Instrument

Business Development Manager

Instrument

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: United States

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Salary

💰 $85,000 - $125,000 per year

About the role

  • Act as one of the primary faces of Instrument in new business conversations.
  • Lead discovery and “hello” sessions with prospective clients, uncovering needs and mapping them to Instrument’s capabilities.
  • Manage core inbound opportunities independently, while supporting senior leadership on marquee pursuits.
  • Build trust quickly, ensuring client stakeholders see Instrument as a knowledgeable, creative, and strategic partner.
  • Partner across the end-to-end sales cycle of inbound requests for core project opportunities, from intake and qualification through proposal development to close.
  • Optimize the pursuit and proposal process, making responses, timelines, and communication progressively more efficient and effective.
  • Track, analyze, and share pipeline health insights (conversion metrics, deal velocity, source quality, win/loss patterns) with studio leadership.
  • Maintain CRM hygiene and ensure pipeline data flows accurately into financial reporting.
  • Ensure proactive follow-ups and touchpoints keep opportunities moving forward.
  • Optimize and enhance repeatable growth systems: intake rubrics, opportunity score cards, proposal templates, and pursuit playbooks that right-size effort to opportunity.
  • Create and maintain highly functional knowledge bases, including case study libraries, competitive positioning, engagement model documentation, and reusable pursuit materials.
  • Help identify and establish a suite of tools to support contact enrichment, signal monitoring, stakeholder and organizational mapping.
  • Partner with studio leadership and internal technologists/operations teams to identify opportunities to automate processes: brief scoring, response templating, contact intelligence, trigger-based outreach.
  • Develop a deep understanding of the studio’s historical work, partnerships, and case studies.
  • Be hands-on in building the artifacts of business development - hello and teaser decks, case studies, tailored narratives, proposals and BU-specific positioning, in partnership with the team.
  • Translate strategy and creative thinking into client-ready materials that showcase craft, capability, and commercial value.
  • Develop a perspective on how to position core services and capabilities, refining that perspective continuously to fit the client’s ecosystem.
  • Demonstrate bias toward action, moving quickly to create materials and context that maintain momentum, at a high standard of quality.
  • Support studio leadership with net-new BU, product area and contact targeting outside existing relationships.
  • Amplify and activate ABM strategy across tiered targets, from high-touch to scaled outreach, in partnership with Marcomm.
  • Partner with Strategic Growth Directors and studio leadership to re-engage and nurture lapsed relationships.
  • Identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts and collaborate on tailored pursuit strategies.
  • Develop fluency in engagement models, team design, and productized offerings, supporting their evolution.
  • Contribute to strategic growth initiatives, including annual studio planning, account assessments, and re-planning moments.
  • Partner with strategy, design, technology and delivery leads during the pursuit process to ensure realistic, differentiated, and inspiring solutions and proposals.
  • Ensure studio leaders and individual contributors are managed efficiently in new business processes, with clear briefs, defined time commitments and streamlined involvement.
  • Work with studio partners to inform how proposals, project approaches, and engagement designs balance ambition with practicality.
  • Be a connective tissue across disciplines, ensuring each pursuit feels integrated and cohesive.
  • Connect with central BD, marketing, and BI functions to leverage shared resources and provide studio-specific visibility and intelligence
  • Model positive growth behaviors from proactive opportunity identification, to rigorous qualification, strategic confidence, and commercial discipline.
  • Support growth training and enablement, helping coordinate pitch and presentation development for team members involved in client-facing moments
  • Mentor junior team members involved in pursuit processes
  • Contribute to a growth culture that feels like a resource that strengthens the team**

Requirements

  • 5–8+ years in BD, growth, or account development in an agency or consulting environment
  • Experience with retained or annuity accounts, intra-account growth or ABM activation
  • Demonstrated ability to build, scale, and automate growth systems
  • Track record of leading enterprise-level client conversations and managing pursuit processes end-to-end with operational discipline, optimizing them over time
  • Strong narrative and positioning instinct, and an ability to frame and articulate services and capabilities for different audiences.
  • A practitioner’s mindset - curious, hands-on, and proactive in making. You don’t wait for direction, you build momentum.
  • A sense of urgency toward the opportunities, you move just as fast as our delivery teams.
  • Ability to balance bold innovation with pragmatic solutions, adapting strategies to maximize success.
  • Demonstrated ability to foster trust with clients and teams, building inclusive, collaborative environments.
  • A passion for creativity and a drive to positively contribute to Instrument’s growth and reputation.
  • A resilient, positive energy that motivates the team and instills confidence with clients.
  • Comfort with overcommunication and alignment, ensuring no one is left behind in the process.
  • Experience with a major technology client - procurement structures, vendor management, BU dynamics
  • Experience working with across product, brand or marketing-led teams, with an ability to understand workflows, team structures, and how to effectively position and pitch design and technology services.
  • Fluency in CRM and pipeline management (HubSpot preferred)
Benefits
  • Flexible, Hybrid Work Environment
  • Great Compensation with Annual Reviews (Learn more about our Pay Philosophy)
  • 401(k) Matching with Immediate Vesting
  • Robust Medical, Vision, and Accident Insurance
  • Generous Paid Holidays and unlimited PTO
  • Sabbaticals
  • Monthly Wellbeing Stipend
  • Career Management and Leadership Training
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
business developmentaccount developmentgrowth systems automationnarrative developmentproposal developmentpipeline managementABM activationclient engagementstrategic planningdata analysis
Soft Skills
collaborationtrust buildingcreativityproactivitycommunicationresilienceleadershipadaptabilitystrategic thinkingmentoring