Business Development Manager

Overview

What You Will Do GFT is seeking a Business Development Manager to provide strategic leadership across Florida and Georgia within our Transportation, Construction Services, and Buildings & Places markets. This high-impact role is designed for an accomplished AEC business development leader who drives the full lifecycle of growth—from client engagement and market intelligence to capture planning, proposal leadership, and interview execution.

Leveraging deep expertise in FDOT, GDOT, and municipal procurement environments throughout Florida and Georgia, you will serve as a trusted partner to Client Service Leaders and Market Leaders, helping to identify opportunities, develop winning pursuit strategies, and translate client intelligence into measurable business results. You will lead complex, multi-disciplinary pursuits, guide proposal and interview teams, and support regional growth initiatives that strengthen GFT’s market position and client relationships.

This position also includes direct management of Business Development staff, with responsibility for establishing performance expectations, allocating resources across offices and markets, and developing a high-performing team aligned with regional growth objectives. We are seeking a proven AEC business development professional with demonstrated success leading Florida- and Georgia-based teams, managing strategic pursuits, and collaborating across business lines and geographies to achieve growth goals.

The ideal candidate brings a strong understanding of the business development lifecycle, exceptional leadership and relationship-building skills, and a track record of delivering successful outcomes on high-value pursuits. This position may be based in any of our Florida offices.

At GFT, we’re not just pursuing projects—we’re strategically capturing opportunities that shape our communities. The Strategic Growth Office is the engine behind GFT’s enterprise-wide growth. It fuels our most significant pursuits by aligning talent, insights, and strategy to win complex, high-impact projects. From vision through delivery, we partner across all Business Groups to develop compelling, competitive proposals that reflect our core values and technical excellence.

The BD&M Leader is responsible for providing overall leadership of the business development lifecycle within a complex regional or national business group structure. Substantial resource management, workload management and prioritization, strategic research and writing, assessment of potential client and teaming opportunities; and direct interface with key roles in the business to achieve growth (Regional Sales Leaders, Business Growth and Sales Leaders, Market Sector Leaders, Client Service Leaders, and Capture Managers, etc.).

In this capacity, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following:

• Business Development & Marketing
  • Provide strategic planning, business development, and marketing initiatives for assigned business groups, regions, or areas.
  • Contribute to BD collateral development, support internal and external meetings, and attend relevant industry events to maintain visibility and alignment with growth strategies.
  • Act as a proactive partner in all stages of the Business Development Lifecycle Process (BDLP), staying informed on team-wide BD activities to provide strategic insight and continuity across functions.
• BD Data/Practices/Processes
  • Lead and approve process improvements, tool adoption, and innovations within the BD function on collaboration with BD leaders, directors, and the Chief Growth Officer (CGO).
  • Champion the implementation and consistent use of AI tools across the BD group and lead evaluations of new technologies as needed.
  • Responsible for data accuracy within their team, ensuring effective use of databases and promoting continuous improvement in systems and processes.
• Client Service Team Support
  • Lead business development and marketing (BD&M) strategy in alignment with client action plans (CAPs), business plans, and organizational strategic plans.
  • Help identify and develop new target clients and often serves as the initial BD…