Business Development Director

Target start date: April 2024

Salary range: $130,000-180,000 USD

About the position

Our Partnerships team in New York is growing. If you are a business development professional and have a passion for design, technology, and digital products, please read on.

With the belief that we can help the world to be more open, resilient, and optimistic, we work with clients we trust and admire across various industries, such as Open AI, Getty, Nike, and The New York Times. Our partnerships focus on delivering value, whether through brand, experience, and technology, and are actualized as long-term relationships. Our Partnerships team is charged with sourcing, building, and growing these relationships, serving as an AREA 17 liaison for their business needs.

As the Business Development Director, you manage the New York pipeline through the vetting of opportunities, managing inbound and outbound strategies, and the ongoing engagement of existing and past clients. You work closely with the Managing Director to hit annual revenue targets and lead the strategy and execution of winning new business and growing existing clients. Success in this position will be achieved through proactive planning, cultivating relationships with clients, and achieving revenue goals. The final title and salary for this position will be based on experience.

Who we’re looking for

At AREA 17 we champion diversity in all forms. We are an international team of 80 people from 18 countries, speaking 13 languages. As individuals and a team, we are inspired by the world around us and united by our values of rigor, curiosity, kindness, courage, and je ne sais quoi. We are looking for applicants who feel connected to and inspired by our shared values along with those that feel aligned with our DEI Statement.

We have found the following capabilities to be crucial to the success of our Partnerships team. If these resonate with you, and you are looking for an opportunity to lead, we encourage you to apply:

• Industry expertise. You are driven by the fact that design and technology are essential to the modern world. You have a clear understanding of the agency landscape and business model, a brand and product’s life cycle, and how teams produce large-scale and complex multi-domain platforms from inception to launch.
• Business leadership. You know how to manage your work against revenue targets and real-time contexts. You command the room with senior stakeholders and serve as a calm presence during high-stakes situations.
• Relationship management. You are a proven relationship builder that leads with empathy and curiosity over traditional sales methods. You connect intentionally and develop relationships over time, establishing authentic trust and respect.
• Strategic thinking. You see the big picture and understand how we can help our clients create more impact in the world and define the steps to get there. You understand the complexity and pace of our environment and know how to effectively scenario plan for various business needs.

Key responsibilities

Working closely with the rest of the Partnerships and New York Leadership teams to provide a thriving pipeline for our business, the Business Development Director’s responsibilities are to attract, convert and retain partners supporting our global Partnerships strategy. More detail below:

Attract

The Business Development Director is responsible for defining a business recruitment strategy that attracts the right partners - those who see value in our services and want us to grow with them.

Examples of responsibilities:

• Engage with the industries and sectors we want to work with, whether through establishing new relationships or growing existing ones
• Identify the value that AREA 17 brings to targeted sectors, creating strategies for thought leadership and content to support our success within them
• Monitor industry trends for our clients and ourselves, ensuring we are always aware of new insights and advance our offerings
• Identify connections between potential opportunities and our existing business strategy
• Build an understanding of how decisions are made within our partner organizations to better respond to the needs of their teams and help them sell opportunities to key stakeholders
• Represent our positioning in the marketplace, including our brand and offerings, and communicate it in a way that reinforces and embodies our mission

Convert

The Business Development Director is responsible for managing our pipeline against business targets - ensuring relationships are built, and clients get the value they need from our team and services.

Examples of responsibilities:

• Manage opportunities from initial touchpoint through signature, verifying clients understand our long-term value and that our team delivers an appropriate response for their needs
• Position AREA 17’s point of differentiation against competitors to ensure the client understands our unique value proposition
• Maintain responsiveness and clarity in client communications to guarantee alignment in expectations and needs at every stage of the relationship
• Strategically include AREA 17 team members to support and advance partnerships opportunities, collaborating to achieve success together
• Develop a communication strategy with clients, identifying decision-makers on their team and including the right people to solidify the engagement and guarantee confidence in our delivery

Retain

The Business Development Director is responsible for the continued growth of our client relationships, developing strategies for ongoing business needs, and proactive planning to achieve our revenue targets.

Examples of responsibilities:

• Gain awareness and gather insights on our client’s long-term business goals to inform annual account plans, supporting our targets and their needs proactively
• Serve as a partner liaison during active engagements to ensure confidence in our value and alignment with their expectations, communicating or problem-solving with our internal team as needed
• Connect with members of our client's leadership teams to build the relationship and engage them further (e.g. thought leadership opportunities, retrospectives, feedback)
• Identify more opportunities for us to better serve our clients, expanding on what we've created for them to grow with their organization
• Scenario plan opportunities against revenue goals, ensuring you and your team are efficient, organized and prioritizing the most impactful engagements

Benefits of working with AREA 17

At AREA 17, we believe making great work and living great lives are inextricably linked—and must work synchronously to achieve harmony. In crafting our benefit programs, we emphasize our employees’ wellness and offer competitive packages including medical, dental, and vision plans with low or no deductible; no-cap PTO; 401k; paid family leave; and subsidized transit benefits, to name a few.

We are committed to building and maintaining a diverse staff, and recognize that our continued success depends on hiring and retaining high-quality, creative professionals with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. As a company, we structure our team across bands and levels to create a path for growth and development. Our bands include Specialist, Director and Leadership. Within the Specialist band there are Associates, Specialists and Senior Specialists. Within the Director band there are Associate Directors, Directors and Senior Directors. Within the Leadership band there are Group Directors, Managing Directors and Senior Leadership. AREA 17 is owned and operated by its Partners, who also hold Senior Leadership positions. Opportunities for advancement exist for all employees – we invest in each member of the team to develop, grow and advance, individually and as a team.

We are an equal opportunity employer

AREA 17 does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, handicap, and/or disability, veteran status, or any other protected category under federal, state or local law.

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Salary : $130,000 - $180,000