Business Development Executive

Position :
Business Development Executive

Type: Full time, temporary, 1-year fixed term

Department: Business Development

Reporting to: Senior Business Development Manager

Salary Range: £26,715 £ 32,857

Location : 9 Donegall Square North, Belfast BT1 5GB

About Us

Visit Belfast is the official destination marketing and management organisation (DMMO) for the Belfast City Region. We are responsible for promoting Belfast as a leading city break, business events and cruise ship destination, providing visitor servicing to warmly welcome visitors to the region. We are an innovative, public/private sector partnership funded and supported by Belfast City Council, Tourism Northern Ireland and the private sector.

Visit Belfast represents nearly 500 tourism businesses across the industry including accommodation providers, attractions, venues, experience providers, tour operators, transport providers, restaurants and cafes, pubs, clubs and event organisers.

We are a multi-award winning organisation that is set to deliver over 850,000 visits, 450,000 bednights and £141m in economic impact to the city region in 25/26 through our focus on short breaks, business events, cruise and visitor servicing activity.

About This Role

This role is based in Visit Belfast's Business Development Directorate as part of our Business Events Sales Team.

Our multi award-winning business team are responsible for promoting Belfast and Northern Ireland across the UK & Ireland, Europe and US as a leading destination for conferences, meetings and events.

The team work with our industry partners to identify and convert new business for Belfast and the wider region. This role involves working with our partners, and our local ambassador network to attract high-value business events for the city in a range of key sectors from life and health sciences, technology, agri-food, advanced manufacturing and business/professional services.

Purpose

Working as part of the Business Events Team, the postholder will be responsible for identifying, prospecting and generating qualified new opportunities to build Belfast's conference, meetings and events sales pipeline. They will engage with associations, corporate organisations, event planners, professional conference organisers (PCOs), agencies and members of Visit Belfast's NI Ambassador Network to research and qualify opportunities that support the team's annual sales targets.

The successful candidate will support Visit Belfast's strategic objectives by increasing the pipeline of business events that deliver economic impact, enhance Belfast's profile as a leading business events destination and contribute to the city's growth ambitions.

Duties & Responsibilities

Conduct in-depth sales research to identify and qualify new business event opportunities for Belfast and support lead generation and sales targets.

Utilise digital tools, CRM insights, team and industry research to understand event requirements and potential for Belfast as well as client and competitor insight.

Research association meetings, corporate events and sector-specific conferences aligned with Belfast's and Northern Ireland's key economic sectors.

Assist the team in development and delivery of business development and sales campaigns.

Support the Business Development Manager in researching and qualifying opportunities through the NI Ambassador Network both identifying potential new ambassadors and surfacing opportunities through the existing network.

Develop new business event opportunities through outbound prospecting to associations, corporate organisations and PCOs (professional conference organisers) and event owners.

Ensure all lead management activities comply with Visit Belfast policies and procedures.

Maintain accurate and up-to-date lead and contact records and comprehensive notes within the CRM system.

Assist the Business Development Manager and Business Events Account Managers in building and assessing the pipeline of qualified conference, meeting and business event leads.

Work closely with the team to progress leads compiling briefing and profile notes on CRM ahead of sales meetings and handovers, ensuring a seamless transition from research…