Senior Vice President Business Development

Job Description

The SVP, Business Development is a senior-level commercial leader responsible for leading a team of Business Development professionals to drive net-new customer revenue across the Northeast while contributing to broader SOCOTEC US revenue growth. The SVP also provides oversight of 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.

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The role partners closely with the COO 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.

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This is not an individual contributor commission-driven sales role. The position is designed to lead an organization of Business Development professionals in collaboration with seller-doer technical staff to ensure complete market coverage, promote cross selling of all services, grow share of wallet and drive a step change in organic revenue growth and commercial excellence.

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Key Responsibilities

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Team Leadership & Development

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• Build, lead, and mentor high-performing Business Development teams across regional offices with initial focus in the Northeast
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• Partner with Operations leaders to maximize collaboration between technical delivery teams (seller-doers) and commercial staff, establishing a unified growth culture
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• Ensure alignment between regional commercial teams and corporate strategy
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• Design and implement variable compensation models that align BD staff efforts directly with corporate organic growth targets including revenue targets, cross-selling, customer retention goals
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Commercial Strategy Development and Transformation

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• Craft and implement a comprehensive commercial strategy that scales organic growth, expands market share and aligns with overall SOCUTEC US corporate objectivess.
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• Lead change management initiatives to align the culture toward customer-centric, data-driven, and commercially minded behaviors.
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• Monitor industry trends, competitive landscape, and market dynamics to identify emerging opportunities and potential threats. Gather market intelligence, conduct market research, and use data-driven insights to identify and evaluate new market opportunities, service lines and revenue streams.
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• Assess pricing trends and won-loss metrics to standardize pricing models with a view toward optimizing profitability and competitiveness.
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Revenue Generation and Market Execution

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• Drive net-new customer revenue and build an aggressive, qualified regional pipeline
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• Institutionalize cross-selling and service bundling across SOCOTEC’s diverse service portfolio to unlock hidden revenue within existing client bases.
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• Build and manage senior relationships with key accounts, strategic clients, and industry partners across the AEC and industrial services sectors.
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• Support major contract negotiations and provide executive oversight for high-value, strategic pursuits.
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• Represent SOCOTEC in the market, building relationships with prospective clients, industry partners, and key stakeholders across the AEC, industrial services, and professional services sectors.
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Business Development Operations

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• Manage and report on the opportunity pipeline from first contact to win/loss
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• Drive win-rate optimization by systematically improving proposal quality, client-centric positioning, and post-submission review loops.
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• Establish sales performance metrics, KPIs, and accountability frameworks
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• Partner with marketing leader to enhance brand recognition and competitive positioning
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• Act as senior business own er for the enterprise CRM, collaborating with IT to enforce data standards, governance, and high user adoption.
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• Develop executive dashboards and deliver actionable analytics regarding sales pipeline health, , win-loss trends, and revenue forecasting
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• Champion the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and broader customer experience initiatives alongside Operations to capture data that drives client retention and repeat business
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• 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.
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• Standardize priority commercial processes and governance to improve consistency, visibility, accountability, and execution across business units.
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Leadership Excellence & Transformation

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• Drive commercial excellence initiatives that support sustainable organic growth and strengthen SOCOTEC’s overall commercial capabilities.
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• Lead and support change management initiatives that foster customer-centric, data-driven, and commercially minded behaviors across the organization.
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• Standardize priority commercial processes and governance to improve consistency, visibility, accountability, and execution across business units.
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• Promote collaboration and cross-selling across business units through improved processes, visibility, tools, and data.
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• 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.
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• Provide commercial performance insights, market intelligence, and recommendations to the COO/CCO and business leadership to inform growth strategy and investment decisions.
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Proposal & Pursuit Leadership

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• In partnership with Marketing, provide executive leadership and strategic direction for SOCOTEC USA’s national Proposal organization, establishing priorities, performance expectations, and alignment with broader commercial objectives.
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• Partner with the Director of Proposals and Proposal leadership to ensure effective day-to-day operation, staffing, prioritization, and execution across the Proposal organization.
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• Establish national best practices for pursuit and proposal strategy, delivery, quality, continuous improvement, and performance reporting.
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• Improve proposal quality, consistency, efficiency, turnaround time, and win rates across the organization.
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• Support the development of processes and governance for complex proposals, estimates, and level-of-effort/fee calculations.
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• Identify opportunities to leverage AI, automation, and technology to increase Proposal team capacity, effectiveness, and speed.
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Qualifications

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

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

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Reports to: COO

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Location: New York, NY preferred or Boston, MA

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In office: 4 days per week.

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

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Base salary: $250,000-$275,000 + annual bonus eligibility.