Business Development Specialist

Location: Manchester |
Type: Full-time |
Reports to: Director of Business Development |
Working Pattern: Hybrid (3 days in office, 2 days from home) |
Base Salary: £30,000 - £35,000 (+ the opportunity to earn commission)

Thomas has been a global leader in talent assessment for over 40 years, helping organisations recruit, retain, and develop exceptional people through psychometric science. Our tools – including behavioural, personality, and aptitude assessments – are trusted by thousands of businesses worldwide.

We’re now in the middle of a significant transformation. Alongside our established assessment platform, we’ve launched Thomas Connect – a new SaaS product that helps teams communicate and collaborate better through behaviour comparison tools, team profiling, and personalised development insights. It's psychometric science made practical for everyday work.

Our Manchester office is a key growth hub, and we’re expanding the team to keep building momentum. If you want to join a business with 40 years of credibility and the energy of a scaling SaaS company, this is a great time to get involved.

This isn’t a traditional SDR or lead‑gen role. As a Business Development Specialist, you’ll own the full sales cycle for our SMB market – from identifying and engaging prospects through to closing deals and generating revenue.

You’ll be selling across our full product portfolio to SMB companies, having real commercial conversations with founders, MDs, and HR leaders. You’ll use a combination of cold calling, email, Linked In, and social selling to build your own pipeline, and you’ll be responsible for converting that pipeline into closed business.

You’ll be part of a small, high‑energy team that uses AI tools as a strategic advantage for research, personalisation, and prioritisation. We move fast, we test ideas, and we back people who take ownership.

Prospecting & Pipeline Building – Use cold calling, email sequences, Linked In, and social selling to identify, engage, and qualify new business opportunities within your target market.

Full‑Cycle Selling – Own deals from first conversation through to close. Run discovery calls, build value propositions, handle objections, and win new customers.

Inbound Response – Act as the first point of contact for new enquiries, responding with speed and care to qualify opportunities and ensure no lead goes cold. For larger prospects, you’ll tee up and hand over to our Account Executive team with full context.

Client Engagement – Have meaningful conversations with decision‑makers. Understand their challenges around hiring, retention, team dynamics, and development – and connect those to our solutions.

CRM & Pipeline Management – Maintain a clean, accurate pipeline in Salesforce. Log all activity, track deal progression, and forecast with discipline.

Collaboration – Work closely with Account Executives (for larger opportunities), Customer Success, and Marketing to maximise results and share insight.

AI‑Powered Selling – Leverage AI tools alongside platforms like Cognism, Linked In Sales Navigator, and Lusha to research prospects, personalise outreach, and work smarter.

We’re open on background. Whether you’re a recent graduate with hunger and ambition or you’ve got 1–2 years in a commercial, customer‑facing, or sales role – what matters most is your ability to own a full sales cycle and your drive to succeed.

• Driven and commercially minded – you want to sell, hit targets, and be rewarded for results.
• A confident communicator who can hold a conversation with business owners and senior leaders.
• Resilient and gritty – you handle rejection well and come back stronger.
• Curious and coachable – you ask good questions, absorb feedback quickly, and want to improve.
• Organised and disciplined – you manage your pipeline, your time, and your follow‑ups effectively.
• Comfortable with pace – this role has daily activity standards and you’ll thrive in that structure, not fight it.

• Worked in B2B sales, recruitment, telesales, or a target‑driven environment.
• Used a CRM like Salesforce or Hub Spot (we’ll train you…