Head of Business Development

Job Purpose:

The Head of Business Development is responsible for driving sustainable and profitable revenue growth across the Lifestyle Vertical through new customer acquisition, strategic account development, commercial expansion, and long-term business relationships. The role leads business development activities across the full portfolio of Lifestyle logistics solutions, including warehousing, fulfillment, transportation, last-mile delivery, reverse logistics, cross-border solutions, and omnichannel services. While new customer acquisition remains a primary responsibility, the role extends beyond securing new contracts to developing strategic customer relationships, identifying additional revenue opportunities within existing accounts, and supporting long-term customer value creation. Working within a unified Commercial organization, the Head of Business Development collaborates closely with Account Growth, Customer Experience, Operations, Finance, and Product teams to ensure commercial commitments translate into profitable, sustainable revenue. The role is accountable for developing a high-performing business development function, maintaining a healthy and predictable sales pipeline, and supporting the Lifestyle Vertical’s overall revenue, profitability, and customer growth objectives.

Job Responsibilities:

A. New Business Acquisition & Revenue Growth

• Develop and execute the Lifestyle Vertical’s business development strategy in alignment with annual revenue, gross margin, and profitability objectives.
• Lead the identification, qualification, engagement, negotiation, and acquisition of new customers across target industries and customer archetypes.
• Translate annual commercial targets into actionable acquisition plans, customer segments, individual sales targets, and measurable revenue contributions.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key decision-makers, senior executives, and strategic prospects.
• Drive enterprise customer acquisition through consultative selling and value-based commercial propositions.
• Lead complex commercial negotiations, tender submissions, Requests for Proposals (RFPs), and strategic proposals.
• Ensure new business opportunities are commercially viable, operationally executable, and aligned with approved profitability thresholds.
• Drive customer acquisition across multiple service lines to maximize revenue potential and solution penetration.
• Ensure signed customers progress toward operational go-live and agreed revenue ramp-up targets in collaboration with Customer Experience (CX) and Operations.

Expected Outcome: Consistent delivery of profitable new customer revenue, supported by a diversified customer portfolio and predictable pipeline conversion.

B. Strategic Account Development & Relationship Management

• Establish and maintain senior-level relationships with strategic customers, including newly acquired customers and selected existing enterprise accounts.
• Work closely with Customer Experience to identify opportunities for cross-selling, upselling, service diversification, geographic expansion, and additional business channels.
• Participate in strategic customer business reviews where commercial development opportunities or executive engagement are required.
• Lead complex commercial negotiations, contract expansions, competitive situations, and strategic renewals.
• Develop relationships across multiple customer stakeholders to strengthen Starlinks’ commercial positioning and reduce dependency on individual contacts.
• Identify emerging customer requirements and translate them into commercial opportunities.
• Collaborate with CX on account development plans for strategic customers with significant expansion potential.
• Maintain customer retention through proactive executive engagement, competitive intelligence, and commercially viable solutions.

Expected Outcome: Increased customer lifetime value, stronger enterprise relationships, and incremental revenue generation across existing accounts.

C. Commercial Pipeline Management & Revenue Forecasting

• Own the development, quality, and governance of the new business pipeline.
• Maintain a qualified opportunity pipeline with sufficient coverage to support annual and quarterly revenue targets.
• Establish structured opportunity qualification, probability assessment, revenue estimation, and deal progression methodologies.
• Ensure pipeline reporting reflects expected contract value, revenue ramp-up, service mix, gross margin, and anticipated go-live timelines.
• Develop accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual new business revenue forecasts.
• Identify risks, conversion gaps, delayed opportunities, and corrective actions required to protect revenue targets.
• Maintain disciplined Customer Relationship Management (CRM) utilization, opportunity documentation, and sales activity tracking.
• Conduct regular pipeline reviews with the Business Development team and Commercial leadership.
• Coordinate with Account Growth and Revenue Operations to maintain consolidated visibility of new business and expansion opportunities.
• Provide actionable commercial insights to support budget preparation, resource allocation, and operational capacity planning.

Expected Outcome: A transparent, measurable, and reliable pipeline that supports commercial planning and revenue predictability.

D. Commercial Profitability & Pricing Governance

• Ensure all commercial proposals comply with approved pricing policies, margin thresholds, and delegated authorities.
• Collaborate with Finance, Operations, and Commercial leadership to validate customer profitability and cost-to-serve assumptions.
• Promote value-based selling rather than price-led customer acquisition.
• Identify opportunities to improve revenue quality through service mix optimization, solution bundling, and contract structuring.
• Support strategic repricing and commercial renegotiations when required.
• Ensure commercial commitments, service levels, operational assumptions, and contractual obligations are properly assessed before execution.
• Monitor the financial performance and revenue realization of newly acquired customers against approved business cases.
• Escalate material commercial risks, pricing exceptions, and deviations from agreed profitability requirements.

Expected Outcome: Sustainable revenue growth that positively contributes to gross margin and EBITDA performance.

E. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Customer Lifecycle

• Work closely with Customer Experience to ensure a structured transition from commercial closure to customer onboarding.
• Provide complete commercial handover documentation, including contracted services, pricing, volumes, customer requirements, and agreed service commitments.
• Support CX-led onboarding through customer relationship management, commercial clarifications, and timely resolution of contractual matters.
• Coordinate with Operations to validate solution feasibility, capacity requirements, and implementation readiness before making binding commitments.
• Support Account Growth in transitioning newly launched customers into structured account ownership.
• Maintain appropriate involvement during customer ramp-up to ensure commercial assumptions and expected revenue materialize.
• Collaborate with CX to address commercially sensitive customer concerns while respecting CX’s independent ownership of service governance, customer journey, and experience measurement.
• Support Product and Operations in identifying market requirements, new service opportunities, and commercially viable solution development.
• Ensure customer commitments are properly documented and communicated across responsible functions.

Ownership Principle:

• Customer Experience (CX): Owns onboarding execution, customer journey, experience measurement, and independent Service Level Agreement (SLA) governance.
• Operations: Owns operational execution and service delivery.
• Commercial: Owns commercial relationships, revenue commitments, and contractual matters.

Expected Outcome: Seamless customer acquisition-to-activation transitions, clear accountability, and stronger revenue realization.

F. Market Development & Strategic Partnerships

• Identify emerging market opportunities, customer segments, and business models relevant to the Lifestyle Vertical.
• Develop market intelligence covering customer demand, competitor positioning, pricing trends, and service requirements.
• Establish strategic partnerships that generate measurable revenue, expand market access, or enhance the Lifestyle service offering.
• Support the development of differentiated logistics propositions across eCommerce, retail, omnichannel, and enterprise supply chains.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Commercial leadership on lead generation strategies, targeted campaigns, industry events, and customer acquisition initiatives.
• Develop structured prospecting strategies and target account lists across priority customer archetypes.
• Provide market feedback to support product development, service enhancements, and commercial strategy.

Expected Outcome: A diversified and sustainable commercial opportunity base supported by strategic market positioning.

Requirements

Education bachelor’s degree in business administration, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, or a related discipline. MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification is an advantage.

Professional Experience 8–12 years of relevant experience in business development, commercial management, enterprise sales, or strategic account development. Minimum 3–5 years of experience leading commercial or business development teams.

Demonstrated success in B2B enterprise customer acquisition and complex commercial negotiations. Strong understanding of logistics, fulfillment, eCommerce, transportation, and supply chain solutions. Experience managing revenue targets, commercial pipelines, pricing, and profitability.

Proven ability to develop senior-level customer relationships and drive account expansion. Experience operating within cross-functional commercial and operational environments. Knowledge of the Saudi Arabian logistics and eCommerce market is strongly preferred.