently and effectively. 
• Experience with Salesforce or other CRM systems. 
• Experience with B2B/enterprise sales process required, with priority given to business development experience with large and mid-sized publicly listed companies around the world. 
• Experience with licensing intellectual property, the enforcement and management that it entails, is preferred. 
• Strong familiarity with ESG and sustainability preferred; if not, a strong desire to learn is critical. 
• Competency with Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint (preferred).

Skills and attributes

Essential

• Commitment to the mission of the IFRS Foundation. 
• Ability to nurture and coach a sales team.
• Enthusiasm and comfort in fast-changing conditions—flexibility is important. 
• Strong analytical skills with a proven ability to identify trends, build forecasts and project impacts.   
• Tremendous organisational skills and attention to detail.  
• Service-oriented and strategic mindset, with the ability to prioritise and manage many tasks simultaneously. 
• Execution-oriented, able to get tasks and projects done quickly while maintaining excellent quality. 

Preferred

• Strong process orientation; able to identify and implement improvements.  
• Right to work in the United Kingdom or United States.  

To apply

Please apply via our job board and include the following:

• your full CV/Resume; and
• a short covering letter (no more than two pages). This should explain your interest in the role and is your opportunity to demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role.

Deadline for applications: 6 June 2025

Please note that while we have a closing date for this application, we reserve the right to interview candidates and potentially close the role early should we find a suitable candidate before the closing date.

IFRS Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics.