Business Development Specialist
GP Strategies · United States
Business Development Specialist
Full-Time | Remote
About GP Strategies
GP Strategies is a global leader in talent transformation, dedicated to empowering organizations to unlock their full potential. We help businesses enhance workforce performance and achieve strategic goals through innovative, technology-enabled learning solutions. With a proven track record of supporting over 6,000 global organizations worldwide, we combine human expertise with AI-driven insights to deliver customized strategies that upskill talent, drive technology adoption, and optimize critical processes. Our mission is to create a lasting impact by equipping organizations with the strategy, skills, and tools needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
Role Purpose
The Business Development Specialist converts outbound activity into qualified pipeline through stronger discovery, follow-up, and meeting conversion. The role strengthens opportunity progression by building sharper account insight, using solution positioning effectively, and maintaining disciplined forecast and pipeline hygiene. It is the bridge between early-stage demand creation and full commercial ownership, with responsibility for turning interest into credible opportunities that can move through the sales cycle.
Within the Growth Office, the Business Development Specialist is expected to work in an AI-enabled way, using approved AI and digital tools to improve research depth, account planning, message refinement, call preparation, and opportunity follow-up while applying sound commercial judgment. The role sits at the point where execution must become more consultative, more precise, and more commercially intelligent.
Key Accountabilities
- Convert outbound activity into qualified pipeline through stronger discovery, follow-up, and meeting conversion.
- Build deeper account insight by researching customer context, likely pain points, and opportunity triggers before engaging prospects.
- Progress opportunities through disciplined qualification, clear next steps, and stronger documentation of customer needs and buying signals.
- Maintain high standards of CRM hygiene by capturing activity, stage movement, risks, and follow-up actions accurately and on time.
- Use approved AI-enabled tools to support account planning, meeting preparation, summary writing, and messaging, while checking outputs for relevance, accuracy, and commercial quality.
- Strengthen opportunity progression through better solution positioning, sharper follow-up, and more disciplined handoff into later-stage sales ownership.
- Apply Stage 1 and Stage 2 thinking to discovery and solution fit, ensuring opportunities are properly qualified before moving forward.
- Work closely with the Sales Director, Managers, and wider commercial team to apply feedback, improve conversion rates, and build repeatable sales discipline.
- Mentor and support 1 Business Development Associate, helping them improve prospecting quality, CRM discipline, and confidence in the sales motion.
- Share practical tips, feedback, and examples that help the Associate ramp faster and execute more consistently.
- Follow agreed rhythms, documentation standards, and stage-entry expectations that support OneGP consistency, governance, and scale.
What Success Looks Like
KPI Measures
- Consistently converts outbound activity into qualified pipeline at the expected rate for the role.
- Improves meeting conversion through stronger discovery preparation, better follow-up, and more relevant customer engagement.
- Maintains strong pipeline hygiene through accurate CRM updates, stage integrity, and clear next-step ownership.
- Builds a reliable flow of qualified opportunities that can progress into later-stage sales ownership.
- Ramps effectively into deeper commercial execution, demonstrating measurable improvement in discovery quality and opportunity progression.
- Uses AI and digital tools to improve productivity, preparation quality, and consistency without sacrificing judgment or accuracy.
Qualitative Indicators
- Demonstrates stronger commercial judgment than an Associate, particularly in qualification, discovery, and follow-up.
- Shows confidence in customer conversations and can connect business context to a credible opportunity narrative.
- Uses AI as an enhancer of analysis and productivity, not as a substitute for thought, challenge, or relationship building.
- Works with pace, curiosity, and consistency, while remaining coachable and open to feedback.
- Contributes to a disciplined sales environment by improving the quality of pipeline rather than simply increasing activity volume.
Experience & Capability
- Experience in sales, business development, lead conversion, customer engagement, or a similar commercial role is preferred.
- Demonstrates strong communication skills and the ability to run credible conversations with prospects and internal stakeholders.
- Comfortable working with CRM systems, opportunity stages, and structured sales workflows.
- Able to research customer context, synthesise information, and turn insight into relevant outreach and follow-up.
- Demonstrates digital fluency, including the ability to use AI and productivity tools effectively while validating outputs and protecting quality.
- Shows learning agility, commercial curiosity, attention to detail, resilience, and a positive response to coaching.
Mindset & OneGP Behaviours
One Client Experience
- Thinks beyond internal process to protect the end-client experience.
- Takes ownership to resolve issues before they escalate.
One Commercial Engine
- Treats time, effort, and commercial focus as valuable resources, prioritizing activities that move opportunities forward.
- Understands that conversion quality, pipeline integrity, and disciplined execution are core to commercial performance.
One Operating Model
- Follows clear sales processes, role expectations, and stage-entry discipline to reduce friction and improve consistency.
- Prioritizes clarity, structure, and accountability in day-to-day execution.
One Technology & Data Backbone
- Maintains system integrity and documentation discipline through accurate CRM use and timely updates.
- Leverages data, automation, and AI-enabled tools to improve speed, insight quality, and execution consistency.
Why Join GP Strategies
At GP Strategies, growth is not just a commercial ambition, it is our purpose. We help organizations unlock performance through learning, leadership, and workforce transformation. As a Business Development Specialist in the Growth Office, you will deepen your commercial capability in a global, AI-enabled environment, building the skills to convert interest into qualified opportunity and contribute to a disciplined, scalable sales motion.
This role offers the chance to develop stronger discovery, better opportunity judgment, and a more visible impact on revenue progression while continuing to grow through the OneGP sales architecture.
The GPiLearn+ Renewal Specialist drives customer retention, renewals, and account growth by managing a portfolio of existing customers, ensuring they realize ongoing value from the platform, and identifying opportunities to expand their use of GPiLearn+. This role blends customer success, account management, and sales. The Renewal Specialist proactively engages customers ahead of renewal, manages the full renewal lifecycle, and works closely with Sales, Customer Success, and internal teams to ensure a smooth renewal and expansion process. The ideal candidate is commercially minded, organized, confident in customer conversations, and skilled at protecting and growing recurring revenue.