Business Development Intern

NALEJ • Arlington, VA

7d • Hybrid

About The Position

NALEJ is seeking motivated and intellectually curious Business Development Interns to support the company’s growth, customer engagement, and market-development activities. This internship is designed for students interested in learning how organizations identify opportunities, build customer relationships, develop sales pipelines, and position capabilities within competitive markets. Interns will work alongside members of NALEJ’s business development and leadership teams and receive hands-on exposure to prospect research, customer outreach, lead qualification, pipeline development, CRM administration, and business-development strategy. This is not an internship centered on observing from the sidelines. Interns will be expected to contribute directly to ongoing growth initiatives while receiving mentorship and structured opportunities to develop their communication, research, analytical, and professional skills.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in an accredited college or university and have completed, or will have completed, the sophomore year by the start of the internship.
• Pursuing a degree in Business, Communications, Marketing, Economics, Management, or a related field.
• Availability for the full duration of the internship.
• Ability to work in person approximately two weeks per month at the Arlington-area office or designated company location.
• Demonstrated professional written and verbal communication skills.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, email platforms, and presentation software.
• Ability to organize information, manage assignments, and meet established deadlines.
• Demonstrated professionalism and willingness to learn.

Nice To Haves

• Previous internship, part-time employment, customer-service, retail, hospitality, fundraising, or other customer-facing experience.
• Participation in student organizations, leadership activities, athletics, competitions, entrepreneurship, or other extracurricular activities.
• Experience conducting research or preparing presentations.
• Familiarity with Salesforce, HubSpot, or another customer relationship management platform.
• Experience using Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, or similar productivity platforms.
• Interest in technology, government contracting, national security, federal markets, or business-to-business sales.
• Prior sales or CRM experience is helpful but is not required.

Responsibilities

• Research prospective customers, organizations, partners, and market opportunities.
• Gather and organize information on prospective accounts, industries, competitors, and customer needs.
• Assist in identifying potential leads and business-development opportunities.
• Develop concise account and prospect profiles to support outreach and engagement.
• Conduct research in preparation for customer meetings and business-development discussions.
• Monitor relevant industry developments and identify information that may affect current or future opportunities.
• Assist with professional outreach to prospective customers, partners, and other stakeholders.
• Draft introductory emails, follow-up correspondence, and other business-development communications.
• Support preparation for customer calls and meetings.
• Participate in selected customer and partner engagements as appropriate.
• Maintain professional and timely follow-up with assigned contacts.
• Learn how messaging and communication approaches are adapted based on the audience and stage of engagement.
• Enter and maintain accurate prospect and opportunity information within the company’s CRM.
• Update contact information, activity notes, opportunity stages, and required follow-up actions.
• Assist with maintaining an organized business-development pipeline.
• Track outreach activities and identify outstanding follow-up actions.
• Support basic reporting on pipeline activity, lead progression, and business-development metrics.
• Help ensure customer and opportunity information remains current and actionable.
• Assist the business-development team with opportunity identification and qualification.
• Support development of presentations, briefing materials, customer profiles, and internal growth documents.
• Participate in internal discussions regarding customers, markets, positioning, and business-development strategy.
• Assist with special projects involving market analysis, partnerships, customer engagement, and growth initiatives.
• Support event, conference, or networking preparation when appropriate.
• Complete additional business-development assignments based on company priorities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Associate degree