Business Development Manager, Lightful

• You’ll need to be energised by building a pipeline from the ground up, proactively seeking out opportunities, opening doors, and creating momentum
• If you're a strategic Business Development Manager who thrives on turning great conversations into long-term collaborations, we want to hear from you
• A self-starter mindset - you're proactive, motivated, and love opening doors, spotting new business opportunities, and building pipelines from scratch
• A confident communicator - you’re persuasive and able to build trust quickly across a range of stakeholders
• Commercially minded and instinctively understand how to position value and align partnership offers with funder priorities
• Skilled at making complex ideas clear and compelling with the instincts of a great storyteller rather than a hard seller
• Calm and focused under pressure with strong prioritisation and time management skills to meet deadlines and juggle competing opportunities
• Meticulous attention to detail whether drafting a tailored proposal or negotiating a contract
• Proven ability to work independently while staying connected, collaborative, and communicative across a cross-functional team
• Comfortable in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment and you’re energised by building something new
• Deep commitment to social and environmental change and a genuine belief in the power of charities and philanthropy to drive that change
• Significant experience identifying and securing new funding partnerships (e.g. trusts, foundations, institutions, or corporate funders and building multi-year contracts, particularly in the US)
• At least five years experience in fundraising, partnerships or business development
• A natural drive for new business meaning that you’re comfortable picking up the phone, starting conversations from scratch, and turning cold leads into long-term partnerships
• Deep expertise in researching and identifying potential new partners
• Significant experience building and managing relationships with different partners
• Comfortable engaging with C-suite and senior leaders, internally and externally
• Experience with Salesforce or other CRM systems to manage leads, opportunities and pipeline reporting
• Experience attending conferences and sector events to build new partnerships and strengthen existing relationships
• Knowledge of fundraising information sources and familiarity with research techniques for prospect research

Desirable

• We’re looking for an exceptional Business Development Manager to help drive forward Lightful’s mission to build the resilience of thousands of nonprofits around the world
• This role is focused on developing new funding partnerships for our award winning BRIDGE programme by identifying, cultivating, and converting new philanthropic, foundation and corporate funders
• You’ll report to the Head of Partnerships and work closely with Lightful’s dynamic Partnerships team, CEO, and senior colleagues across Programmes, Finance, Development, and Design
• As we rapidly expand our reach and impact, this important role will help unlock the next wave of partnerships and scale our impact
• Researching and identifying prospective funders aligned with Lightful’s mission
• Crafting tailored outreach plans and engagement strategies to align with each funder’s mission
• Leading initial conversations and cultivating strong early relationships
• Actively generating leads, initiating outreach, and not waiting for opportunities to come to you
• Picking up the phone, sending the first email, and opening doors with energy, confidence, and persistence
• Representing Lightful at relevant sector events and meetings
• Adapting to non-standard or ad hoc proposal formats with creativity and flexibility, producing compelling content for each funder
• Maintaining accurate records in Salesforce of all potential funding partners, touch points, and stage of engagement
• Manage regular reports for leadership on pipeline health, conversion metrics, and emerging trends
• Working closely with programme teams to align potential partnerships with capacity and mission
• Partnering with colleagues across the organisation to ensure alignment on priorities, delivery capabilities and new product innovations
• Supporting team wide learning and improvement by sharing insight and funder feedback
• Contributing to income generation by igniting new partnerships conversations and building multi-year collaborations with existing funders
• Maintaining a close relationship with funders throughout the partnership and supporting internal reporting needs by reviewing insight reports and managing funder communications
• Coordinating internal events and engagement opportunities with current and prospective partners to strengthen relationships and explore new opportunities
• Ensuring a smooth transition from partnership development to programme delivery, providing the delivery team with the necessary context, information, and funder expectations to deliver an exceptional experience