Institutional Business Development Lead in Zürich

ABOUT THE ROLE

The client is building a service model for systemic social problems, described by the team as System Innovation as a Service.

The work combines research, systems thinking, and contract-based venture or startup development.

The offer and buyer profile are still being validated.

The team has exploratory and pilot discovery conversations, but no confirmed commercial buyer pipeline yet.

As Institutional Business Development Lead, you will turn that early market evidence into a focused commercial process.

You will work with organisations and individuals who may have the mandate and budget to fund complex system-change work, then guide the opportunity from first conversation through proposal, negotiation, and handover.

• Tasks
• WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON
• Identify and prioritise potential buyers, including governments, development agencies, foundations, mission-driven, green or donor funds, impact investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.
• Run discovery conversations to test the buyer profile, problem framing, offer, decision process, and budget path.
• Map decision-makers, influencers, approval steps, procurement requirements, and the evidence needed for a decision.
• Learn the company's research, systems-thinking, cost-of-change, and venture-building approach well enough to represent it credibly.
• Translate complex analysis into a clear commercial narrative for decision-makers who may not be systems thinkers.
• Shape proposals and milestone-based engagement structures with the System Change Researcher and System Change Analyst.
• Own follow-through across a long, relationship-led sales cycle and keep the team aligned on next actions.
• Feed buyer evidence back into positioning, offer design, and the team's assumptions.
• WHAT THE FIRST PHASE SHOULD PRODUCE
• A documented buyer map and prioritised target list.
• Discovery evidence showing which buyer problems, messages, and decision paths are credible.
• Qualified opportunities with clear next steps, owners, and risks.
• A decision-ready commercial narrative and, where appropriate, a proposal for a pilot or larger engagement.
• Progress towards the first buyer relationship. Depending on the sales cycle, that could be a qualified opportunity, letter of interest, pilot commitment, or signed contract.

Requirements

WHAT WE WILL LOOK FOR IN YOUR EXPERIENCE

We are interested in evidence of what you have personally done, not only in broad claims about being commercial or persuasive.

In your application or conversations, be ready to explain

• A complex, high-value, or multi-stakeholder deal you personally owned, including the buyer, cycle length, your contribution, and the outcome.
• How you identified the real decision-maker and mapped the route to approval.
• How you explained a complex service, technical subject, or strategic proposal to a non-specialist buyer.
• How you worked when the offer, buyer fit, or procurement path was still being tested.
• How you protected trust and confidentiality in a sensitive relationship.
• What you did yourself versus what was handled by a team, advisor, or senior sponsor.
• CAPABILITIES THAT MATTER
• Experience with complex, relationship-led B2B, institutional, government, investment, philanthropic, advisory, or partnership work.
• Discovery, stakeholder mapping, negotiation, written communication, and consistent follow-through.
• Ability to move between strategic framing, relationship building, commercial detail, and execution.
• Comfort with long sales cycles and a limited number of senior stakeholders.
• Ability to understand systems thinking and explain it in plain language.

Prior systems-thinking expertise is useful, but the key evidence is that you can learn and communicate a complex model credibly.

• Ability to choose targets, design an approach, and make progress without a detailed playbook.
• Discretion and comfort with sensitive strategic information.

Benefits

STRONG PREFERENCE

A relevant network or credible access path to founders, funders, foundations, government actors, development organisations, family offices, or other institutional buyers would be valuable.

The key question is not the size of a contact list, but whether you can create relevant conversations with the right people.

HOW THE TEAM WORKS

You will join a three-person research unit alongside a System Change Researcher and a System Change Analyst.

The three roles are designed as equal, high-agency peers who coordinate their own roadmaps, tasks, and communication.

There is no formal people-management responsibility in the initial design.

The Business Development Lead may become the main external communicator or coordination lead if the team and the work require it.

THE REALITY OF THE ROLE

The offer is not fully packaged, the buyer fit is not proven and the commercial process is still being built.

You will spend meaningful time on discovery and learning before there is a predictable pipeline.

This role suits someone who can create clarity from incomplete information and can treat market feedback as evidence, including when it challenges the original positioning.

• ENGAGEMENT
• B2B contract, part-time initially, with the possibility of transitioning to full-time if funding, workload, and evidence from the work justify it.
• Remote-first and globally oriented.
• Paid in EUR.
• Target start: late October to November.
• Current planning assumption: approximately 100 to 200 hours for the first phase, to be validated through the hiring process and early work.
• $75,000 FTE benchmark, no equity, 20-hour/week setup.
• SELECTION PROCESS

The process is designed to reflect the actual work: an initial conversation, access to selected candidate-facing materials, a practical assessment of approximately 90 minutes, a separate second-stage conversation that may include a live buyer or discovery simulation, and a final team conversation.

If you have personally moved a complex, uncertain, high-trust opportunity forward, we would like to hear how you did it.