Business Development Manager

Discover Your Potential at Whitley Penn•Austin, TX

11d•Onsite

About The Position

Whitley Penn is seeking a senior-level individual contributor to drive strategic revenue growth through proactive market development and consultative selling. The Business Development Manager will partner with firm leaders to identify new business, develop targeted outreach strategies, and advance complex sales opportunities. The role will help establish and build the firm’s business development function in a new market and support growth across the firm’s audit, tax, advisory, and consulting services. This is a full-time, exempt, fully in-office position based in the Austin office. The general schedule is Monday through Friday, eight hours per day between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., with overtime as needed. Regular travel within the market and occasional travel outside the market are expected.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least 5 years of business development or consultative sales experience in a professional services environment, with a strong emphasis on new-market or territory development.
Proven ability to originate new opportunities, generate revenue, and win complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles.
Strong business acumen and fundamental understanding of accounting concepts.
Ability to independently create pipeline, advance opportunities, and close business with minimal oversight.
Strong pipeline management and follow-through discipline.
Experience using CRM tools for pipeline management, reporting, and sales execution.
Experience using social media and digital platforms to identify, access, and engage executive-level prospects.
Strong communication, presentation, influencing, and negotiation skills.
Executive presence, credibility, and professionalism in C-suite and Board-level conversations.
Entrepreneurial, self-directed, results-oriented mindset and a strong bias toward action.
Relationship-driven approach.
Ability to navigate ambiguity, influence across complex internal organizations, and drive measurable outcomes.
Regular in-office work in the Austin office, with travel within the market and occasional out-of-market travel.
Ability to work overtime as needed.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or MBA.
Prior experience in accounting or finance.
An existing network of Boards of Directors and C-suite officers at mid-market companies, private equity decision makers, and other professional services relationships that can be activated to generate opportunities.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Head of Business Development to establish and build a business development function in a new market.
Work with local office, firm, service line, and industry team leaders to identify and target market gaps and companies not currently served by the firm, and convert opportunities into business.
Collaborate with the marketing team on targeted outreach strategies and go-to-market plans.
Build and maintain a disciplined, high-quality pipeline aligned with growth targets.
Originate new sales opportunities by initiating sales calls and securing meetings consistently and systematically.
Identify decision makers at client and prospect organizations and lead executive-level discovery conversations to understand business challenges, service capabilities, strategic priorities, and ROI drivers; develop strategies to position the firm as a solution provider.
Manage and execute the sales plan and process, coordinating internal and external resources to position the firm to win business.
Meet sales production targets and goals with minimal oversight and direction.
Establish and maintain collaborative, long-term client relationships with executives.
Support firm and industry leaders in identifying and maximizing appropriate cross-selling opportunities with existing clients.
Represent the firm professionally through relationship-based selling.
Participate in professional organizations and informal networks to develop and sustain professional relationships.
Develop opportunities through networking contacts, professional affiliations, industry groups, and other professional services relationships.
Use the CRM system daily and consistently to keep reporting, customer information, sales activity, and pipeline data current.

Benefits

Firm-paid medical insurance, including free employee-only coverage on two of three plans.
Voluntary dental insurance.
Voluntary vision insurance.
17 annual firm holidays, with extended breaks around July 4 and year-end.
20 days of paid time off.
Paid maternity and parental leave.
401(k) with profit sharing.
Discretionary bonus program.
Health and wellness program.
Pet insurance.