Business Development Resume Example & Writing Guide
- Why use this business development resume example?
- How to write a business development resume
- Which key skills are relevant to a business development resume?
Business development directors, managers, and analysts may do work with different scopes and occupy different spots in a company’s hierarchy. Even so, these business development positions share the same core responsibility: increasing a brand’s revenue and popularity by building strong relations between company departments, team members, partners, and vendors.
Why use this business development resume example?
Layout-wise, this business development resume example has the same perks as most chronological resume templates you can find online. The professional experiences section, for instance, lets you describe your background and accomplishments in rich detail.
Another perk of this resume is the language in its sample text. By borrowing key phrases and sentence patterns from it, you can describe your professional background using clear, easy-to-parse sentences. You can also borrow and adapt many of the keywords from this sample text to boost your resume’s chances of getting noticed by a company’s Applicant Tracking System.
Create a resume based on this template, and you’ll show hiring managers that you’re a capable business development expert who will help their company grow.
How to write a business development resume
Heading. Here, list your full name and contact information (phone number, email, LinkedIn profile, place of residence, etc.).
Professional summary. Here, list your main job title (business development director, manager, strategist, analyst, etc.). Below the title, write a single paragraph that describes your personal strengths, your specific business development background, and your finest accomplishments.
Areas of Expertise. Here, list key business development skills related to management, analysis, communication, and/or strategy
Professional Experience. Here, list every business development position you’ve worked at within the last 10 years. For each job listed, describe the day-to-day responsibilities in a paragraph and special accomplishments (promotions, over-average revenue, technical solutions, etc.) in a bullet-point list.
Educational Background. Here, list your business-focused academic degrees along with the colleges/universities you studied at.
Which key skills are relevant to a business development resume?
Many businesses like to see business developer candidates with a Master of Business Administration degree or related degrees in accounting, management, marketing, or communications. Academic backgrounds aside, the ideal business development professional is a capable networker who builds connections with other pros in their industry and seeks out new opportunities for their company to grow. Depending on the job, companies might also want business development professionals who can build cross-functional teams full of motivated, results-driven experts.
Hiring managers trying to fill a business development opening prefer resumes with these sorts of skills:
Business Sales & Marketing Team Leadership
Key Account Relationship Management
Contract Administration & Negotiations
Project / Program Management
Strategic Business Planning
New Business Capture
Customer Growth & Retention
Market Research & Analysis
Business Partner Management
B2B Transaction Management
Executive / C-Suite Presentation
Summary example
Seasoned leader with more than 16 years of high-level business development, marketing and operations management experience. Proven track record in managing key accounts that exceed revenue goals and surpass customer expectations. Proven success formulating and executing profitability-focused marketing and business development plans and strategies. Effectively lead market and competitive intelligence data analysis to gain information for critical business decisions. Fiscally savvy in managing multimillion-dollar budgets.
Employment history example
Business Development Director at Corporation, Boulder, CO
2018 - Present
Oversaw strategic and operational support for vital business functions, managing $3.4B pipeline of opportunities from identification through proposal. Directed strategic policy planning and development for all business areas. Collaborated with C-level management, stakeholders and partners in planning and managing major projects and programs. Recruited, hired, trained and disseminated responsibilities to multidisciplinary team members.
Achieved more than $30M in sales revenue in 2021.
Expanded single customer revenue from $23M in 2018 to $78M+ forecasted during 2019.
Awarded due to success in migrating $40M+ between contract vehicles in 2020.
Business Development Director at COMPANY, Boulder, CO
2014 - 2017
Responsible for planning and coordinating key market strategies including growth campaigns in business intelligence and intelligence information sharing. Liaised with executive leadership teams in formulating and executing forward-thinking business, marketing and operational strategies. Managed and tracked key account relationships. Launched new business ventures within challenging, shifting industry by leveraging quick-thinking, flexible and innovative entrepreneurial skills.
Successfully bridged gap between business, technology and marketing teams by employing agile entrepreneurial leadership to guide highly complex, challenging ISR business area.
Honored with several awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Operational Excellence and Project Team Excellence.
Business Development Director at CORPORATION, Boulder, CO
2010 - 2014
Built team and company from ground up and managed complex, multifaceted business area. Provided executive-level management for overall contract operations. Fostered long-standing relationships with senior-level client management, presenting regular reports on overall program status, including all relevant projects and their potential impact on high-level organizational strategic vision. Monitored and managed all aspects of contracts to ensure adherence to quality standards.
Delivered several highly successful technical solutions, including improving data storage systems to speed information retrieval.
Secured 100% of possible contract award fees.
Expanded award-fee revenue from 70% to 96% in eight months.
Education example
Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Strategic Leadership Studies at Boulder College
Skills example
Business, Sales & Marketing Team Leadership
Executive / C-Suite Presentations
Key Account Relationship Management
Contract Administration & Negotiations
Project / Program Management
Strategic Business Planning
New Business Capture
Customer Growth & Retention
Market Research & Analysis
Business Partner Management
