Business Development Manager, Pion
Marketing & growth platform
Open for applications
Marketing & growth platform
201-500 employees
Open for applications
201-500 employees
Company mission
To help brands grow without giving up control.
Role
Who you are
- Proven experience managing the full sales cycle, including discovery, negotiation, and confidently closing new business with brands
- Track record of bringing new brands or partners on board, ideally in a fast-moving commercial or partnership-driven environment
- Understanding of the affiliate ecosystem (affiliate networks, publishers, partner models) and how these channels support scalable revenue
- Strong commercial drive with a business-first mindset, focused on long-term value creation, multi-faceted deals, and sustainable revenue
- Consistently hits and exceeds targets, with the resilience, pace, and discipline needed to deliver in a high-growth environment
- You're AI savvy, previous experience of Claude is an added bonus
What the job involves
- As a result of our incredible success and growth, we are looking for a Business Development Manager to join us
- Own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close, including discovery calls, value articulation, proposal development, negotiation, and deal closing
- Build and nurture relationships with target brands, affiliate networks, and industry partners through events, direct meetings, webinars, and outbound outreach supported by marketing inbound channels
- Drive pipeline growth and quality, managing what enters the funnel, ensuring strong conversion
- Execute a targeted outreach strategy, working from a defined hitlist of priority brands while acting as a proactive, go-getter lead generator and trusted commercial advisor to prospects
- Represent the business externally, attending events, travelling to clients when needed, and leveraging deep industry understanding to identify opportunities, surface benefits, and collaborate cross-functionally to land new partnerships
- Flexible working hours (start between 8-10am and finish between 4:30-6:30pm)
Our take
Founded as Student Beans in 2005, Pion is a marketing company that helps brands expand their customer base and enhance sales. It specialises in helping clients build trust and relevancy among students and Gen Z, as well as other strategic consumer groups.
Pion's solutions deliver insights, advertising and customer verification. This enables clients to make informed business decisions, deliver engaging campaigns and grow sales through gated offers. This cohesive approach, within a niche consumer target group, is certainly the stand-out feature of the company.
The company's rebrand to Pion came alongside an expansion beyond just the student market to encompass youth markets in general. This enables it to consolidate its diverse portfolio of services and continue its path of growth, which has already seen it become a prominent player in the space.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Company benefits
- Flexi time: Start between 8-10am and finish between 4:30-6:30pm
- Volunteer days: Two days a year to volunteer with a charity of your choice, because we believe in giving back
- Remote & hybrid working: With access to offices in London and Manchester
- Health cash plan: Claim back cash on a huge range of healthcare and wellness treatments
- 30 days holiday: 30 days of annual leave, plus public holidays
- Work with an industry leading tech stack: We work with relevant, market leading tools to maximise your ability in your role
- Wellness allowance or PureGym membership: A monthly wellness allowance or access to the gym, we take your wellbeing seriously!
- Access to all of our student discounts: Incredible partnership discounts for the biggest brands in the world
- Regular social events – virtual and in-person: Even though we're remote first, we make sure you can still connect regularly with your colleagues
Company values
- Speed Wins
- Be Humble
- We’re all Accountable
- Deliver results that WOW
- Choose Positivity
Company HQ
London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Michael Eder
(CEO)Founded the company as Student Beans back in 2005. Served as Operations Director then MD before becoming CEO in 2021. Previoulsy MD at Voxburner and a Trader in European Government Bonds at JP Morgan.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Pion
- Talent - We score our interviews based on competency focused questions, and conduct them with a panel to ensure the process is as fair as possible. Additionally, we conduct anonymous CV screening, and ensure our advert copy is gender neutral
- Support and Education - Our employee resource group gives everyone a safe space and platform to share their views and opinions. We’re also committed to continuous training throughout the business, from inclusive communications to assessing the accessibility of our platforms
- Accountability - Whether it’s training for hiring managers on eliminating bias, or the best diversity and inclusion practices and how to be an ally, we’d like to think we offer as much support and education to further foster an inclusive workplace environment. We also share our journey and statistics internally and externally
- Transparency - As we mentioned, we’re not yet where we want to be, but we’re sharing the journey and updating on our progress every step of the way. We don’t hide our statistics –we don’t think it’s something to be swept under the rug. However, sharing our progress helps us to have open and honest conversations about how we can do even better!
- Empowering Employees - Our mental health first aiders are on hand to offer support and guidance when needed. Unlimited holiday and flexi friday ensure you have the right work-life balance you need. We also offer quarterly webinars in partnership with Everymind
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