Business Development Associate

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)

About Thomas   

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.

About the role 

This isn't a traditional SDR or lead-gen role. As a Business Development Associate, 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, LinkedIn, 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.

What you’ll be doing 

Prospecting & Pipeline Building – Use cold calling, email sequences, LinkedIn, 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, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Lusha to research prospects, personalise outreach, and work smarter.

Requirements

What we’re looking for

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.

It's a bonus if you've:

• Worked in B2B sales, recruitment, telesales, or a target-driven environment.
• Used a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot (we'll train you if not).
• Built outbound pipeline or managed your own prospect list.
• Used LinkedIn for research and outreach.

What You'll Get

• A genuine full-cycle selling role from day one – not just booking meetings.
• A clear progression path from BDA into Account Executive and beyond.
• Access to modern sales tools including AI, Cognism, Sales Navigator, and Lusha.
• A supportive, coaching-led management style focused on building your skills and career.
• The chance to sell a product portfolio backed by 40 years of psychometric science.
• A collaborative Manchester office environment with a team that's building something together.

Our Hiring Process

At Thomas, we don't rely on CVs and interviews alone. We use Thomas Assess, our own talent assessment tool, to understand the behaviours, traits, and working styles that lead to success in this role. We've built a job profile for this position and it'll be used alongside the interview process to give us a deeper, more objective view of what makes a great fit. You'll learn more about this as you progress through the process.

Ready to own your sales career?

Apply now – we'd love to hear from you.

Benefits

• Holiday – 25 days per annum, plus the opportunity to purchase up to an extra 5 days per annum through the salary sacrifice holiday buy scheme.
• Early Finish Friday - Finish at 15:00 all year round.
• An extra day off for your birthday and for moving house!
• Hybrid Working - 3 days in the office and 2 days from home.
• Employment Assistance Programme - Access to Champion Health which provides a complete support network that offers expert advice and compassionate guidance and is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• UK Healthcare – cash plan where members of Team Thomas can claim back for various healthcare appointments (including dental and optical).
• Gym Membership – Thomas will either pay up to £28 per month towards gym membership at any nationwide gym, or £28 per month towards membership at The Marlow Club (a gym and swimming pool located close to the Marlow office).
• Perkbox – a communication, health & wellbeing, and discount portal, allowing members of Team Thomas to keep up to date with business news, access information on health & wellbeing offerings and access discounts on a wide range of retail products and leisure activities.
• Personalised Feedback Session - with an enablement specialist to gain insight into own Thomas insights.
• Dress down policy – other than for client facing meetings where appropriate.
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Scheme.
• A Salary Sacrifice Pension Scheme.