Business Development Manager

About Seagull

Seagull Advertising is a strategic branding, creative, social and digital agency built on the belief that Every business deserves to fly.

Our work is guided by strong internal processes that shape strategy, design and reach. We partner with businesses to define their brand direction, sharpen their market relevance and create integrated growth-oriented communication.

We are looking for a Business Development Manager who can help take Seagull to the next level by opening the right doors, building the right relationships and converting strong-fit opportunities into long-term clients.

Role Purpose

This is a high-ownership business growth role.

The Business Development Manager will be responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities for Seagull across sectors and geographies, and managing the full BD cycle from lead generation to signed agreement, advance collection and internal onboarding handover.

This is not a generic sales role. The Manager must be able to understand client business challenges, identify where Seagull can create value, and represent Seagull’s strategic, creative and integrated capabilities with clarity and confidence.

The role also requires close collaboration with Seagull’s Brand Management team and support for Seagull’s own events, activations and marketing programs.

Core Responsibilities

1. Market Research and Opportunity Mapping
   Study industry sectors, growth-stage companies, business groups and emerging categories to identify strong-fit opportunities for Seagull.
2. Lead Generation and Pipeline Building
   Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified prospects across priority sectors and geographies, with disciplined follow-up and movement toward closures.
3. Strategic Business Development
   Open meaningful conversations with prospective clients by understanding their business context, growth ambitions, brand gaps, communication needs and market opportunities.
4. Client Meetings and Relationship Building
   Represent Seagull in meetings with confidence, maturity and business understanding. Build trust with founders, promoters, CXOs, marketing heads and decision-makers.
5. Proposal and Closure Management
   Work closely with internal teams to shape the right proposals, pitch approaches and commercial structures. Drive the process from first conversation to agreement closure and advance collection.
6. Revenue Responsibility
   Contribute meaningfully to monthly, quarterly and annual revenue goals through disciplined prospecting and quality closures.
7. Right-Fit Client Acquisition
   Focus not only on quantity of leads, but on bringing in the right kind of clients for Seagull, clients who value strategy, creativity, disciplined execution and long-term growth.
8. Collaboration with Brand Management
   Work closely with the Brand Management team to ensure prospect understanding, pitch quality, internal alignment and smooth transition from business closure to execution.
9. Onboarding Handover
   Ensure every closed client is properly handed over to the assigned Seagull team through a formal onboarding meeting with relevant context, scope clarity and commercial understanding.
10. Support for Seagull Marketing Initiatives
    Support Seagull’s own business development ecosystem through participation in events, activations, presentations, networking initiatives and marketing programs designed to grow the agency.
11. Reporting Discipline
    Maintain accurate pipeline status, meeting notes, proposal updates, agreement movement, collection status and onboarding completion records.

Key Requirements

• 6 to 10 years of relevant business development experience in a B2B environment
• Strong preference for experience in advertising, branding, digital marketing, media, consulting or related strategic service businesses
• Proven ability to build relationships, generate business and close deals
• Strong understanding of branding, marketing, communication and digital ecosystems
• Ability to understand unstated client needs and convert them into business opportunities
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills
• Comfortable engaging with senior decision-makers including founders, promoters, CXOs and marketing leaders
• Self-driven, commercially sharp and accountable for outcomes
• Able to work with pace, discipline and ownership in an ambitious agency environment

Preferred Qualification

MBA preferred, but not mandatory if the candidate has strong relevant experience and a proven business development track record.

What Success Looks Like

The Business Development Manager will be evaluated on:

• Quality and relevance of prospects added to pipeline
• Agreements signed
• Advance collections achieved
• Smooth onboarding handover to internal teams
• Contribution to Seagull’s annual revenue growth
• Ability to bring in the right-fit clients for Seagull