Business Development Researcher

Business Development Researcher — Oakway

Reports to: Head of Business Development

Key relationships: Head of Business Development; Marketing Manager

Hours: Full-time preferred; reduced hours will be considered for the right candidate.

About Oakway

Oakway helps businesses plan, design and deliver complete commercial, warehouse and industrial fit-out projects. We specifically target small and medium-sized, fast-growing businesses that value end-to-end support to reduce risk and make life easier during a critical stage of their growth.

The Role

We're looking for a curious, organised and proactive BD researcher to research potential customers, gather accurate company information and populate a standardised information table template within HubSpot. There may also be an opportunity to develop into writing personalised introductory email s in the future.

You will do the groundwork at the start of our sales process: researching companies online, finding the right decision-makers and their contact details, and recording accurate, relevant company information within HubSpot to support the Business Development team.

Key Responsibilities

• Research opportunities: Identify target companies, decision-makers and signs of potential projects, including expansion, relocation, investment and property activity.

• Build quality data: Maintain accurate, relevant prospect records, verify contact details, remove duplicates and record information sources. Populate the standardised company information table template within HubSpot, ensuring all required fields are completed accurately and consistently.

• Find the right contacts: Research online and make fact-finding calls to company reception teams to identify decision-makers and obtain their contact details. These are research calls only, not sales calls.

• Use online research tools: Research companies using a combination of ChatGPT, CoStar, Google Maps, Creditsafe, LinkedIn, ---------- , Lusha, company websites and other relevant online sources. Information gathered should be checked for accuracy and entered into the standardised company information table template within HubSpot.

• Potential future responsibility — Email drafting: As knowledge and experience develop, there may be an opportunity to draft personalised introductory email s using the information gathered during research. This is not a requirement of the initial role.

What Success Looks Like

Accurate prospect data, clearly displayed company information in the standardised information table within HubSpot, and a consistent flow of well-researched company records, complete with relevant decision-maker details, that enable the BD Executive to identify and progress potential opportunities.

The BD function's target for 2027 is 156 Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). To support this, your day-to-day target is to research 30 companies per day, complete the standard information table and move each company's status from 'New' to 'Researched' in the 'Kill the Red' pipeline.

Success in this role will be measured primarily by the accuracy, completeness and volume of research completed, rather than sales or lead conversion activity.

What We're Looking For

• Strong research skills and attention to detail.
• Clear, confident English.
• Comfortable on the phone, including calling company reception teams to find the right contact.
• Curiosity about businesses and their growth plans.
• Confidence using CRM systems and online research tools such as LinkedIn, ---------- , ChatGPT and Lusha.
• Willingness to learn and handle a busy research workload.

Development

This is a growing team. As you build experience and knowledge, there is the opportunity to develop within the role, including potentially taking on personalised introductory email drafting, and progress as Oakway grows.