Business Development Manager
Business development managers find new customers, markets and partners for a business, then negotiate the deals that turn those leads into revenue.
- Median salary
- $104,200
4.3%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 4,600
2.2%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +23.1%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- 6 out of 10
- Average hours
- 43/wk
+3h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
- You'll work wherever the customers are: their offices, conferences, site visits and a steady run of video calls, with proposals and pipeline updates filling the time in between.
- Most business development managers work in professional services, technology or wholesale trade, selling to other businesses, not to the public.
- There's no licence or registration to obtain, though most people in the role hold a degree and arrived through sales or account management.
How much do business development managers earn?
The median full-time salary for a business development manager is $104,200 per annum, before tax, up $22,000 since 2018.
Many roles pay a base salary plus commission or a bonus tied to new revenue, so two jobs with the same base can pay very differently over a year. Ask how the commission is calculated, whether it is capped, and whether it is paid when a contract is signed or when the client pays. Check what proportion of the team hit target last year, because that tells you more about the offer than the headline rate does.
What does a business development manager do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Cold calling and messaging on LinkedIn to get a first meeting with someone who has never heard of the company
- Sitting down with a prospective client to work out the problem they actually have before pitching anything
- Building a proposal and pricing that will survive scrutiny from the client's own finance team
- Negotiating contract terms back and forth until both sides can live with the deal
- Updating Salesforce and the forecast so leadership can see what is likely to close this quarter
What skills do business development managers need?
Employers look for strategy development, financial analysis and modelling, selling and negotiation, backed by Salesforce CRM fluency and strong stakeholder management.
Specialist skills
- Strategy development
- Financial analysis and modelling
- Selling and negotiation
- Account and relationship management
- Data analysis
Software and tools
- Salesforce CRM
- Microsoft Excel
- Power BI
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Tableau
General skills
- Stakeholder management
- Presenting and data storytelling
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 4,600 people work as business development managers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 23.1% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a business development manager?
Here's the path most business development managers take, step by step.
- 1Study business, commerce or marketing
A bachelor degree is common but not essential, and a diploma in business covers the pricing, margins and market analysis the work assumes. The qualification matters less than the first sales job you land.
- 2Start where the pipeline starts
Business development representative, sales support and account coordinator roles hire people with little experience and pay a salary while you learn prospecting, CRM habits and how to qualify a lead. One to two years in that seat is typical before you carry your own accounts.
- 3Move into a role with your own targets
The step up to business development manager means owning a territory or segment and being measured on revenue, so employers look for evidence you have closed deals, not just booked meetings.
- 4Choose an industry and go deep
Business development managers get hired for what they know about a market: software, professional services, wholesale, construction, health. Two or three years in one sector tends to open more doors than moving between them.
- 5Keep the commercial skills current
Short courses in negotiation, financial modelling or a platform such as Salesforce are worth doing, and plenty of employers will fund them.
Study that can help
No set qualification is needed for this role in our data. These qualifications are not required, but the study can help.
- Certificate IV in BusinessCertificate IV
Teaches building and maintaining business relationships and writing complex documents, which supports client meetings and proposals.
- Bachelor of Business (Marketing)Bachelor degree
Teaches market research, pricing and consumer behaviour, which help in finding customers and shaping proposals.
Prefer something shorter?
A short course can build some of these skills without a full qualification. These aren't accredited, and we don't rank or recommend providers: compare a few before you commit.
Business
Search on CourseraSearch on UdemySearch on LinkedIn Learning
Marketing
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These are ordinary links to each provider's own site. We don't currently earn anything from them.
Ready to apply as a business development manager?
Whether you're working toward becoming a business development manager or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a business development manager move to?
Moving into Business Analyst typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $36,000 a year more on average.
- Business AnalystRecorded move$140,200+$36,000
- Sales ManagerRecorded move$139,200+$35,000
- Marketing ManagerRecorded move$139,200+$35,000
- Management ConsultantRecorded move$127,100+$22,900
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Business Analyst Business development managers bring commercial insight and client knowledge to business analysis, though requalification is needed to master analysis methods.Known move | +$36,000 | 20% | requalify |
Sales Manager Business development managers bring proven deal-closing and client relationship skills to a sales manager role, with minimal retraining needed to lead a sales team.Known move | +$35,000 | 89% | minimal |
Marketing Manager A business development manager's understanding of customer needs and market positioning transfers to marketing management, though reskilling in campaign strategy is required.Known move | +$35,000 | 29% | reskill |
Management Consultant Business development managers can move into management consulting, using their client-facing and strategic skills, but must reskill in consulting methods.Known move | +$22,900 | 43% | reskill |
Account Manager Business development managers can step into account management, leveraging their client relationship skills with only a short course to formalise the transition.Known move | +$0 | 55% | short course |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a business development manager?
The typical business development manager is 42 years old; 79% are men, 93% work full-time, and full-timers average 43 hours a week.
- 42
- Median age
- 21%
- Female share
- 93%
- Full-time
- +3h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a business development manager?
