Business Development Operations Associate

London Full-time

Title: Business Development Operations Associate

Location: London

Department: Sales

Downing is dedicated to delivering investments that matter - for our economy, our health, our society, our local communities and our environment. For over 40 years, our highly experienced team and our entrepreneurial spirit has driven us to seek out long-term and unique opportunities that solve challenges faced by investors, companies and society. As a certified B Corp, we take our responsibilities, to our investors, our stakeholders and society, seriously.

We invest for return while always considering our impact on the world.

The primary function of the Business Development Operations Associate is to support the activities of the Downing Strategic Partnership Sales Team in increasing panel positions and optimising business activity to develop new sales opportunities. This person will work alongside a busy sales team in a business development environment, contributing to meetings on a day-to-day basis.

The ideal candidate will possess exceptional customer service skills, whilst being highly efficient and adaptable, with strong interpersonal skills and effective administrative abilities. Paramount to this role is an individual who is organised and who can communicate effectively with advisers, clients, and internal sales and strategy teams. Various supporting administrative tasks are involved in this role, including creating/monitoring reports for fund raising activities, as well as team event planning and delivery execution.

Where appropriate, travel to regional UK events and business meetings may be required.

• Managing the Sales Support inbound enquires and handling literature requests
• Responding to customer queries as first point of contact
• CRM system administration – updating records, logging activity, maintaining data hygiene
• Diary management or meeting coordination for the sales team

• Producing illustrations or quotes for financial advisers
• Creating and maintaining call campaigns records
• Generating call lists/leads from events, centralised targets, or desk research
• Supporting region planning and team coverage logistics
• Drafting and updating a suite of email templates for business outreach
• Tracking business pipeline and reporting on progress
• Monitoring competitor activity and summarising insights

• Desk and data research for new business development opportunities (new prospect client firms) and to liaise with internal regional sales teams
• Creating lead lists from centralised targets or external databases
• Analysing event outcomes and generating follow-up actions

• Coordinating group mailings around specific business events
• Supporting roadshows campaigns – call lists, email follow-ups
• Assisting with event logistics or delegate tracking

• Supporting region strategy and territory alignment
• Assisting with funds follow-ups once applications are received
• Liaising with internal teams (e.g. marketing, compliance) for campaign support

• Degree level or equivalent education
• Prior commercial experience, ideally within a business operations or sales support environment
• Experiencing in working within account management and knowledge of CRM databases
• Competence in Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook

• Bright, driven and enthusiastic
• Sales focused
• Positive attitude
• Positive outlook toward problem solving
• Hard working and keen to go the extra mile
• Outgoing and gregarious

Downing’s values - Be bold and ambitious | Be straightforward | Support each other

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