Business Development Leader II

If you think your skills, experience and aspirations make you a good match for this position, we encourage you to apply. This position can be filled in our Buffalo, Chicago or Pittsburgh, PA offices.  

ABOUT THE ROLE

Your role is focused on providing strategic and tactical business development leadership for the Great Lakes Region to advance the Firm’s client engagement strategies in the health market. You will partner and collaborate with and support Market and Client Leaders in the health practice to position the firm for new business opportunities. You will also develop client and partner relationships that identify and secure new opportunities in target markets to grow the top line. Importantly, you will be an ambassador of our brand, responsible for demonstrating how our Living-Centered Design approach can help clients and partners achieve enduring success. 

WHAT YOU WILL DO

A primary aspect of this role will be to focus on health market opportunities in the Great Lakes region. This work will also rely on coordination with and support of the firm’s national Executive Director of Health for All.   This will ensure that business development activities in the Great Lakes region are in complete alignment with the firm’s overall growth strategies and priorities.

Your time will be spent exclusively on business development activities including supporting the pursuit of clients and project opportunities identified by other leaders in the firm, personally identifying new clients and project opportunities, and external brand activities. Your work will focus on amplifying the regional vision by developing strategies and action plans to support the advancement of the regional convergence hubs that are emerging from the Great Lakes regional vision and will require regular visits to each office.

• Top Line Growth: Provide leadership, guidance and support to Market and Client Leaders in the development of new business development opportunities with client partners to achieve top line targets, which will support a minimum 10% growth year over year. In addition to supporting opportunities identified by other leaders and on a yearly basis you will be personally responsible for identifying and advance a minimum of $10.0 million in net fee opportunities that convert to wins in a market / office / region and personally secure $3.0M NSF/Year.
• Pre-positioning and Intelligence Gathering: Demonstrate effective pre-positioning and intelligence gathering activity that identifies key issues and potential differentiators in our client pursuits. Oversee a pipeline of qualified opportunities that consistently equals or exceeds three times the annual net signed fee of the office and positively impacts a “Lost Not Shortlisted” percentage at or below 20%. 
• Collaboration: Partner with the Regional Director, the Director of BMBD, Market and Service Line Leaders, and other Business Development Leaders in the progression of networking, intelligence gathering and pursuit strategies to advance the growth of our markets, practices and service lines within your office and the firm. 
• Best Practices: Work with Market Leaders, Client Leaders and the BMBD Team in the development and implementation of best practices for client pursuit and retention strategies within your office and firm wide. Champion initiatives include the Strategic Pursuit Process, Omnichannel market approach, and the Industry Partner and Inclusive Partner Programs.  

AREAS OF FOCUS

• Business Development / Top Line Capture: Together with the Regional Director, you will collaborate with Office Leaders, Market Leaders, Client Leaders and the Director of BMBD and be responsible for leading and supporting business development activities and identifying new potential client leads/opportunities in your region and firm wide. You will work with other leaders to identify new target clients based upon value propositions and strategic initiatives. You will support research and intelligence efforts to guide strategic pursuit plans for CannonDesign with target clients.  
• Business Planning / Marketing Budget: You will participate in the annual business planning process with your Regional Director. You will ensure that the marketing budget is aligned with the business plan, and you will effectively monitor and manage the budget throughout the year. 
• Networking: You are responsible for developing and advancing internal and external networks within our core markets, practices and service lines. Internal networking activities include partnering and collaborating with other Business Development Leaders and others in the firm to strengthen and build upon existing client relationships. External networking activities include attendance at networking events and conferences, developing local/regional client and AEC industry relationships, as well as developing/maintaining a diverse regional partner network.
• Client Engagement Meetings: In partnership with the Regional Director, you will lead new client engagement meetings. At a minimum, you will bring together Market and Client Leaders bi-weekly to advance marketing and business development activities around target clients and new opportunities
• Pipeline Management: You will maintain active watch on pipeline and have a deep understanding of pipeline; you will be a Vantagepoint user and evangelist. You will drive Vantagepoint use by others in client-facing roles to keep information accurate, assess performance and develop actionable insights to stay on plan.
• Pursuit, Proposal and Interview Activities: In collaboration with Client Leaders, the BMBD Team and others, you will provide strategic input in all phases of our client engagement process and activities. This includes developing effective capture plans, ensuring prepositioning activities are completed prior to receipt of RFQs/RFPs, and assisting in the development of the pursuit approach and implementation of client intelligence in proposals and interviews.
• Brand: In partnership with the Office Practice Leaders within the Great Lakes Region, you will strengthen CannonDesign’s brand in the marketplace and become a champion of Living-Centered Design. You will bring our firm’s purpose—to help people continuously flourish—to life in every touchpoint you have with clients and partners, including in the pursuit and prepositioning materials we create.