You'll spend a lot of your week in conversation: discovery calls, site visits, follow-ups with people who are still deciding, and internal meetings about pricing and delivery. The quiet hours go to proposals, contracts and the notes in the CRM that nobody reads until a deal stalls. Quotas are usually set quarterly, so pressure builds towards the end of each quarter and a slow month means a busier one after it. If you enjoy the chase and can shake off a run of noes, that rhythm works for you; if a knockback sits with you for days, it becomes heavy going.
What people like
- A deal you found lands. Contracts you sourced, scoped and negotiated show up in the revenue line, which is a clearer measure of your work than most office jobs offer.
- You decide where to dig. Inside the strategy you're handed, you choose which industries, regions and accounts to chase, so the job carries more room to move than a scripted sales role.
- You learn how businesses really work. Sitting on the customer side of the table inside dozens of companies shows you how budgets, committees and priorities actually operate.
- The people keep changing. Almost every week brings a business you haven't dealt with before, which breaks up a calendar that would otherwise be internal meetings.
What people find hard
- The quota resets to zero. A record quarter buys you very little, because the new one starts with the same number to find and no credit for what you just delivered.
- Most conversations end in no. Prospecting means plenty of unanswered emails and polite rejections for every meeting that gets booked.
- The decision usually isn't yours. Budgets freeze, sponsors leave and a deal you have worked on for months can stall waiting on someone else's signature.
- The admin trails the selling. CRM updates, forecasts and pipeline reports take hours each week, and they are the first thing to slip when the quarter is tight.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ business development managers?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of business development managers, followed by Information Media and Telecommunications.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Information Media and Telecommunications
- 3Wholesale Trade
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 39.5% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 20.8% | |
| Year 12 or below | 15.7% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 13.5% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 7% |
Will AI replace business development managers?
Moderate exposure. Not replaced, but changed. AI is taking on some tasks and the rest of the job shifts around them.
AI reaches the research, drafting and record-keeping in this job far more than the selling itself. Lead-scoring tools rank prospects, CRM assistants write a first-contact email and call notes summarise themselves, which takes hours of typing out of the week. What stays yours is the discovery meeting, the call on whether a deal is worth chasing, and the negotiation, so if you're entering the role now, build real fluency in the CRM and the sales-intelligence tools that feed it.
How a typical week splits
- Proposals, pricing and business cases25% of the week
Templates, pricing models and AI drafts get a proposal out faster, so the work shifts to checking the numbers and the commercial logic.
- Pipeline notes, forecasts and reporting15% of the week
The CRM turns call recordings into notes and rolls deals into a forecast, but reading which ones will actually close is a call you make with your manager.
- Prospecting and first contact30% of the week
Lead-scoring tools and automated sequences shorten the list, but deciding who deserves a call and getting past a gatekeeper is still your work.
- Discovery meetings with clients30% of the week
A client's real problem shows up in the conversation and the follow-up questions, and no tool can sit in the room and press on the vague answer.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Moves least exposed to AI
These career moves from business development manager work are rated low for AI exposure:
- Management Consultant
Solid skill overlap (43%), reskill to get there, and a low automation-risk profile.
Common questions about becoming a business development manager
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a business development manager earn in Australia?
The median for a full-time business development manager is $104,200 per year before tax, and a fair share of that can come from commission. Base salaries sit closer together than total earnings, so ask how the target is set before you judge an offer.
How do you become a business development manager?
Most business development managers come up through sales or account management and step across once they have a record of closing deals. A degree in business, commerce or marketing helps with the pricing and financial modelling, but a business development representative role is the most common paid way in.
Are business development managers in demand?
Business development managers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 23.1% over the decade to 2035. With about 4,600 people in the role nationally, openings sit across many employers, so searching by industry can surface more of them.
Will AI replace business development managers?
AI drafts outreach emails, researches prospects and tidies CRM notes, which removes hours of admin but very little of the selling. Deciding which accounts are worth the effort, diagnosing a client's problem and negotiating terms come down to you. Coming into the role now, put your effort into negotiation and client relationships, because those are the skills the tools don't supply.
What can a business development manager move into?
Sales management draws on the same pipeline and closing skills, and sales managers earn $35,000 more on median pay. Account management keeps you with clients but drops the hunting for new ones, while business analysis is a bigger jump that needs requalification in analysis methods.
How is a business development manager different from a sales manager?
A sales manager leads a team and looks after an existing book of customers, while a business development manager is usually measured on new accounts, new markets and partnerships. The two work closely together, and stepping into sales management is a well-worn path for people who want to run a team.
Related roles
- Sales Manager
- Marketing Manager
- Business Analyst
- Account Manager
- Management Consultant
- Technology Sales Representative
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Career advice
- How to change careers, and which moves are realisticData on 1,573 career moves across 350 Australian occupations shows 63.3% need no more than a short course, though skill overlap alone won't tell you which ones. Six worked examples, and how to check your own move.
- Skills to put on your resume (with skills finder)A resume skills section built for the job you're applying for. Search your occupation to see the specialist skills, tools and general skills it calls for, with worked examples and what to write if you have no work history yet.
- How to prepare for a job interviewWhat to work through before a job interview: a prep sheet built from the job ad, the stories that cover most questions, and the questions an interviewer can't lawfully ask in Australia.