Business Development Managers and Directors
Overview
Introduction
Business development managers and directors use their analytical, sales, marketing, research, and communication skills to identify and generate business opportunities and maintain relationships with current and potential partners. They are also known as deal generation professionals.The Department of Labor does not provide information about business development managers and directors, but information can be gleaned from its data on sales engineers. In 2023, the DOL reported that were about 59,340 sales engineers working in ...
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Business development directors earned average annual salaries of $114,781 in 2024, according to PayScale.com. Ten percent earned less than $65,000, and 10 percent earned $175,000 or more. Directors also received bonuses that ranged from $4,000 to $44,000, and commissions that reached as high as $60,000.
According to Salary.com, business development managers earned average annual salaries...
Work Environment
Business development directors and managers work in typical office settings with the requisite computers, office equipment, and support staff. They can expect to work about 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday, but they may have to work at night and on weekends occasionally to meet deadlines or confer with potential business partners. Directors and managers travel frequently to business meeti...
Outlook
The U.S. Department of Labor does not provide an employment outlook for business development professionals, but it does report that job opportunities for the related occupation of sales engineer are expected to grow by 5 percent through 2032, faster than the average for all other occupations. Growth is expected to be strong for sales engineers working in computer systems design and similar serv...