Business Development Director – Specialty Finance + FinTech

Baker Tilly•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

The Business Development Director at Baker Tilly is a senior-level, strategic role focused on accelerating growth across the firm’s Tax, Assurance, and Consulting practices. This leader is directly responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities within the Specialty Finance & FinTech sectors in an assigned territory, while building, managing, and expanding existing client relationships. The Director serves as a key member of the Specialty Finance & FinTech Industry Practice leadership team, partnering with practice leaders to shape and execute go-to-market strategies and drive industry-focused growth initiatives. The Fintech & Specialty Finance sector includes innovative and non-traditional financial services that operate outside or alongside the regulated banking system. This sector covers payment processors, digital banking platforms, and tech-enabled lenders offering consumer lending, mortgage and non-mortgage loans, and asset-backed financing. It also includes specialty finance providers involved in factoring, equipment leasing, letters of credit, and structured products such as collateralized mortgage obligations. Emerging financial technologies—including cryptocurrency, AI, and blockchain-based solutions—are part of this sector, reflecting its focus on alternative credit, payment systems, and financial infrastructure and compliance. This role requires a strong understanding of lending models, payment ecosystems, capital structures, venture capital, regulatory considerations, and emerging financial technologies (technology evolution - startup to maturity), and is critical to enhancing Baker Tilly’s market position and delivering differentiated value to clients.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required
15+ years of experience in Specialty Finance, FinTech, or related financial services industries, or in professional services supporting these sectors (e.g., accounting, law, management consulting, financial advisory), required
Minimum of 10 years of experience selling or delivering tax, assurance, and/or consulting services within Specialty Finance or FinTech environments (e.g., lenders, payment processors, digital banking platforms, financial intermediaries), required
Excellent sales skills and a proven track record of achieving KPI’s
Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to build rapport with internal Partners, Senior Management and stakeholders of varying levels/experience
Driven and ambitious individual with a strong desire to succeed
Eligibility to work in the U.S. without sponsorship required
Ability to travel up to 50% as needed

Responsibilities

Generate and manage a client facing pipeline- lead//own/participate in client pursuits (i.e. client discovery, proposal (pursuit) strategy, proposal development).
Represent the firm’s full suite of services across the Specialty Finance & FinTech ecosystem, including lenders, payment platforms, financial intermediaries, and technology-enabled financial service providers
Demonstrate an understanding of emerging financial technologies (e.g., payments infrastructure, digital banking, automation, AI, blockchain and Banking as a Service (BaaS)) and their application within Specialty Finance to enhance client solutions and drive growth
Develop a strong understanding of lending models, payment flows, capital structures, and financial product offerings to effectively align firm services with client needs
Co-Develop a sales plan for the assigned territory and report weekly on progress against that plan to senior management.
Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across the Specialty Finance & FinTech ecosystem, including lenders, payment providers, fintech operators, investors, and strategic partners
Demonstrated ability to craft clear, concise, and compelling value propositions for services and solutions, tailored for both internal alignment and external positioning.
Lead the deployment of sales techniques and strategies to integrate services and resources across all lines of services and geographies.
Maintain deep knowledge of core service offerings and effectively position their application within target markets to influence decision-makers
Create, sustain, and grow relationships with new and existing clients through regular, open communication; ensure performance standards and client satisfaction are consistently met, and proactively communicate and troubleshoot issues as they arise
Account Ownership; Strategic Account Management
Support the deployment and drive the use of industry-specific systems, technology development, and lead overall sales strategy for the industry
Innovate and grow the Specialty Finance & FinTech industry practice through collaboration, integrated solutions, and market differentiation
Monitor and communicate emerging trends in financial technology, alternative lending, payments, and digital financial infrastructure to identify and develop new business opportunities
Have conversational knowledge of other major service offerings outside of your team(s) with intersection into your target market(s); to leverage Firm strategy of providing or enhancing value for an integrated-reinforcing marketplace.
Maintain strict compliance with CRM (Salesforce) requirements by consistently documenting opportunity notes and all related activities, and keeping an accurate, up-to-date pipeline of qualified opportunities in accordance with firm protocols.
Attain closed business deal ($) goals associated with both new accounts and existing client accounts (as appropriate), to ensure a profitable return to Firm each fiscal year
Perform regular, aggressive and prompt follow up on all Firm-generated leads assigned from campaigns, or ad hoc requests from practice leadership
Collaborate with other Firm Industry, Service & Geography BD leaders and practice leaders for an integrated Go-to-Market (GTM) approach
Perform account planning and key account research to optimize BD efforts and account penetration
Make primary out-reach efforts, coordinated with marketing personnel on campaigns including prospect calls, emails and other mechanisms to secure appointments with COI individuals
Coach, develop and lead sales professionals (as well as industry resources) within the industry(s), and support other sales professionals with service or geographic alignment.
Demonstrate strong problem-solving, critical thinking, and thought leadership skills.