Role Overview

• The Business Development Executive is a driven, self-led business development professional focused on growing GeoPoll’s commercial research revenue across Africa.
• Working closely with the VP, Client Development – Africa and the Research and Technical teams, this person identifies and pursues new business, supports proposal development, manages a growing portfolio of accounts, and applies AI tools across the sales workflow to strengthen revenue and retention.
• Exposure to social and development sector clients is an advantage; internal and external consultants are available to support development sector opportunities.

Key Responsibilities
New Business Development

• Identify, qualify, and pursue new business opportunities across primarily commercial research clients in Africa, with support on social and development sector opportunities as directed.
• Build and manage a robust pipeline in the CRM (Salesforce), keeping records and forecasts current.
• Support proposals, expressions of interest (EOIs), and capability statements, working with Research and Technical teams on methodology, fieldwork, and budget inputs.
• Attend client briefing meetings and translate discussions into clear, structured internal briefs for proposal development.
• Represent GeoPoll at client meetings, industry events, and conferences to build visibility and generate leads.

Client Relationship Management

• Build and grow a client network across the region, with support from the VP’s existing relationships, acting as a trusted point of contact for a portfolio of active clients.
• Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities within existing accounts and translate these into new project scopes.
• Coordinate closely with Research and Technical teams to keep client expectations aligned with delivery.
• Apply AI-supported approaches, faster proposals, more responsive account management , to strengthen retention.

Business Development & Team Operations Support

• Maintain the business development pipeline tracker and coordinate follow-ups on proposals, EOIs, and client commitments.
• Support coordination of proposal inputs across Research and Technical teams, keeping contributors aligned on deadlines.
• Prepare briefing notes ahead of client meetings and structured notes and action logs afterwards.

Sales Strategy & Reporting

• Contribute ideas and market intelligence to the VP, Client Development – Africa on pipeline priorities and account planning.
• Own individual revenue and new-business targets, reporting pipeline, forecasts, and account performance to the VP.
• Flag risks to revenue or client relationships early, with recommended mitigations.
• Bring forward ideas on where AI and automation can improve revenue and retention across the wider function.

Technology & AI Fluency

• This role requires practical, demonstrated knowledge of applying AI tools across the sales workflow; prospecting, proposal drafting, CRM management (Salesforce), and client communications , to drive revenue and improve client retention. The Business Development Executive actively champions these approaches and shares them with the wider client development team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
• Solid experience (4+ years) in business development, sales, or account management, with a track record of meeting or exceeding revenue targets.
• Experience selling into commercial market research clients; exposure to social and development sector clients an advantage.
• Strong client relationship management skills; comfortable owning a portfolio of accounts end to end.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, and negotiation skills.
• Experience with CRM tools (Salesforce or similar), and practical, demonstrated knowledge of embedding AI into sales workflows for revenue and retention results.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with Research and Technical teams; familiarity with quantitative or qualitative research methods a plus.