Senior Business Development Manager

Sorta Famous · India

Position: Senior Business Development Manager

Industry: Marketing, PR, Advertising & Communications

Location: Mumbai

Experience: 8+ years

Employment Type: Full-time

Reporting To: Founder & Creative Director

Team: Lead Generator, Business Development Executive & Brand Manager

About Sorta Famous

Sorta Famous is a PR and communications agency helping brands, businesses and personalities be seen, heard and remembered for the right reasons.

We work across public relations, brand positioning, media strategy, reputation management, crisis communications, social media and storytelling. Our approach combines strategic thinking, strong narratives and consistent execution to build meaningful visibility and long-term brand reputation.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Business Development Manager to lead new business and revenue growth at Sorta Famous.

This is a senior, target-driven role for someone with strong experience in the marketing, advertising, PR, digital, creative or integrated agency ecosystem and a proven ability to generate and close new business.

The Senior Business Development Manager will own the complete business development cycle, from building and qualifying the pipeline to leading pitches, negotiating commercials and converting opportunities into retainer and project-based clients.

The role will also lead a growth team consisting of a Lead Generator, Business Development Executive and Brand Manager .

This is not a coordination-only role. The successful candidate will be expected to lead the function while remaining personally involved in prospecting, senior-level relationships, pitches, negotiations and closures.

Key Responsibilities

• Own monthly and quarterly new-business and revenue targets.
• Develop and execute the agency's business development and client acquisition strategy.
• Build and maintain a strong, consistent pipeline of qualified opportunities.
• Personally identify, approach and develop high-value prospects and strategic accounts.
• Build relationships with founders, CXOs, CMOs, marketing heads, brand heads, communications leaders and other key decision-makers.
• Lead discovery meetings to understand prospective clients' business objectives, marketing challenges, communication requirements, budgets and decision-making processes.
• Lead pitches, commercial discussions, negotiations and closures.
• Convert qualified opportunities into long-term retainers and project-based mandates.
• Identify opportunities across PR, communications, social media, digital marketing, brand collaborations and other agency services.
• Develop customised proposals, scopes of work and commercial recommendations in collaboration with the Founder and internal teams.
• Manage the complete sales cycle from prospecting and qualification through proposal, negotiation, closure and client handover.
• Build referral networks, strategic partnerships and other channels for generating new business.
• Represent Sorta Famous at relevant networking events, industry forums and business meetings.

Team Leadership

• Lead and manage the Lead Generator, Business Development Executive and Brand Manager .
• Set clear weekly and monthly targets across prospecting, qualified opportunities, meetings, proposals, pipeline and closures.
• Conduct regular pipeline and performance reviews.
• Guide the team on lead qualification, outreach, discovery calls, follow-ups, pitching, objection handling, negotiation and closing.
• Ensure the Lead Generator consistently builds a relevant database of brands and senior decision-makers.
• Ensure the Business Development Executive progresses qualified opportunities through the sales funnel.
• Work with the Brand Manager on prospect research, pitch strategy, proposals and presentations.
• Coach and develop the team while maintaining clear accountability for individual and collective targets.
• Identify performance gaps early and take corrective action.

Pipeline & Revenue Management

• Maintain complete visibility across leads, qualified opportunities, meetings, proposals, negotiations and expected closures.
• Track pipeline value, conversion rates, average deal value and revenue forecasts.
• Ensure every active opportunity has a clear next action and follow-up.
• Identify bottlenecks within the sales funnel and improve conversion.
• Maintain accurate and updated CRM and business development trackers.
• Provide structured weekly business development and revenue reports to the Founder.
• Analyse lost opportunities and identify recurring reasons for non-conversion.
• Build a healthy balance between immediate opportunities and larger strategic accounts.

What We Are Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in Business Development, Sales, Growth, Client Acquisition or a related commercial role.
• Relevant experience within a marketing, advertising, digital, creative, PR, communications, influencer marketing or integrated agency is mandatory.
• Candidates without relevant agency experience will not be considered.
• Proven track record of winning and closing new agency business and achieving revenue targets .
• Demonstrable experience personally handling senior-level pitches, commercial negotiations and closures.
• Strong understanding of the complete agency sales cycle, including prospecting, qualification, discovery, proposal development, pitching, pricing, negotiation and closure.
• Experience selling retainer-based and project-based agency services .
• Experience leading and managing a Business Development, Sales or Growth team.
• Strong existing network across brands, founders, CXOs, CMOs, marketing heads, brand heads and other relevant decision-makers is highly desirable.
• Strong commercial understanding and confidence discussing budgets, retainers, scopes of work and contracts.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to sell strategic and creative solutions based on a client's business requirements rather than simply selling predefined packages.
• Strong pipeline management, forecasting and reporting discipline.
• Ability to independently manage senior-level client conversations and develop long-term commercial relationships.
• Comfortable owning both individual and team revenue targets .
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications or a related field.

The Person We Want

You will likely do well in this role if you:

• Are commercially driven and genuinely enjoy closing business.
• Know how to open doors rather than depending entirely on inbound leads.
• Can build relationships with senior decision-makers and turn conversations into commercial opportunities.
• Understand that a large pipeline is meaningless if it does not convert.
• Know how to qualify opportunities and prioritise prospects with genuine potential.
• Can confidently lead a room during a pitch.
• Are comfortable discussing pricing and negotiating without unnecessarily discounting.
• Follow up persistently without damaging relationships.
• Can manage a team while remaining personally accountable for revenue.
• Understand the pace, expectations and commercial realities of an agency environment.
• Bring structure and predictability to the new-business function.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means building a healthy and predictable new-business pipeline, consistently delivering against revenue targets, acquiring the right long-term clients and improving the performance of the overall Business Development function.

The Senior Business Development Manager is expected to lead from the front: opening doors, building senior-level relationships, leading pitches, negotiating commercials and closing business , while ensuring the wider team consistently performs against its targets.

Please Note

This role specifically requires prior experience within the marketing, advertising, PR, digital, creative or communications agency ecosystem .

Candidates whose experience is primarily in unrelated B2B sales sectors without relevant agency exposure may not be suitable for this position.