Business development manager CV: example, skills and writing tips

Business development manager CV example

The example below shows how the advice in this guide fits together on one page. The person, the employers and all the figures are invented: use the structure, not the content, and replace every detail with your own.

Notice what makes this CV useful to a recruiter: every line shows the market, the scope of responsibility, the deal sizes and the results, and signed revenue is never confused with pipeline. The rest of this guide explains how to build each section in the same way.

Job title and professional summary

Choose a title that reflects your scope

Your title should reflect your level of responsibility and your specialism. Depending on your experience, you can use:

Business Development Manager – B2B SaaS
Business Development Manager – Key Accounts
Business Development Manager – New Markets, Industrial Sector
Business Development and Partnerships Manager
Head of Business Development – Europe

The best title is not necessarily the most impressive one: it is the one that matches what you have really done. If your internal title was unusual (for example “Growth Manager B2B”) and the job is advertised as Business Development Manager, you can use an explicit CV title such as Business Development Manager / B2B Growth, while keeping your real title, or a clear description of it, in the experience section.

BDR, account executive, BDM: which title fits?

Business development titles cover very different levels of responsibility. Pick the one that describes what you actually do; the scope of each title varies between employers and countries, so always check the job description.

Professional summary example: experienced business development manager

The professional summary (often called a personal profile or personal statement in the UK) is three to five lines covering your sector, experience, type of clients, commercial specialism and, if possible, one key result.

Business development manager with 8 years’ experience in B2B SaaS. Specialises in opening SME and mid-market accounts, complex sales cycles and partnership development. Grew revenue on the assigned scope by [X]% over the last two financial years.

Professional summary example: international development

Business development manager with 10 years’ experience opening new European markets. Defines go-to-market strategies, builds distributor networks and negotiates international contracts in English and French.

Professional summary example: junior business development profile

Business graduate ([degree], [year]) with [12 months] of B2B prospecting experience through a work placement. Qualified around [X] opportunities a month and contributed to [X] new client signatures, using HubSpot to track the pipeline.

Avoid summaries such as “Dynamic, results-driven manager with excellent people skills”: they offer no evidence. Never add a market, an account or a result that you cannot defend in an interview.

Business development manager CV skills by area

The role usually combines strategy, acquisition, sales, analysis and coordination. Do not fill your CV with every possible keyword: select the skills demonstrated in your career and suited to the role, then phrase them so a recruiter can see how you used them.

A skills line such as this gives little information:

Business development · Prospecting · Negotiation · Results-driven

This one is far more useful:

B2B SaaS · Mid-market accounts · Complex sales cycles · Reseller partnerships · Salesforce · English and French

Describing your experience and results

At this level, a list of commercial duties is not enough: your experience should show the commercial problem you had to solve and the results obtained. For each line, follow this order where possible:

context → your own action → tools or method → scope → result

For example: “To grow in the mid-market segment (context), I selected target accounts and prospected operations directors (action) through account-based sequences in Salesforce and Sales Navigator (method) across [3] countries (scope), signing 18 new accounts in the year (result).” The figures in this sentence are illustrative.

Too vague

Business development
Prospecting
Account management
Team management

More informative

Illustrative figures.

Defined the business development strategy for the mid-market segment
Identified and qualified priority new markets
Prospected general management, business and procurement directors
Managed an average pipeline of €3.2M
Negotiated contracts from €30k to €250k
Signed 18 new accounts in the financial year
Coordinated marketing, pre-sales and product teams
Managed 4 business development representatives

The second version shows the market, the decision-makers, the pipeline, the deal sizes, the results and the management scope. Every figure must be accurate and shareable.

Pipeline is not revenue

A pipeline is a set of open opportunities; it is not revenue earned. If you mention it, distinguish it clearly from signed or invoiced revenue, and give context: “€1M signed” does not mean the same in every market, deal size or company.

Achievement examples to adapt

Replace [X] and [Y] with your own verified figures, or leave the line out if you cannot support it.

• Reached [X]% of the annual new-business target in [year].
• Signed [X] new accounts in [Y] months, including [Z] key accounts.
• Opened [market / segment], generating [X] in annual revenue after [Y] years.
• Raised the opportunity-to-signature conversion rate from [X]% to [Y]%.
• Built a network of [X] partners generating [Y]% of new business.
• Grew recurring revenue (ARR or MRR, for software businesses) on the assigned scope by [X]%.

CRM and sales tools: show how you used them

Sales tools help a recruiter picture your working environment. Name the tools you have actually used and say what you used them for. Depending on your background, this may include a CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, Zoho), prospecting tools (LinkedIn Sales Navigator, data enrichment or sequencing tools), reporting tools (Excel, Power BI, Looker, Tableau) and collaboration suites.

Salesforce: pipeline management, forecasting and weekly sales reporting
LinkedIn Sales Navigator: account targeting and prospecting

This is more informative than:

Salesforce · HubSpot · Pipedrive · Zoho · Dynamics

Do not list a tool you have only seen demonstrated: you should be able to talk about it in an interview.

Education

Routes into business development are varied: business, marketing or sales degrees, engineering or sector-specific degrees for technical markets, or promotion from sales roles. Use the format qualification – specialism – institution – year. For an experienced profile, your professional results will usually take much more space than your studies.

