SVP, Business Development

SOCOTEC•New York, NY

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The SVP, Business Development is a senior-level commercial leader responsible for leading Business Development professionals to drive net-new customer revenue across the Northeast and contribute to broader SOCOTEC US revenue growth. The role also provides strategic and operational oversight of SOCOTEC USA’s national Proposal organization, ensuring it has the people, processes, tools, and operating disciplines needed to support sustainable organic growth. The SVP partners closely with the COO and leaders across Operations, Finance, Marketing, HR, IT, and business units to develop scalable commercial processes, tools, governance, and performance measures. This is an organizational leadership role, not an individual-contributor, commission-driven sales position. The role leads Business Development professionals in collaboration with technical seller-doers to improve market coverage, cross-selling, share of wallet, organic revenue growth, and commercial excellence. The position is focused on the Northeast, with New York, NY preferred and Boston, MA also considered. It requires working in the office four days per week and approximately 20–30% travel to client sites, regional offices, and industry events. Compensation is $250,000–$275,000, with annual bonus eligibility.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 10 years of progressive business development, commercial, or related leadership experience.
Significant experience leading business development, proposal, pursuit, or commercial teams, with demonstrated people leadership and executive presence.
Demonstrated success leading Business Development teams to generate net-new revenue, develop client relationships, and build regional or company-level market presence.
Strong understanding of complex B2B business development and sales cycles, strategic pursuits, and proposal development.
Exceptional organizational, written, verbal, and presentation skills.
Strong business acumen and ability to connect commercial strategy, client needs, operational capabilities, and financial performance.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
Strategic and analytical mindset, with the ability to balance hands-on business development and pursuit leadership with broader commercial priorities.
Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across business units and functions.
Strong communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving organization.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree, such as an MBA or related field.
Experience in Industrial Services, Professional Services, or related industries such as Architecture, Engineering, Construction, or Testing, Inspection, and Certification.
Familiarity with CRM platforms; Deltek Vantagepoint is specifically identified as desirable.
Experience leading change, process improvement, technology adoption, or organizational transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

Build, lead, and mentor high-performing Business Development teams across regional offices, initially focusing on the Northeast.
Partner with Operations leaders to strengthen collaboration between technical delivery teams (seller-doers) and commercial staff and establish a unified growth culture.
Align regional commercial teams with corporate strategy.
Design and implement variable compensation models that align Business Development efforts with corporate organic-growth targets, including revenue, cross-selling, and customer-retention goals.
Develop and implement a comprehensive commercial strategy to scale organic growth and expand market share in alignment with SOCOTEC US objectives.
Lead change management to foster customer-centric, data-driven, and commercially minded behaviors.
Monitor industry trends, competitors, and market dynamics; gather market intelligence and use research and data-driven insights to assess new markets, service lines, and revenue streams.
Assess pricing trends and win/loss metrics to standardize pricing models and optimize profitability and competitiveness.
Drive net-new customer revenue and build a qualified regional pipeline.
Institutionalize cross-selling and service bundling across SOCOTEC’s services to grow existing client relationships.
Develop senior relationships with key accounts, strategic clients, and industry partners across AEC and industrial services.
Support major contract negotiations and provide executive oversight for high-value strategic pursuits.
Represent SOCOTEC with prospective clients, industry partners, and stakeholders across AEC, industrial services, and professional services.
Manage and report on the opportunity pipeline from first contact through win or loss.
Improve win rates through better proposal quality, client-centered positioning, and post-submission review processes.
Establish sales performance metrics, KPIs, and accountability frameworks.
Partner with Marketing to improve brand recognition and competitive positioning.
Serve as senior business owner for the enterprise CRM, working with IT on data standards, governance, and user adoption.
Develop executive dashboards and provide actionable analytics on pipeline health, win/loss trends, and revenue forecasting.
Champion NPS and broader customer-experience initiatives with Operations to support client retention and repeat business.
Identify and advance high-value AI, automation, and process-improvement opportunities in commercial workflows, emphasizing measurable improvements in productivity, quality, and decision-making.
Standardize priority commercial processes and governance to improve consistency, visibility, accountability, and execution across business units.
Provide commercial performance insights, market intelligence, and recommendations to the COO/CCO and business leadership to inform growth strategy and investment decisions.
Provide executive leadership and strategic direction for SOCOTEC USA’s national Proposal organization in partnership with Marketing.
Partner with the Director of Proposals and Proposal leadership on the organization’s day-to-day operation, staffing, prioritization, and execution.
Establish national best practices for pursuit and proposal strategy, delivery, quality, continuous improvement, and performance reporting.
Improve proposal quality, consistency, efficiency, turnaround time, and win rates.
Support processes and governance for complex proposals, estimates, and level-of-effort and fee calculations.
Identify opportunities to use AI, automation, and technology to increase Proposal team capacity, effectiveness, and speed.