Head of Business Development

About Foundervine

Today, Foundervine stands as one of the largest and most active accelerator ecosystems in the UK, successfully orchestrating and executing business and investment readiness programs to support entrepreneurs. Our track record includes collaboration with prestigious clients such as Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Sainsbury's, Google, and the UK Government. In joining Foundervine, you will be welcomed into a small, dynamic organisation at a pivotal moment in our mission to remove the social and economic barriers to innovation. We value integrity, impact, courage, inclusion, and action orientation, creating a warm and open environment for all team members to share their thoughts and contribute to our collective growth. Our results-driven culture encourages you to make impactful decisions, communicate openly and build a great career with us.

A Culture of Support and Development

At Foundervine, we are more than just colleagues, we are a team that genuinely cares about one another. We prioritise well-being, collaboration, and continuous learning ensuring that our team feels valued and empowered. Through regular check-ins, cross-team collaboration, and knowledge-sharing sessions, we create an environment where ideas thrive.

We understand that life happens beyond work, which is why we strive to provide flexibility, especially where it's most needed, ensuring that no one has to choose between professional success and personal well-being. At Foundervine, we don’t just focus on what we’re building, we focus on how we build it and who we build it with. You’re not just an employee, you’re part of something bigger! 🚀

The Role

We're looking for an ambitious and commercially driven Head of Business Development to lead our next phase of growth.

This is our most senior dedicated business development role and combines leadership with hands-on selling. You will own Foundervine's business development pipeline, lead our approach to winning new business and build the systems, relationships and team capability required to generate sustainable, recurring revenue.

You will manage our Business Development Manager and work closely with Marketing and Programme teams to ensure that what we take to market responds to what clients need.

This is a player-coach role. We are looking for someone who can lead a commercial function while continuing to originate opportunities, build relationships and personally close significant deals

What You'll Do

• Own Foundervine's overall new-business pipeline, conversion performance and BD strategy.
• Generate and personally close significant new opportunities without relying on the CEO or COO to lead the sale.
• Build a high-quality pipeline across corporate, government, institutions and strategic partners.
• Deliver at least £500k of new business wins and £1m of new pipeline within the first 12 months.
• Build recurring and sustainable revenue through renewals, account growth and longer-term partnerships.
• Establish excellent account management practices that strengthen retention and identify opportunities for expansion.
• Manage, coach and set clear performance expectations for the Business Development Manager and future BD team members.
• Work closely with Marketing to create coordinated campaigns, propositions, content and lead-generation activity.
• Bring market insight into Foundervine, helping shape our products, services, pricing and propositions alongside senior leadership and delivery teams.
• Build strong relationships with senior decision-makers and represent Foundervine confidently at meetings, events and across the wider ecosystem.
• Maintain rigorous pipeline management, CRM discipline, forecasting and follow-up so commercial performance is visible and predictable.
• Develop a credible external profile as a senior representative and advocate for Foundervine.

You will ideally bring 5–8+ years of business development or sales experience, with evidence of progressing towards or already operating at Head-of-Function level.

More importantly, you can demonstrate that you have:

• Personally originated and closed significant B2B or institutional deals.
• Owned substantial revenue targets and managed complex sales pipelines.
• Converted relationships into revenue rather than simply opening doors.
• Built senior relationships quickly and credibly, even without an existing network.
• Led, coached and held commercial team members accountable for results.
• Developed repeat, renewal or recurring revenue from existing clients.
• Worked effectively across Marketing and other teams to generate and convert demand.
• Used CRM, pipeline data and conversion metrics to manage commercial performance.
• Contributed market insight to the development or improvement of products and propositions.
• Strong negotiation, communication, proposal and presentation skills.
• The confidence and presence to represent Foundervine with senior corporate, government and institutional stakeholders.

Experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, accelerators or social impact is welcome but not essential. We are more interested in exceptional commercial operators who can understand our market quickly and turn opportunity into sustainable revenue.

What we offer:

At Foundervine, we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment where every team member feels valued and supported. We prioritise the wellbeing and growth of our people, offering a range of benefits designed to support you both professionally and personally, including 25 days of annual leave, Birthday Off, Career Advancement Opportunities, Private Medical Care via Medicash, Penfold Pension Scheme and many more.