If your business development role grew out of earlier positions in the same company, show the progression rather than merging everything into one title:

[Company] — 2019 to present
Business Development Manager — 2024 to present: strategy, management, key accounts, KPIs
Business Development Executive — 2021 to 2024: prospecting, acquisition, closing
Inside Sales Representative — 2019 to 2021: qualification, portfolio, sales

Making your business development CV easy to read for ATS

Many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) or recruitment software to store and search applications. The aim is not to “beat” or trick an ATS: it is to make sure your key information is extracted correctly and easy to find.

• an explicit job title;
• sector, type of clients (B2B or B2C, SMEs, mid-market, key accounts, public sector) and regions;
• clearly identifiable employers and dates;
• results written as text with their context;
• management scope stated precisely;
• tools and languages named clearly.

When a job ad asks for experience you genuinely have, use its vocabulary: “Key account development in B2B SaaS” is more precise than “business development” if that is what you actually did.

Tailoring your business development CV to each job

Business development roles can focus on acquisition, partnerships, key accounts, international expansion or management. You do not need to rewrite your career, but you can adjust your title, summary, order of results and the experience you develop most.

Before applying for a key account, partnership or international role, it helps to see which elements of the job description your CV already covers and which are missing. CVReader compares your CV with a job description and highlights the points of correspondence.

Compare my CV with a job description

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Junior business development or career changer

Early in your career, do not try to copy a sales director’s CV. Bring forward what you have actually done:

• Placements, internships and apprenticeships: prospecting volumes, qualified opportunities, meetings booked, proposals prepared.
• Contribution to results: say “contributed to the signature of [X] new clients” if others closed the deals.
• Tools: the CRM and prospecting tools you used daily.

Prospected around [80] B2B accounts a week · Qualified around [15] opportunities a month · Contributed to the signature of [10] new clients

These details are more credible than an inflated title. If you come from another sales role, show the transferable experience without presenting it as business development management.

Trained or working in France?

If your commercial background is French, a few adjustments make your CV clearer to English-speaking recruiters.

The French role

France Travail, the French public employment service, describes the “responsable du développement” as someone who identifies new markets, analyses the company’s positioning, plans prospecting and negotiation and contributes to growth strategy, and who may manage sales staff, analysts or pre-sales engineers depending on the company (France Travail: Le responsable du développement (in French)).

French qualifications

Onisep, the French public careers information service, lists several routes into sales roles, including the BTS NDRC, the BTS MCO, the BUT Techniques de commercialisation, bachelor’s programmes and business schools (Onisep: Commercial / commerciale sédentaire (in French)). Keep the French name and add a short explanation:

• BTS NDRC – Négociation et digitalisation de la relation client: two-year French post-secondary diploma in sales and customer relations.
• BTS MCO – Management commercial opérationnel: two-year French post-secondary diploma in retail and sales management.
• BUT Techniques de commercialisation: three-year French university technology degree in sales and marketing.

There is no automatic equivalence between these qualifications and British, American or other qualifications, so do not present them as equivalent.

French job titles and terms

Translate the role, not the words. “Responsable du développement commercial” can be Business Development Manager or Head of Business Development, depending on your scope. “Business developer”, common in French ads, is usually better written as Business Development Executive or Manager; “commercial sédentaire” as Inside Sales Representative. “Grands comptes” are key accounts, “ETI” mid-sized companies or mid-market, “CA” revenue and “appel d’offres” a tender.

Mistakes to avoid and final checklist

Showing only duties

At this level, recruiters expect to understand your results too.

Giving figures without context

The same amount does not mean the same thing in every market, deal size or company.

Overusing jargon

Growth, GTM, ABM, ICP, MQL, SQL or RevOps can be relevant in some settings, but your CV must stay understandable.

Claiming the company’s growth

Be precise about your own contribution.

Inflating your management level

Occasional coordination is not managing a team.

Adding markets or accounts you did not manage

Everything on your CV must be defensible in an interview.

Checklist before you apply

• My title states my scope and, if useful, my sector or market.
• My summary fits in three to five lines and includes at least one result with context.
• Each role shows market, clients, my actions, tools, scope and results.
• Pipeline and signed revenue are clearly distinguished.
• Every figure is accurate, explainable and not confidential.
• My management scope is stated precisely.
• Employers and dates are easy to find, and skills are written as text.
• I have brought forward what matches the job’s main focus.

Business development manager CV: frequently asked questions

What skills should I put on a business development CV?

Prioritise those you genuinely practise: prospecting, market analysis, account development, negotiation, closing, partnerships, CRM, commercial strategy and tracking results.

Which results should I include?

Revenue generated, growth on your scope, new accounts, markets opened, target achievement or contract values, each with enough context to be understood.

Should I mention my pipeline?

Yes, if it adds context and you clearly distinguish pipeline value from revenue actually signed.

Is a business development manager the same as a business development executive?

The titles can overlap, but a manager role usually carries more strategic or managerial responsibility. Your title should reflect your real scope.

Is a business development resume different from a CV?

“Resume” is the usual American term; “CV” is used in the UK and much of the world. For a job application, the advice in this guide applies to both.

Do I need to tailor my CV to each business development job?

Yes. Some roles focus on prospecting, others on partnerships, key accounts, management or international markets. Bring forward what matches, without changing the facts of your career.