How to hire an executive director business development

How to hire an executive director business development, step by step

Here's a step-by-step executive director business development hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an executive director business development job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new executive director business development
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an executive director business development do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your executive director business development job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an executive director business development for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

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   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an executive director business development to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an executive director business development that fits the bill.

   The following list breaks down different types of executive directors business development and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Executive Director Business Development	Description	Hourly rate
   Executive Director Business Development	Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in products or services. They work with art directors, sales agents, and financial staff members.	$42-98
   Development Vice President	A development vice president is in charge of overseeing the operations in a company, ensuring a smooth workflow and efficient workforce. Their responsibilities revolve around creating strategies to develop optimal procedures and services, setting goals and sales targets, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of operations to spearhead improvements, coordinating with analysts and marketing experts to assess the market and consumer needs, and monitoring the progress of different projects... Show more	$49-112
   Group Director	A group director is responsible for monitoring the operations of a specific team in an organization, ensuring that the group meets daily targets, providing the highest customer satisfaction for the company's services. Group directors work with senior management to identify business opportunities that would bring more revenues and increase the company's profitability... Show more	$47-107

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • CRM
   • Market Trends
   • Market Research
   • Sales Strategies
   • Client Facing
   • Lead Generation
   • Revenue Growth
   • Strategic Plan
   • Strategic Direction
   • Business Plan
   • Client Relationships
   • R
   • Financial Analysis
   • C-Suite

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead strategic partnership acquisitions to create low-cost structure for new online / web-base division while maximizing opportunity for high ROI.
   • Lead centralized, electronic referral center coordinating post-acute service needs of patients discharging from multiple acute facilities in Arizona region.
   • Prepare a joint venture business plan with a firm in Toronto, Canada for CRM consulting services.
   • Assist with the decision making process of new CRM to coordinate information between sales and service teams.
   • Work with companies worldwide to fully process RFP's, in addition to setting up available opportunities with the IBM PartnerWorl.
   • Improve sales performance and identify strategic opportunities through the evaluation of standardize SalesForce pipeline review across regions and business segments.

   More executive director business development duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your executive director business development job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An executive director business development salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, executive directors business development' average salary in hawaii is 41% less than in rhode island.
   • Seniority. Entry-level executive directors business development earn 57% less than senior-level executive directors business development.
   • Certifications. An executive director business development with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an executive director business development's salary.

   Average executive director business development salary

   $134,931yearly

   $64.87 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level executive director business development salary

   $88,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average executive director business development salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$169,864	$82
   2	New York	$165,577	$80
   3	District of Columbia	$161,784	$78
   4	Massachusetts	$145,523	$70
   5	Pennsylvania	$144,669	$70
   6	North Carolina	$136,542	$66
   7	Texas	$133,337	$64
   8	Nevada	$126,442	$61
   9	Wisconsin	$123,054	$59
   10	Georgia	$120,264	$58
   11	Maryland	$120,247	$58
   12	Arizona	$118,182	$57

   Average executive director business development salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Exelixis	$184,263	$88.59	23
   2	Cedars-Sinai	$168,879	$81.19	8
   3	The New York Times Company	$164,353	$79.02	16
   4	Horizon Pharma USA, Inc.	$156,061	$75.03
   5	J.P. Morgan	$154,841	$74.44
   6	Globant	$147,899	$71.11	1
   7	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$147,587	$70.96	1,160
   8	Organon	$145,154	$69.79	32
   9	Arizona State University	$142,772	$68.64	9
   10	Saama Technologies Inc.	$132,963	$63.92	2
   11	ManTech	$130,768	$62.87	16
   12	Guidehouse	$130,346	$62.67	151
   13	Freshdesk	$128,205	$61.64	3
   14	The Fort Restaurant	$124,309	$59.76
   15	InterContinental Hotels Group Resources, Inc.	$114,236	$54.92	12
   16	BMI Companies	$114,012	$54.81
   17	Cirrus Data Solutions	$111,269	$53.49
   18	Univ. Of Texas Cancer Ctr.	$111,214	$53.47	13
   19	Toyota Connected North America	$111,133	$53.43
   20	Woz U	$111,129	$53.43

4. Writing an executive director business development job description

   A good executive director business development job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an executive director business development job description:

   Executive director business development job description example

   • Understanding of clinical trials or drug development process and the sponsor persona/functions involved.
   • 10+ years of experience in the market of the competitive landscape, find companies looking to scale the solutions.
   • Experience qualifying the opportunity.
   • Documenting the customer requirements and qualifications in Salesforce/CRM systems.
   • Collaborating and coordinating with Presales, Product, and customer success team to prepare for the sponsor demo/mentions.
   • Minimum of 5 years of experience of prospecting/selling to Pharma/Life Sciences companies to clinical (RD) business users.
   • Selling experience of clinical products/solutions/services for Clinical trial Analytics, Clinical data lake, Clinical trial services to pharma clinical teams.
   • Working closely with sales planners will help create decks and proposals for brands and agencies.
   • Demonstrated interest in developing expertise in applied data & analytics.
   • Strong desire to learn.
   • Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
   • Strong organizational skills.
   • Experience conducting research and strong attention to detail and Task-oriented
   • Travel Requirements 40-100%

   Work Environment

   • This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment, including but not limited to, computers, phones, and photocopiers.

   Physical Demands

   • This position requires the frequent and repetitive use of a computer, keyboard, and mouse. Hand and finger dexterity is required.

   Other Duties

   • Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

   EEO

   • Saama Technologies, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
   • This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, and transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

   LSAC provides customers with the ability to leverage advances in technology, AI, and precision medicine to connect, contextualize, and analytically converse with all their drug development data assets. It accelerates time to market and positively impacts patient lives. The combination of Saama's AI research, advanced technical & analytics capabilities, domain expertise across the drug development life cycle, and successful product co-development approach has made Saama a trusted partner and thought leader in the life sciences industry. Saama is committed to finding the best people because the innovations and discoveries that enabled together leads to better technologies, better treatments, and a better future

   #LI-AG1

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5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right executive director business development for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your executive director business development job on Zippia to find and attract quality executive director business development candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as swipe files, exit five, marketinghire, american marketing association.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with executive director business development candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new executive director business development

   Once you've selected the best executive director business development candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new executive director business development. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an executive director business development?