National Business Development Leader

Founded in 1908, Kahler Slater began as a regional provider of design services and has grown to become a global, award-winning firm. Today, the firm partners with clients to enrich life and achieve powerful results through architecture, interior design, advisory services, and environmental branding. We focus on serving the higher education, healthcare, corporate, hospitality, residential, sports, and fitness markets.

• Location: Negotiable, with preference for proximity to one of Kahler Slater’s physical offices including Chicago, Milwaukee, Richmond or Madison
• Pre/Post-Pandemic: Work is performed in a pleasant, professional, creative, open office environment, with business casual attire
• Currently: Our staff continues to mostly work remotely from home, fully leveraging technology to collaborate effectively with their teammates and their clients
• Flexibility: Hours of work will generally be during regular business hours and will average 2,300 hours per year. Great flexibility in your schedule is both required of you and returned to you due to our many project deadlines
• Travel: Out of town travel would be expected to be 15 – 25% of your time, when it becomes reasonably safe to travel routinely

At Kahler Slater, we believe great design can be a catalyst to transform our clients’ businesses. We are excited to find a curious, eager, data-minded individual to join us as our National Director of Business Development for Higher Education as we continue to transform the future for our Higher Education practice.

This integral person will be responsible for identifying and developing client relationships on college and university campuses, and with our architectural partners, around the country to grow our Academic Health Sciences (AHS) and Sports/Recreation (S/R) markets. This BD Leader will be a key player on our collaborative team, working with practice leaders and marketing staff to elevate our brand by acquiring new clients and expanding existing client relationships.

Description

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead and execute national and regional strategy for our business development efforts within our Higher Education market
• Uncover, research and qualify leads
• Creatively find new ways to expand our geographic reach
• Develop and maintain personal connections in the higher education, architecture, design, engineering and construction industries
• Become intimately familiar with targeted states’ facilities and procurement procedures, their staff, and monitor their procurement sources for opportunities
• Represent our firm with existing and potential clients, as well as attend industry events
• Share market and industry intelligence, track business development activities, and identify professional and trade associations with which the Higher Education team might affiliate
• Collaborate with marketing team to execute our business plan objectives
• Provide leadership to improve the success of BD efforts and go-to-market strategies

Working Relationship and Scope

• Reports to Higher Education team leadership with a collaborative, close-working relationship with Marketing Strategist and Coordinator
• Connection to all members of the Higher Education team as well as Kahler Slater’s additional Business Development Leaders who serve other markets

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Enthusiastic, curious, and driven to succeed
• Entrepreneurial mindset to help grow our business unit
• Team mentality to foster trusting relationships with marketing staff and HE leadership
• Professional demeanor and track record of establishing impactful connections with decision-makers
• Strong research and data mining capabilities
• Comfortable with a balance of external networking and in-house research
• Minimum of 10 years of experience working in a collaborative business development role within architecture, engineering or construction firm working directly with (or within) higher education institutions, with an emphasis on building “trusted advisor” relationships
• Deep understanding of the current trends impacting and challenges facing higher education institutions
• Familiarity with government and higher education procurement processes, sites, and state legislation resources
• Self-driven and personally accountable, with the ability to move initiatives forward independently, building alignment along the way

We will offer a competitive compensation package commensurate with your experience.