Targets and performance metrics for this role are subject to change as CannonDesign periodically evaluates our performance metrics.

ABOUT YOUR QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of 12 years of related work experience in marketing/business development roles required, preferred in the A/E/C industry. 
• Proven experience in the development and implementation of marketing business plans.
• Bachelor's degree in marketing or related field required.  Additional education and/or certifications / training a plus
• Proven track record of the ability to develop significant relationships that increase our opportunity pipeline in the health market.
• Business acumen and ability to develop, influence and execute strategy.
• Communicates authentically and respectfully.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PPT).
• Experience with CRM Platforms, such as Salesforce, a plus.
• Exceptional client and people leadership skills.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Exceptional writing, presentation/speaking and team-building skills.
• Exercise good independent judgement and maintain confidentiality.

The salary range for this position is $130,300 to $162,900 annually.   This salary range is the range we believe is the anticipated range of possible base compensation at the timing of the posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the anticipated salary range for the position. Employees may be eligible for discretionary bonuses. We offer a full benefit package including medical, dental and vision coverage and flexible spending account options and voluntary insurances. We have paid time off, flex-time schedules, remote work options and a 401k plan and employee perk programs. For a general overview of our benefits, please visit our careers page at https://www.cannondesign.com/careers/benefits. Actual compensation may vary from posting based on geographic location, work experience, education and/or skill level.

ABOUT OUR FIRM

CannonDesign is a design practice where strategy, experience, architecture, engineering, and social impact converge. We don’t just dream up solutions — we create and bring them to life in ways to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our clients and the society. At the heart of everything we do is Living-Centered Design, a bold commitment to using our talents to not just improve the world but to truly reshape it for the better. It’s more than a philosophy — it’s who we are, and it drives us to make a meaningful, lasting difference every day.

ABOUT WORKING HERE

• We are relentless in our pursuit of client adoration (not simply satisfaction). Consistent delivery of the best service is what we are about.
• We are committed to ensuring our practice provides equal opportunities for all employees, as we strive to connect with communities around us and focus on the future of design. We support equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts that benefit all employees through the leadership of our DEI Council, our Employee Resource Groups which are open to everyone, and other community initiatives.
• We’re about communication and transparency here. If you want to talk to someone about an idea you have, or a challenge that needs addressing, we’re ready for you.

Please note that candidates can only apply to our positions on our company Careers site. It's not uncommon for scammers to create positions that look legitimate on other sites; never enter your information or apply for CannonDesign positions on any platform. Should an issue arise that you feel we should be aware of, please contact us. Please provide your resume and portfolio when applying.

As a condition of employment, all employees are expected to complete mandatory training, including compliance training, within required timeframes and adhere to our internal policies and our Code of Conduct.

CannonDesign is an Equal Opportunity Employer. CannonDesign is committed to maintaining a work environment that is free from any and all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment. It is therefore the firm’s policy to prohibit discrimination and harassment against any applicant, CannonDesign employee, vendor, contractor, or client on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. It is also CannonDesign’s policy to prohibit any and all forms of retaliation against any individual who has complained of harassing or discriminatory conduct, or participated in a firm or agency investigation into such complaints.