Business Development Executive

Position: Business Development Executive

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Location: Torquay, Devon

Contract Type: Full-time

Salary: Starting from £26,000 basic + performance-based bonus structure

The Role

Torquay United Football Club is largest professional sports club in South Devon. With a 125-history, Torquay United is a unique and iconic football club and now under new leadership is seeking a driven and enthusiastic Business Development Manager to join its commercial team. This role will be instrumental in driving revenue growth across multiple areas, including sponsorships, hospitality, and event sales. The successful candidate will play a proactive role in supporting and delivering the commercial strategy by identifying opportunities, building strong relationships with new and existing clients, and contributing to the club’s long-term success.

With a varied scope, the role includes planning and promoting club-organised events, selling our facilities for external use, and developing creative ways to engage local businesses and supporters.

You will generate new business and revive lapsed business and commercial account management, and manage and deliver daily personal sales performance.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is ambitious, highly motivated and who thrives in a fast-paced, high performance, target-driven environment and enjoys being part of a collaborative team.

Key Responsibilities:

Sponsorship Sales

• Proactively drive sponsorship and commercial partnerships by promoting a range of opportunities, including:
• Kit sponsorship.
• Stadium advertising, naming rights, and pitchside boards.
• Programme sponsorship and advertising.
• Player and manager sponsorships.
• Miscellaneous sponsorship packages tailored to client needs.
• Identify, contact, and pitch to potential sponsors, building a strong pipeline of opportunities.
• Develop tailored proposals and presentations to maximise sponsorship value for both the club and its partners.

Hospitality & Networking Packages

• Promote and sell matchday hospitality packages to enhance the supporter experience.
• Drive sales of business networking memberships through the club’s FlightClub initiative, creating opportunities for local businesses to engage with the club and each other.
  
  

New Business Development

• Conduct proactive outbound sales activity, including phone calls, emails, and in-person meetings, with a strong focus on generating new business.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive database of prospects, ensuring consistent follow-up and pipeline management.
• Actively network within the local and regional business community to identify leads and develop new revenue streams.

Relationship Management

• Build and nurture long-term relationships with sponsors, event clients, and FlightClub members to ensure satisfaction and retention.
• Work closely with internal teams to deliver sponsorship and event commitments to a high standard.

Team Collaboration

• Support the Chief Executive Officer and the wider commercial team in achieving the club’s financial and strategic objectives.
• Contribute to team meetings and discussions, sharing ideas for new initiatives and improvements.

Target Achievement

• Consistently meet and exceed monthly and annual revenue targets across sponsorship, events, and hospitality.
  
  

The Candidate

This role requires a motivated and proactive individual who is passionate about sales and building meaningful relationships. The ideal candidate will bring energy, creativity, and a results-driven mindset to the role.

You’ll have a proven track record of growing revenues quickly in a business that shares the complexities of a professional sports club like Torquay United. We are a relatively small business and despite a 125-year history you’ll be joining an entrepreneurially spirited leadership team and you should share our ethos of ‘getting stuff done’.

You’ll have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be really comfortable presenting and pitching your ideas to commercial partners, board members and our supporters. You’ll also need to be very financially literate, commercially astute and a tenacious closer of business opportunities.

Qualifications & Experience

• Proven experience in sales, business development, or a similar commercial role.
• Experience in selling sponsorships, hospitality, or event packages is advantageous.
• Demonstrated success in meeting and exceeding sales targets.

Skills & Attributes

• Strong sales and negotiation skills, with a confident and proactive approach to outbound prospecting.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build rapport with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Well-organised, disciplined, self-reliant with strong time management skills and the ability to prioritise tasks effectively.
• Creative and resourceful, with the ability to identify opportunities and develop tailored solutions.
• Passionate about sport and its role within the community.