Vice President of Business Development

The SVP, Business Development is a senior-level commercial leader responsible for driving net-new customer revenue across the Northeast while contributing to broader SOCOTEC US revenue growth. The SVP also leads SOCOTEC USA’s national Proposal organization, providing strategic and operational leadership to ensure the Proposal function has the people, processes, tools, and operating disciplines necessary to support sustainable organic growth.

This role is responsible for improving proposal quality, consistency, turnaround time, and win rates, while also advancing commercial infrastructure, systems, data and analytics, customer experience, and commercial transformation initiatives — including the effective application of AI and automation to improve commercial effectiveness.

The role partners closely with the COO and executive and cross-functional leadership across Operations, Finance, Marketing, HR, IT, and the business units to establish scalable processes, tools, governance, and performance measures that strengthen SOCOTEC’s commercial capabilities.

This is not a traditional, commission-driven sales role. The position is designed around strategic business development, pursuit leadership, proposal excellence, and broader commercial growth. The SVP serves as a senior bridge between pursuit execution, net-new revenue generation, and organizational growth strategy, helping SOCOTEC build a more consistent, data-driven, customer-centric, and commercially effective organization.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development & Revenue Generation

• Drive net-new customer revenue generation across the Northeast, with an initial focus on developing new client relationships, expanding market share, and building a strong regional pipeline.
• Contribute to broader SOCOTEC US revenue growth through cross-regional collaboration, strategic account development, and identification of cross-selling opportunities.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of prospective clients, partnering with regional and business-unit leadership to identify, qualify, and pursue high-value opportunities.
• Develop and execute business development strategies that align with SOCOTEC’s broader growth objectives and market priorities.
• Represent SOCOTEC in the market, building relationships with prospective clients, industry partners, and key stakeholders across the AEC, industrial services, and professional services sectors.
• Identify emerging market opportunities, customer needs, and industry trends that can inform growth strategies and new service offerings.

Proposal & Pursuit Leadership

• Provide executive leadership and strategic direction for SOCOTEC USA’s national Proposal organization, establishing priorities, performance expectations, and alignment with broader commercial objectives.
• Partner with the Director of Proposals and Proposal leadership to ensure effective day-to-day operation, staffing, prioritization, and execution across the Proposal organization.
• Establish national best practices for pursuit and proposal strategy, delivery, quality, continuous improvement, and performance reporting.
• Improve proposal quality, consistency, efficiency, turnaround time, and win rates across the organization.
• Provide executive oversight of high-priority and strategic pursuits, ensuring proposal strategies align with client needs and SOCOTEC’s commercial objectives.
• Support the development of processes and governance for complex proposals, estimates, and level-of-effort/fee calculations.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Legal, Finance, Operations, and business-unit leadership to strengthen proposal content, positioning, and overall pursuit effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI, automation, and technology to increase Proposal team capacity, effectiveness, and speed.

Commercial Excellence & Transformation

• Drive commercial excellence initiatives that support sustainable organic growth and strengthen SOCOTEC’s overall commercial capabilities.
• Lead and support change management initiatives that foster customer-centric, data-driven, and commercially minded behaviors across the organization.
• Standardize priority commercial processes and governance to improve consistency, visibility, accountability, and execution across business units.
• Promote collaboration and cross-selling across business units through improved processes, visibility, tools, and data.
• Identify and advance high-value AI, automation, and process-improvement opportunities within commercial workflows, with an emphasis on measurable improvements in productivity, quality, and decision-making.
• Provide commercial performance insights, market intelligence, and recommendations to the COO/CCO and business leadership to inform growth strategy and investment decisions.

Commercial Systems, Data & Analytics

• Serve as a senior business owner and strategic stakeholder for SOCOTEC’s enterprise CRM, partnering with IT and commercial leadership on business requirements, governance, adoption, and continuous improvement.
• Establish commercial data standards and governance that improve the quality, consistency, and usability of customer, pipeline, and revenue data.
• Develop and leverage executive dashboards and KPIs to support business development and commercial decision-making.
• Deliver actionable analytics and insights related to pipeline, proposals, forecasting, client activity, and revenue performance.
• Use commercial data and performance trends to identify opportunities, risks, and areas for continuous improvement.

Customer Experience

• Partner with Operations and commercial leadership on SOCOTEC’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) and broader customer experience initiatives.
• Use customer feedback and satisfaction data to identify opportunities to strengthen retention, loyalty, repeat business, and overall client relationships.
• Partner with business leadership to translate customer insights into measurable improvements in the client experience.

Performance Management

• Establish and monitor commercial, business development, and proposal KPIs across the organization in partnership with the COO/CCO and business leadership.
• Provide regular performance reporting, insights, and recommendations to executive leadership.
• Monitor pipeline, revenue, proposal, and pursuit performance and identify opportunities to improve commercial effectiveness.

Cross-functional & People Leadership

• Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing Business Development and Proposal organization.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and strategic direction to BD and Proposal leaders, fostering accountability, collaboration, and high performance.
• Partner closely with Operations, Finance, Marketing, HR, IT, and business-unit leadership to execute commercial initiatives and support organizational growth.
• Assess organizational capabilities and recommend staffing, technology, and operating resources required to support the Business Development and Proposal functions.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that improve commercial performance, operational effectiveness, and customer outcomes.
• Influence and drive alignment across business units and functions without relying solely on direct authority.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA or related field) preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive business development, commercial, or related leadership experience, ideally within the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction or Testing, Inspection, and Certification) industry. Candidates from industrial services, professional services, or similarly relevant industries will also be considered.
• Demonstrated success driving net-new revenue generation, developing client relationships, and building market presence at a regional or company level.
• Significant experience leading business development, proposal, pursuit, or commercial teams, with demonstrated people leadership and executive presence.
• Strong understanding of complex B2B business development and sales cycles, strategic pursuits, and proposal development.
• Exceptional organizational, written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect commercial strategy, client needs, operational capabilities, and financial performance.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite; familiarity with CRM platforms, such as Deltek Vantagepoint, strongly desirable.
• Strategic and analytical mindset with the ability to balance hands-on business development and pursuit leadership with broader commercial priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate effectively across business units and functions.
• Experience leading change, process improvement, technology adoption, or organizational transformation initiatives is highly desirable.

Key Competencies

• Executive presence and ability to influence across business units and functions
• Strategic business development and revenue-generation expertise
• Strong business acumen within the AEC, industrial services, or professional services sectors
• Commercial and proposal leadership
• Client relationship development and strategic account management
• Data-driven decision-making and comfort with CRM and commercial analytics
• Change management and organizational transformation
• Cross-functional collaboration and relationship building
• Strong communication, negotiation, and presentation skills
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving organization

Division: Northeast-focused Business Development / National Proposal Leadership.

Reports to: CEO

Location: New York, NY preferred or Boston, MA

In office: 4 days per week.

Travel: Approximately 20–30% to client sites, regional offices, and industry events.