Business Development

THE ROLE

As Director of Business Development (Outbound Partnerships), you are the front line of growth for Movers+Shakers, one of the pioneers in social-first creativity.

Your focus is outward, opening doors for the agency: identifying new opportunities, creating relationships with prospective clients, and bringing warm, qualified leads to our team to pursue and close. You thrive out in the world, meeting prospects, attending events, nurturing connections. You’ll represent the M+S brand with confidence and authenticity - part marketing therapist, part social evangelist, part dealmaker.

This role reports directly to the CEO/Co-Founder, who is very involved in our new business function and consultative selling process. You’ll collaborate closely with our Director of New Business, who focuses on inbound leads, including developing proposals for the prospects you bring in. You’ll also work closely with our parent company Stagwell’s new business team, as they are great partners in opportunity.

NEW BUSINESS APPROACH

Our agency’s breakthrough work and strong marketing mean that our inbox is always full of inbound opportunities. They have fueled our growth & success over the past 5 years. 

That said, we have extremely ambitious growth goals. This is a net new role we have added to further amplify the number of top quality client opportunities. We're at a moment in history where Fortune 500 CMOs are increasingly hungry for a social-first thought partner, and many don’t know where to go. They're not finding it from their current agency roster. 

Because of our position as innovators, new business at M+S means being a sort of therapist to CMOs and social media managers who are hungry to reinvent the way they connect to consumers. They look to us for inspiration and guidance. You will effortlessly build rapport with a CMO, and earn the admiration of a social media manager. We help them understand their problems more deeply than they did when they came in, and we package the solutions into proposals that our team can execute. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Opportunity Hunting

• Bring a trusted playbook for new business in the creative agency space.
• Proactively prospect and network - digitally and IRL - to identify and cultivate new brand relationships.
• Represent M+S at conferences, industry events, and client-side meetups.
• Generate warm introductions for our inbound new-business team to qualify and close.
• Farm existing and former client relationships for growth opportunities.
• Build and nurture relationships with pitch consultants and holding-company partners.

Relationship Building

• Become a trusted ambassador of the M+S brand - articulate our differentiators and values with clarity and passion.
• Maintain a structured cadence of outreach and follow-ups with prospects.
• Collaborate with leadership to develop thought-leadership moments and speaking opportunities that attract inbound interest.

Partnership Collaboration

• Work cross-functionally with Marketing, Strategy, and Product to refine outbound messaging and ensure consistency of brand story.
• Feed insights back into internal teams about prospect needs, market trends, and competitor activity.

Performance & Reporting

• Manage and track outbound pipeline in Pipedrive (our CRM).
• Set targets and then report weekly on outreach activity, meetings secured, and opportunities advanced.
• Partner with Finance and Inbound New Biz on forecasting and conversion metrics.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10-20 years of experience in sales roles within creative or social agencies.
• Proven track record of generating new business through proactive networking and prospecting.
• Strong understanding of creative, social, and influencer marketing ecosystems.
• Established network of brand and marketing-leader relationships.
• Skilled storyteller and communicator - comfortable representing the agency to a CMO or social media manager.
• High EQ, curiosity, and a builder mindset.
• CRM fluency (Pipedrive, Salesforce, or equivalent).
• Estimated 25-50% travel expected for client meetings, industry events, etc. (open to your POV on how to optimize time and travel!)
• Spread joy!

We look forward to hearing from you! 🎵💃

COMPENSATION: 

We’re open to a base salary range of $140,000–$175,000, with flexibility for more senior candidates. This role also includes a variable compensation component tied to new business sold in. For candidates who prefer to maximize earning potential, we can structure a higher commission and lower base to increase risk/reward

*Don’t let this range drive your decision to apply. Actual compensation packages are based on the level of skill and experience each candidate brings to their role. Similarly, there might also be a more senior or junior position available, that would be a better fit with your expertise. For example, a person may apply for a Senior Creative Producer role, and we may assess that their skills are at the Creative Producer level. Each level has its own compensation range.

At Movers+Shakers, we pride ourselves on competitive salaries, and we work hard to ensure there is pay equity across the company. We welcome open and honest conversations about compensation in all of our initial calls.