About the role
A Business Development Manager job description covers finding and winning new clients and partners, building lasting relationships, and planning and forecasting sales to meet growth targets. The role delivers the revenue and market position the organization depends on. Hiring managers should assess sales and business development, negotiation, strategic communication, and AI fluency.
Business development managers turn market knowledge into new business. They research industry trends and competition, then build and forecast sales plans for sales teams and the wider organization. Core duties include:
New opportunities. Identify and generate new business opportunities to fuel growth.
Relationships. Build and maintain relationships with clients, stakeholders, and partners.
Sales plans. Develop and implement strategic sales plans to achieve corporate goals.
What are the essential Business Development Manager skills?
The essential skills are sales and business development, negotiation and relationship building, strategic communication, CRM and sales software proficiency, and AI fluency.
Skill | Why it matters | Bryq assessment and level |
|---|---|---|
Sales and business development | Generates and closes new business opportunities. | |
Negotiation and relationship building | Wins deals and keeps clients and partners engaged. | Relationship Building (intermediate) |
Strategic communication | Pitches clearly to clients and aligns internal teams. | Strategic Communication (intermediate) |
CRM and sales software proficiency | Tracks the pipeline and supports accurate forecasts. | Customer Relationship Management (intermediate) |
AI Fluency | Shapes prospect research, outreach, and forecasting. | AI Fluency Assessment (functional) |
The core work is generating opportunities, negotiating deals, and keeping client and partner relationships healthy. CRM tools track the pipeline and forecasts, and AI now supports prospect research, outreach drafting, and forecasting.
Levels are a starting point. Bryq lets you set the level each role needs.
Which nice-to-have skills help a Business Development Manager stand out?
Market research and data analysis, strategic and critical thinking for sales planning, Salesforce, and time management add value but are not needed on day one.
Market research and data analysis. Helps size opportunities.
Strategic and critical thinking for sales planning. Sharpens plans and forecasts.
Salesforce. Speeds up pipeline tracking.
Time management across a pipeline of prospects. Helps prioritize prospects.
Use these skills as tie-breakers between candidates who are equally strong on the essentials. Never screen out candidates who can learn them on the job.
Which competencies predict success as a Business Development Manager?
The essential competency for a Business Development Manager is Communication.
Communication. Pitches to clients, works with partners, and aligns internal teams.
Learning Agility is an optional competency that adds quicker adaptation to market shifts.
What AI skills does a Business Development Manager need?
A Business Development Manager should use AI for prospecting, outreach, and sales forecasting, because these tasks now shape daily work.
AI matters in this role because it supports daily prospecting, outreach, and reporting. Strong AI fluency means prompting well and checking outputs before they reach clients. Unchecked AI output can put errors or the wrong tone in front of a prospect.
Market research. Use AI to research target companies and summarize market trends and competitor moves to identify new business opportunities.
Outreach. Draft and personalize outreach emails, proposals, and pitch material with AI, then review them for accuracy and tone before sending.
Forecasting. Use AI-assisted analysis of CRM and pipeline data to support sales forecasts and flag deals at risk of missing targets.
How do you assess Business Development Manager candidates with Bryq?
Bryq measures all the essential skills and traits for a Business Development Manager in one integrated candidate profile: cognitive ability, personality traits, soft and hard skills, including AI fluency. Bryq builds an ideal profile for the role and matches candidates against it.
Profile Fit. Measures cognitive ability and personality, matched against the ideal profile for the role.
Sales Roles. Tests sales and business development skills.
Relationship Building. Tests negotiation and relationship building.
Strategic Communication. Tests how clearly candidates communicate strategy.
Customer Relationship Management. Tests CRM and sales software proficiency.
AI Fluency Assessment. Measures how well candidates use and check AI in their work.
Optional add-ons. Data Analysis, Strategic & Critical Thinking, Salesforce, and Time Management cover the nice-to-have skills.
Competency profile. Through competency mapping, add Communication as the essential competency and Learning Agility as an optional addition.
All Bryq assessments are validated by I/O psychologists. Profile Fit is independently bias-audited under New York City Local Law 144 (code4thought, April 2026). The AI Fluency Assessment is built on peer-reviewed and subject-matter expert research. A person makes every hiring decision.
Business Development Manager job description template
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Business Development Manager |
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About [Company name][Add a short description of your company.] About the roleAs a Business Development Manager, you will drive our growth by finding and winning new clients and partners. You will build lasting relationships and plan and forecast sales to meet growth targets. Your work brings in the revenue and market position our organization depends on. Responsibilities
Qualifications
Skills and competencies we look for
Working with AI
What we offer
Equal opportunity[Add your equal opportunity statement.] |
Frequently asked questions
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Author
The Bryq I/O Team
Bryq’s I/O Psychology Team is a group of industrial-organizational psychologists who design and validate the science behind our assessments. They write about what research says on hiring, skills, personality, and performance, and how HR leaders can apply it to make fairer, evidence-based decisions.
