Business Development Executive

Role Overview

As a Business Development Executive at GeoPoll, you will take ownership of revenue generation within Africa's commercial research market, operating with a high degree of autonomy while coordinating closely with the VP, Client Development – Africa, as well as the Research and Technical teams. Your typical week involves a mix of proactive client outreach, proposal creation, account management, pipeline tracking, and practical application of AI tools to speed up and strengthen your sales workflow. This role is important to GeoPoll's growth strategy because your ability to win and retain clients directly supports the company's mission of delivering reliable data and insights across emerging markets.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and qualify commercial research opportunities across African markets, building a structured outreach approach to engage prospective clients while also responding to inbound briefs.
• Maintain a current and accurate sales pipeline in Salesforce, including deal stages, expected values, next actions, and realistic forecasting, and update this information on a weekly basis.
• Draft proposals, expressions of interest, and capability statements by working with research and technical experts to shape methodology, define data collection approaches, and ensure necessary budget inputs.
• Attend and lead client briefing meetings, capture detailed requirements, and convert discussions into clear internal briefs for the teams responsible for study design and delivery.
• Manage a portfolio of active client accounts, building trust through regular communication and identifying upsell or cross-sell opportunities that align with each client’s evolving research needs.
• Coordinate closely with research and technical teams on any issues that arise during project delivery, ensuring client expectations and delivery realities remain in sync.
• Apply generative AI and automation in day-to-day business development tasks, such as prospect background research, first-draft proposal writing, CRM updates, and responsive client follow-up, and openly share useful approaches with colleagues.
• Monitor proposal follow-ups, keep contributors aligned on internal deadlines, and prepare short pre-meeting briefings plus structured action logs after client interactions.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, or a related field; an additional certification in sales or market research will be considered positive but is not mandatory.
• At least four years of experience in business development, sales, or account management, including a track record of meeting or exceeding assigned revenue targets.
• Confirmed experience selling to commercial market research clients; exposure to social sector and development sector buyers such as NGOs, donor agencies, or public-sector bodies is a distinct advantage.
• Strong interpersonal and client relationship skills, with the ability to manage a portfolio of accounts end to end, from first conversation through to ongoing retention and growth.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, and negotiation skills, with clear confidence in engaging stakeholders at different levels of seniority.
• Demonstrated practical knowledge of CRM platforms, especially Salesforce, including pipeline management, reporting, and data integrity.
• Hands-on familiarity with AI tools applied to sales workflows—for example, using conversational AI for drafting, automation for scheduling and follow-ups, or AI-assisted data enrichment—with evidence of how these tools improved revenue or retention.
• Comfort collaborating across functions, and ideally a basic understanding of quantitative or qualitative research methods in order to support credible proposal development.