Director of Business Development

Altair Advisers•Chicago, IL

2d•$225,000 - $250,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Altair Advisers is an independent wealth advisory firm providing investment management, financial planning and client education services. We counsel a select group of individuals, families, foundations and endowments. As a fiduciary, we serve as an advocate for our clients, providing objective advice and comprehensive guidance across all aspects of our clients’ financial lives. Altair’s Business Development function strengthens the firm’s ability to grow through disciplined execution, deeper relationship intelligence, and better leverage of senior adviser capacity. The function brings structure to pipeline management, prospect follow-up, referral development, center of influence engagement, CRM governance, and market intelligence so Managing Directors and senior advisors can focus their time on the highest-value relationships, conversations, and opportunities. The Director of Business Development leads this function, building the systems, market knowledge, relationship intelligence, and execution discipline that help Altair grow thoughtfully and effectively. This person partners closely with the CEO, senior advisors, the Director of Marketing, and the Senior Client Service team to identify meaningful growth opportunities, support high-value prospect and referral conversations, and coordinate growth priorities across teams. This role is not expected to be the primary originator of new business or carry an individual sales quota. Instead, the Director is responsible for making Altair’s business development efforts more organized, consistent, and actionable by keeping the pipeline current, helping advisers prepare for important conversations, following up on next steps, and making sure good opportunities do not lose momentum.

Requirements

10–15 years of experience in business development, sales operations, or sales enablement leadership, ideally in wealth management or another relationship-driven professional services environment.
Experience building or improving a sales process, CRM discipline, or pipeline management function.
Familiarity with the broad range of needs, dynamics, and issues common to clients with generational wealth, with direct experience serving clients in the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth sectors.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to develop polished business development materials and present effectively to prospective clients.
Strong process and organizational skills, with the ability to manage effectively across a partnership-driven firm.
Proactive, self-directed, and energized by identifying opportunities, anticipating adviser and firm needs, and driving work forward without waiting for step-by-step direction.
Strong interest in using technology, AI-enabled tools, data, and workflow improvements to improve business development execution, adviser leverage, reporting, and relationship intelligence.
Executive level presence and comfort in a client-facing capacity at the start of and throughout the client acquisition process.
Comfortable with a hybrid schedule, averaging at least 3 days per week in office.

Responsibilities

Own and strengthen Altair’s prospect-to-client process, creating the structure, accountability, and follow-through needed to move opportunities from initial introduction to signed engagement.
Track pipeline status regularly and follow up on opportunities that have stalled.
Coach advisers on prospect and referral conversations and provide structure for high-stakes meetings.
Own the transition from close through the onboarding of a new client relationship, designing and maintaining a structured onboarding experience.
Produce and deliver regular pipeline reporting to firm leadership and growth committee, providing real visibility into prospect stage, conversion trends, and forecasted new business.
Help Managing Directors and senior advisors prioritize where to spend time by identifying the most promising relationships, referral sources, prospect opportunities, and follow-up actions.
Assess centers of influence and referral relationships to determine which are worth cultivating, expanding, or de-prioritizing based on strategic fit, relationship quality, and potential relevance to Altair’s client base.
Stay current on wealth management industry trends, competitive positioning, referral patterns, and market developments that may influence Altair’s growth strategy in partnership with the Director of Marketing.
Oversee the firm's CRM for business development, ensuring data is accurate, current, and useful to firm leadership and client service.
Manage proposal coordination so proposals are produced consistently and on time, with minimal burden on advisers.
Maintain a process for capturing relationship information during the sales process and handing it off cleanly to Client Operations and the adviser team at the point of client close.
Strengthen the business development skills and confidence across all levels of the client service team.
Work with advisers to map client, referral, professional, and peer networks, identifying where relationships across one adviser’s network may create relevant opportunities for other advisers or broader firm engagement.
Serve as an ongoing coach, connector, and execution partner to advisers, helping translate relationship insights into practical next steps, introductions, initiatives, and follow-through.
Serve as a standing member of Altair's Growth Committee (or equivalent forum), partnering with the Director of Marketing and Senior Client Service leadership to align on target markets, resource allocation, and initiative prioritization.
Bring transparency to the adviser team on how growth decisions are being made, why, and what is expected of advisers in support of firm-level growth priorities.
Coordinate closely with the Director of Marketing on event strategy, prospect touchpoints, and the handoff between marketing-qualified interest and active BD engagement.
Lead, coach, and develop Altair's business development function, including the BD Operations Specialist.
Build the operating rhythms, standards, and career pathways that allow the BD team to scale as the firm grows.