Head of Business Development

Industry: Education Services | Institutional Sales | B2B

Target Market: K-12 School Networks | Education Groups | Large Campuses

Location: India

Experience: 15 Years

Role Type: Full-Time Senior Leadership / Individual Contributor

Reporting To: Founders / Senior Leadership

Joining: Immediate joiners preferred; candidates available within 30 days will be considered

Role Purpose

We are looking for a high-performing Head of Business Development to build and lead the institutional business development function for a growing organization serving K-12 school networks, education groups and large campuses.

This is a founding, high-ownership mandate. The successful candidate will be the first dedicated business development leader for this vertical, personally owning the sales pipeline, developing relationships with senior decision-makers and closing high-value institutional accounts.

In parallel, the individual will establish the strategy, go-to-market approach, sales playbook, pipeline discipline and positioning required to eventually build and scale a dedicated Business Development team.

This is an active selling role, not a purely strategic or managerial position.

Success will initially be measured by the quality and pace of new institutional accounts acquired and, over time, by the creation of a repeatable and scalable Business Development model.

Strategic Mandate

- Develop the Business Development strategy and go-to-market approach for institutional and key-account growth.
- Personally own the sales pipeline and close anchor institutional accounts.
- Build a Key Account and new-client acquisition playbook specifically for education institutions.
- Develop differentiated positioning and value propositions for institutional customers.
- Establish the processes, pipeline discipline and commercial proof points required to scale the Business Development function.
- Identify high-value institutional opportunities rather than focusing on high-volume transactional sales.

Key Accountabilities 1. New Client & Strategic Account Acquisition

- Identify and acquire marquee institutional accounts, including large school groups, school chains and education networks.
- Build CXO-level relationships with founders, trustees, promoters and senior decision-makers.
- Identify target institutions and develop account-specific acquisition strategies.
- Lead the complete sales lifecycle from prospecting and initial engagement through pitching, negotiation and closure.
- Build a strong pipeline of high-value institutional opportunities.
- Secure anchor clients that can become strategic long-term partnerships and reference accounts.

2. Key Account Management & Growth

- Own strategic institutional relationships from acquisition through expansion and renewal.
- Develop multi-year engagement plans with key accounts.
- Identify opportunities for account expansion and additional business.
- Build strong relationships across promoters, trustees, procurement, administration and operations teams.
- Ensure high customer retention and long-term account value.
- Track account-level revenue, profitability and commercial performance.

3. Business Development Strategy & Playbook

- Own the Business Development charter for the institutional segment.
- Define target segments,



account-selection criteria, sales strategy and market-entry approach.
- Develop a structured Key Account acquisition playbook.
- Establish sales processes, CRM discipline, forecasting and pipeline reporting from day one.
- Create repeatable approaches for prospecting, qualification, pitching, negotiation and closure.
- Continuously refine the playbook based on market feedback and actual sales results.

4. Stakeholder & Relationship Management

- Act as the primary relationship owner for strategic institutional accounts.
- Build trusted relationships with:
- School Founders
- Promoters
- Trustees
- CXOs
- Procurement Heads
- Operations Leaders
- Administrative Leadership

- Understand institutional requirements and translate them into commercially viable solutions.
- Lead senior-level negotiations and relationship-building initiatives.

5. Market Expansion

- Map and prioritize high-potential education clusters across metros and Tier 1/2 cities.
- Identify major school networks, education groups and institutional prospects.
- Develop relationships with education ecosystem stakeholders.
- Build a structured geographic expansion strategy.
- Identify emerging opportunities and recent institutional segments.

Performance Scorecard Business Development Delivery

- New institutional accounts signed versus plan.
- Qualified pipeline value.
- Pipeline conversion rate.
- Average deal size.
- Sales cycle duration.

Key Account Growth & Retention

- Account retention and renewal rate.
- Revenue growth from strategic accounts.
- Expansion opportunities within existing accounts.
- Customer relationship strength.

Sales Process & Playbook

- Completion and adoption of the institutional sales playbook.
- CRM and pipeline discipline.
- Forecast accuracy.
- Sales-process consistency.

Market Expansion

- New education clusters entered.
- New school networks and education groups engaged.
- Strategic relationships established.

Stakeholder Relationships

- Quality and depth of CXO-level relationships.
- Number and quality of strategic institutional opportunities developed.

Future Team Development

- Development of a business case for future Business Development hiring.
- Evidence that the sales model is repeatable and scalable.

Candidate Profile Essential Experience

- 15 years of experience in B2B, institutional sales, enterprise sales or business development.
- Proven track record of personally sourcing and closing large institutional or enterprise deals.
- Strong experience with long-cycle, consultative and solution-based selling.
- Experience selling to education institutions, school networks, education groups or large campuses will be strongly preferred.
- Candidates from education services, school transportation/mobility, SaaS, B2B services or other institutional solutions may also be considered.
- Demonstrated ability to engage and negotiate with Founders, CXOs, Trustees and Promoters.




- Strong commercial and negotiation skills.
- Experience managing strategic/key accounts.
- Comfortable operating as a hands-on individual contributor while simultaneously building the foundation for a future team.
- Strong understanding of institutional buying processes and complex decision-making structures.

Ideal Candidate Profile The ideal candidate is someone who:

- Has personally closed significant institutional/enterprise deals.
- Has an established network among school groups and education institutions.
- Can independently build a target-account list and sales pipeline.
- Is comfortable opening doors at promoter/founder/CXO level.
- Can manage long sales cycles without losing momentum.
- Is commercially sharp and confident in negotiations.
- Can operate independently with limited structure.
- Has the entrepreneurial mindset required to build a new vertical from the ground up.
- Can eventually transition from individual contributor to Business Development function leader.

Availability

This position is being hired on an urgent basis.

Immediate joiners are strongly preferred. Candidates who can join within 30 days will also be considered.

First-Year Priorities First 30 Days

- Assess the existing institutional pipeline and relationships.
- Understand the current market positioning and competitive landscape.
- Build a target-account list.
- Align with leadership on priority institutions and immediate business-development objectives.

First 60 Days

- Present the institutional Business Development strategy.
- Define target-account segmentation.
- Establish the sales pipeline and forecasting framework.
- Develop the institutional sales playbook.

First 90 Days

- Establish active conversations with priority institutional accounts.
- Build a qualified and measurable pipeline.
- Validate positioning, pricing and sales approach through live customer engagements.

First 6 Months

- Close the first anchor institutional account(s).
- Demonstrate a repeatable institutional acquisition process.
- Build a strong pipeline across priority markets.

First 12 Months

- Close multiple strategic institutional accounts.
- Establish anchor/reference customers.
- Build a robust pipeline across key geographic clusters.
- Demonstrate a repeatable Business Development model.
- Develop the business case and readiness plan for building the first dedicated BD team.

Decision Rights & Interfaces The role will work closely with:

- Founders and Senior Leadership
- School Founders and Promoters
- Trustees
- CXOs and Senior Management
- Procurement Teams
- School Operations Teams
- Finance and Commercial Teams
- Delivery / Operations Teams

The role will have appropriate authority for business-development activities, subject to defined approval processes for pricing, discounts, contracts and commercial terms.

Why Join This Opportunity?

- Build and own a Business Development function from the ground up.
- Work directly with founders and senior leadership.
- Have significant ownership over strategy, pipeline and revenue growth.
- Develop relationships with some of India’s leading school networks and education groups.
- Shape a scalable institutional sales model that can eventually grow into a larger team and business vertical.

📌 Head Of Business DevelopmentSchool Network) (Hyderabad)
🏢 Devdort
📍 Hyderabad