Business Development Manager

Zutari: Co-creating an engineered impact.

Zutari is a well-established management-owned engineering firm with almost 90 years experience. As human-centred engineering consultants and advisors we are trusted by our clients business partners communities and other stakeholders across Africa.

We co-create engineering solutions that have a positive impact and improve peoples lives. Zutari values inclusion and recognises the importance of a diverse talented workforce believing that people need other people to succeed.

What kind of talent do we pursue

We employ people with the right attitude and a positive mindset who are motivated by doing the right thing getting things done and share a sense of urgency. People who have an impact in our teams and broader community. People who think differently and connect with those around them to co-create new opportunities and leave a meaningful legacy.

The Business Development Manager (BDM) role provides operational coordination and administrative support to the Business Development Director. The role focuses on pipeline tracking proposal coordination client research and bid support ensuring efficient execution of the sales process. This role does not own client relationships or originate opportunities but enables the BD team to operate effectively by ensuring high-quality submissions accurate reporting and timely coordination across internal and external stakeholders.

Role Responsibilities

Bid Management & Proposal Delivery Primary Focus

• Lead and coordinate end-to-end bid processes for assigned opportunities.
• Translate RFPs and ToRs into structured compliant high-quality proposals.
• Develop proposal outlines compliance matrices win themes and value propositions.
• Drive inputs from technical commercial legal and partner teams.
• Maintain proposal tools templates CVs project sheets case studies and standard bid content.
• Ensure proposals are submitted on time and in line with client requirement

Pipeline & Opportunity Management

• Maintain and track the Energy BD pipeline.
• Apply structured qualification criteria to support go/no-go decisions.
• Report on pipeline health deadlines risks values probabilities and next actions.
• Support opportunity shaping through research positioning inputs and internal coordination.
• Maintain accurate opportunity data in CRM systems and trackers

Client & Market Engagement

• Support client engagement planning preparation and follow-up.
• Conduct client market competitor and project research.
• Develop client and project intelligence packs to support BD decision-making.
• Identify new opportunities and log these for review by the Business Development Director.
• Prepare briefing notes meeting agendas and follow-up action trackers.

Technical Business Development Contribution

• Contribute to technical positioning by translating client needs into relevant Zutari solutions.
• Support preparation of project references capability statements team structures and CV selections.
• Engage with technical teams to ensure proposal content reflects delivery capability.
• Support client-facing technical discussions where required and under BD leadership guidance.
• Assist with the setup of technical teams for bids and early-stage opportunities.

Commercial & Strategy Support

• Support pricing strategies by coordinating assumptions exclusions resource inputs and commercial information.
• Assist in implementing Energy growth strategies and BD priorities.
• Support preparation of commercial governance documentation.
• Contribute to BD process improvement tools templates and reporting systems.
• Participate in win/loss reviews and support continuous improvement initiatives.

Internal Coordination & Utilisation

• Act as an interface between BD and technical teams to ensure timely information flow.
• Support resource mobilisation for proposals and early-stage opportunities.
• Track actions responsibilities deadlines and dependencies across bid teams.
• Support utilisation through agreed technical proposal and business development tasks.
• Coordinate with Sales Enablement technical teams commercial teams and leadership as required.

Minimum requirements

• Bachelors degree in Engineering Essential
• Professional registration (Pr Eng/Pr Tech/ Pr Techni with ECSA) - advantageous
• 510 years experience in energy or consulting
• Experience supporting EOIs RFQs and RFP submissions
• Exposure to proposal preparation document management and bid processes
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams (technical commercial legal)
• Familiarity with CRM systems tender portals and proposal tools advantageous

Skills and characteristics

• Ability to support coordination of bid and proposal processes
• Ability to interpret RFPs and ToRs and assist in structuring proposal responses
• Skilled in preparing proposal outlines compliance matrices and draft content
• Ability to support development of win themes and value propositions
• Strong document management formatting and quality control skills
• Ability to coordinate inputs across multiple stakeholders
• Ability to maintain proposal templates CVs and project references
• Ability to track and update pipeline and CRM systems
• Strong organisational and time management skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• High attention to detail and ability to follow structured processes

Bid & Proposal Delivery

• Coordinates bids and proposals with accuracy structure and attention to detail.
• Manages multiple concurrent proposal activities and deadlines.
• Produces compliant high-quality client-focused proposal documents.

Commercial & Market Support

• Demonstrates awareness of market trends client needs and competitor activity.
• Supports opportunity qualification and pipeline reporting.
• Contributes to value propositions win themes and commercial positioning.

Client & Relationship Support

• Supports professional client engagement through research briefing notes and follow-up.

• Helps translate client needs into relevant technical and commercial responses.
• Maintains accurate records of client and opportunity intelligence.

Collaboration & Communication

• Works effectively across BD technical commercial legal and partner teams.

• Communicates clearly follows up proactively and escalates risks early.
• Builds trust internally by being reliable organised and responsive.

Analytical & Operational

• Applies a structured process-driven approach to bids pipeline tracking and reporting.
• Uses CRM trackers templates and proposal tools to support BD effectiveness.
• Identifies process improvements to improve bid quality and delivery efficiency.
  
  We believe that a diverse work force is key to our business success. We seek the best people for our jobs based on their skills qualifications and experience. We embrace the principle of equal opportunity in employment and we work towards eliminating all forms of unlawful discrimination in our employment support of diversity and the equal opportunity principle preference will be given to individuals from designated groups within South Africa.