Director of Strategic Partnerships

Regional Business Development Director, Manchester

Field-based, Greater Manchester and the North (occasional travel to

London)

About the organisation

Our client is a well-established UK professional body with a national remit across membership, professional registration, apprenticeships and enterprise learning. It is building out a small network of new regional roles to grow its presence, relationships and commercial pipeline in priority sectors and city regions.

The role

This is a brand new, front-end business development role for Manchester and the North. It is a hunter role, not an account management one. You will get out into the region, build relationships at a strategic level with employers and their leaders, understand their business problems and present our client's membership and learning offer as the solution. Once you have identified a genuine opportunity, you hand it to the central sales team, who take it through to close and delivery.

You will not manage or service accounts long-term. Your job is to be visible, connected and commercially sharp across your patch, and to keep bringing new, qualified opportunities into the pipeline. There are no direct reports. This is a new role, so there is real scope to shape it.

What you will do

Get immersed in the Manchester and North West business ecosystem, building a strong network of senior contacts across large employers, particularly those with complex IT needs or an AI agenda. Identify business problems and translate them into a clear pitch for our client's membership, AI readiness support and IT skills development offer. Build and track a portfolio of relationships and a live, qualified pipeline in Salesforce.

Hand qualified opportunities to the central sales team with full context, then stay connected to the relationship as it moves into delivery. Represent the organisation at regional forums, conferences and industry events, building its profile as a trusted partner in the region.

What we are looking for

This is the part that matters most: a proven, demonstrable track record of turning relationships into commercial outcomes, not just a strong network. Being well connected in the region is not enough on its own.

Beyond that, we are looking for a genuine hunter mentality, someone comfortable identifying opportunities from a standing start and building relationships rather than managing existing ones. Experience in membership organisations, professional bodies, consultancy or training and enterprise learning is a strong plus, as is a background spanning both corporate and not-for-profit environments. You should be resilient and comfortable with a business that moves and changes direction quickly.

Familiarity with Salesforce or a comparable CRM is expected.

This is a field-based role. Your office is wherever you live in the region, and you should expect to be out meeting people regularly, with occasional travel to London for internal meetings. A full current UK driving licence is required. Some evening or weekend event attendance should be expected. There is no on-target bonus attached to this role.