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
- automation risk
- Average hours
- 43/wk
+3h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
The work happens wherever the customers are: offices, conferences, site visits and a lot of video calls, with the rest of the week spent preparing proposals and keeping the pipeline current. Most business development managers work in professional services, technology or wholesale trade, selling to other businesses rather than to the public. The role is often confused with a sales manager, because both carry targets, but a business development manager hunts new accounts and new markets while a sales manager runs an existing patch and a team.
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.
Pay in this role usually has two parts: a base salary and an incentive tied to the value of the contracts you bring in, so two people with the same job title can earn quite different amounts. Industry shapes the base as well, with technology, professional services and wholesale trade generally paying more than smaller local firms, and larger deals carrying larger incentives. Some bigger employers set the base through an enterprise agreement, but a good share of the earning sits in the bonus.
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.
- Working the phone and LinkedIn to get a first meeting with someone who has never heard of the company
- Sitting with prospective clients to understand the problem they actually have before pitching a solution
- Building proposals and pricing that have to survive scrutiny from the client's own finance team
- Negotiating contract terms back and forth until both sides can live with the deal
- Updating the pipeline and forecast so leadership can see what's 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.
- 1Build a track record in a customer-facing role
Business development managers are usually hired for what they have sold before, so a year or two as a sales representative, account manager or business development representative, with figures you can point to, matters more than the job title on your resume.
- 2Consider a degree in business, commerce or marketing
Around 40% of the people working in the role hold a bachelor degree, which helps most at larger firms or when you are selling something technical. It is not the only way in, and plenty of business development managers came up through sales without one.
- 3Learn the tools the job runs on
Salesforce, Excel and a reporting tool such as Power BI or Tableau appear in most job ads, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator is standard for prospecting. Comfort with a CRM matters because your pipeline is the record your manager reads.
- 4Move into a role that owns a full sales cycle
The step from booking meetings to carrying a deal from first contact to signature is what most employers want to see before they hand over a territory or a market.
- 5Step up once you can show deals you sourced yourself
Employers look for contracts you found and closed rather than ones handed to you, so keep a simple record of the accounts you opened and what they were worth.
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.
| 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?
The rhythm follows the pipeline rather than the calendar: quiet stretches of research and outreach, then a burst of meetings, proposals and negotiation when a deal starts moving. It suits someone who is comfortable starting conversations with strangers, can keep going through a run of knockbacks and does not mind being measured on what they close. The pressure sits mostly in the target, which is usually visible to the whole team.
What people like
- You can see your impact in signed contracts. The result of a good month is a document with a signature on it, and the commission that follows is tied directly to work you did rather than to a team result.
- The work keeps you close to the market. Meeting customers across an industry gives you an early read on what they are struggling with and what they are about to spend money on, which is useful whatever you do next.
- Few weeks look the same. A Monday might be a proposal review, a Tuesday a client site and a Thursday a trade conference, which suits people who find a fixed desk tedious.
- Negotiating a deal over the line. Getting a hesitant client, their finance team and your own legal team to the same place is the part of the job most business development managers describe as the satisfying one.
What people find hard
- Rejection is built into the job. Most approaches go nowhere, and a stretch of no replies or a lost deal late in the process is normal rather than a sign something is wrong.
- Targets reset every quarter. A strong quarter buys goodwill but not much breathing room, because the next number is already set before the last one is banked.
- The paperwork around the selling. Proposals, CRM notes, forecasting and contract admin take up a fair share of the week, and they rarely get done during a busy deal.
- Long sales cycles. Big contracts can take months, passing through procurement, finance and legal, which means deals you started may not close in the period you are measured on.
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?
AI reaches the administrative and research-heavy parts of this job but not the relationship at its centre, which is why the exposure sits at a moderate level. CRM platforms now score leads and flag deals that are stalling, and drafting tools turn a client brief into a first proposal in minutes. What they cannot do is sit across a table, work out what a customer is really worried about and get a contract over the line.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Meeting clients to work out what they needA first meeting with a procurement manager who has three competing quotes on the desk is where the deal is won or lost, and that conversation is not something a tool can run for you.30%low
- Researching prospects and sending first outreachAI can flag companies that match your target profile and draft the opening email, but choosing which of them is worth your time and getting a reply still comes down to your read of the person.25%moderate
- Building proposals and pricingDrafting tools produce a usable first version of a proposal quickly, though the pricing and how far you can concede still need commercial judgement about the account and the quarter.25%high
- Forecasting the pipeline and keeping CRM records currentCRMs increasingly score leads and predict which deals will slip, which removes most of the routine data entry that used to eat into selling time.20%high
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 do business development managers earn in Australia?
The median is $104,200 per annum, before tax, for full-time workers, which is a midpoint across the occupation rather than a starting rate. What you take home depends heavily on how much of the package is incentive, since commission tied to contract value can lift earnings well above the base or leave them close to it in a quiet year.
How do you become a business development manager?
Most people arrive through a sales role, often as a business development representative or account manager, and step up once they have deals they sourced themselves to talk about. A degree in business, commerce or marketing helps at larger firms, and around 40% of the people in the role hold one, but a proven record of winning work counts for more than the qualification in most hiring decisions.
Are business development managers in demand in Australia?
Business development managers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 23.1% over the decade to 2035. Hiring tends to track how confident companies feel about growth, so openings cluster in professional services, technology and wholesale trade, and a candidate who can point to contacts in those industries will usually find more options.
Will AI replace business development managers?
AI is changing parts of the job rather than the whole of it. Researching prospects, drafting outreach and keeping CRM records are increasingly automated, while the client meetings, the reading of what a customer actually needs and the negotiation over terms still depend on a person in the room.
What can a business development manager move into?
Sales manager is a common move, because the deal-closing and client skills carry over with little retraining and pay rises by around $35,000 more. Account manager is the other frequent step, with a short course to shift the focus from new business to growing existing accounts, and pay that is about the same. Moving into marketing management is possible as well, though it means reskilling in campaign work.
What is the difference between a business development manager and a sales manager?
A business development manager goes after accounts and markets the business does not have yet, so the work is prospecting, proposal writing and negotiation with new clients. A sales manager usually looks after a team and an existing book of customers, with responsibility for hitting a team target rather than personally opening new doors.
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