Job Summary

We are building an integrated B2B marketplace that will transform how SMEs trade, access finance and grow their business, co-created with leading institutions in the UAE.

As the Head of Business Development, you will lead the charge in growing our platform by acquiring high-value business partners, building strategic relationships and driving sustainable revenue across our platform. You will define and execute our commercial strategy, with a strong focus on the FMCG sector at the start and take full ownership of the partner lifecycle – from pipeline development to long-term account growth. This is an opportunity to shape a high-impact platform at day zero, working closely with the founding team and leading institutions in the UAE. 

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Planning

• Define and execute the commercial growth strategy aligned with company goals.
• Work closely with leadership to identify priority categories and customer segments.

2. Partner Acquisition & Negotiation

• Identify and onboard high-potential B2B partners with large SME ecosystems (including but not limited to suppliers, distributors, corporate buyers). Develop customized product offerings in collaboration with the Product Head.
• Lead commercial negotiations and finalize contractual agreements, ensuring win-win outcomes.
• Manage inbound interest and proactively drive pipeline development.

3. Onboarding & Launch Excellence

• Own the partner onboarding journey, ensuring smooth coordination across catalog, operations, and marketing teams.
• Develop SOPs to ensure scalable, repeatable onboarding and activation processes.

4. Relationship & Account Management

• Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with key partners and decision-makers. Conduct quarterly business reviews and ongoing relationship development.
• Track performance metrics, identify issues early, and proactively optimize partner success.

5. Revenue & Performance Optimization

• Own topline and bottom-line performance of your partner portfolio.
• Monitor partner KPIs, drive promotional planning, and collaborate on trade marketing initiatives.

6. Market Execution & Insights

• Conduct regular market visits to gather feedback and identify execution gaps.
• Surface insights to improve product-market fit and partner experience.
• Be a key voice of the partner, helping inform product and operational roadmap decisions.

Skills and Experience

Data Analytics

Ventures

Strategy & Planning

Relationship Management

Qualifications

• 10+ years of enterprise sales or business development experience.
• Strong existing network within the FMCG sector — manufacturers, distributors, or corporate buyers — to support our go-to-market strategy.
• Proven success in acquiring and growing large corporate or distributor accounts.
• Strong commercial and negotiation skills with experience structuring deals and managing P&L discussions.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to prioritize, plan, and execute in a dynamic environment.
• Outstanding communication and relationship-building skills.
• Data-driven with strong command of Excel, Google Sheets, and CRM tools.
• Confident operating in a fast-moving early-stage startup and can build credibility with partners when representing a growing brand

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.