Tandem Center- Business Development & Partnerships Leader

Job Description

Job Description

Classification: Fulltime, Exempt

Title: Business Development & Partnerships Leader

Reports to: Executive Director

The Opportunity

Tandem Center for Shared Business Success is seeking an entrepreneurial and relationship-oriented leader to help accelerate the growth of Direct Employee Ownership across the United States. This role offers the opportunity to help shape the future of an emerging employee ownership model while building meaningful relationships with business owners, professional advisors, community leaders, and strategic partners who believe in using business as a force for good.

The Business Development & Partnerships Leader will serve as a key ambassador for Tandem,

helping business leaders understand how Direct Employee Ownership can create cultures of shared success, strengthen communities, and preserve business legacies. This is a highly visible, entrepreneurial role that combines spreading awareness, education, relationship-building, strategic partnerships, and consultative sales — both in the candidate’s surrounding region, and nationally.

If you're excited by the opportunity to expand awareness of Direct Employee Ownership, help business owners explore new possibilities for ownership and succession, and contribute to a mission-driven organization with long-term growth potential, we'd love to meet you.

The Role

The Business Development & Partnerships Leader will own Tandem’s business development and sales process from end to end — generating awareness, cultivating relationships, creating qualified opportunities, and guiding prospective clients through Tandem’s sales journey. You will be the primary ambassador for the Tandem Model for Direct Employee Ownership, both in your local region and at the national level.

This role requires comfort with ambiguity, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a genuine passion for using business as a force for good. You will work directly alongside the Executive Director and Director of Client Services to advance Tandem’s mission and drive its long-term growth.

Job Summary

Business Development & Awareness

• Build and maintain a strong in-person presence throughout your local area and surrounding regions, establishing Tandem as the go-to resource for Direct Employee Ownership.
• Develop relationships with business owners, executives, professional advisors, and community leaders who can benefit from or refer to Tandem.
• Represent Tandem at networking events, conferences, workshops, and educational programs — locally and nationally.
• Develop and execute outreach strategies that generate awareness and a pipeline of qualified leads.
• Serve as the primary liaison to Tandem's Marketing Committee and marketing partners, helping align marketing, business development, partnerships, and awareness-building efforts to drive organizational growth.
• Deliver presentations, workshops, webinars, and educational sessions on Direct Employee Ownership, Profit Sharing, Employee Engagement, and Tandem’s 5-Phase Process.

Strategic Partnerships

• Identify, establish, and grow partnerships with organizations that can generate qualified opportunities and amplify Tandem’s reach.
• Cultivate referral relationships with attorneys, accountants, valuation firms, consultants, employee ownership organizations, chambers of commerce, peer groups, and other value-add partners.
• Attend occasional national conferences on employee ownership and other relevant industries to build Tandem’s national presence and partnerships.

Sales Process & Pipeline Management

• Serve as Tandem’s primary lead for Explore Meetings with prospective clients, both locally and nationally.
• Qualify opportunities based on fit, need, timing, decision-making process, budget, and Tandem’s Core Values.
• Guide prospective clients through the Explore stage of Tandem’s sales process and prepare and present proposals.
• Own the full sales process — from lead generation through signed agreements — working closely with the Executive Director and Director of Client Services to ensure smooth handoffs to implementation.
• Maintain accurate opportunity records, forecasting information, and next steps within HubSpot.
• Track key sales metrics, report performance to the Executive Director, and help strengthen and refine Tandem’s business development systems, tools, templates, and processes.

Organizational Growth

• Embrace Tandem's shared success philosophy, recognizing that the greatest outcomes are achieved when business owners, employees, clients, partners, and the Tandem team all succeed together.
• Adapt to evolving needs and help where help is needed in a small but growing team.
• Contribute to mentoring future team members as Tandem scales its impact.
• Collaborate directly with the Executive Director on strategy, market positioning, and long-term organizational growth.

Requirements and Skills

Education

• 4-Year Degree and/or equivalent experience.

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in business development, sales, relationship management, consulting, professional services, fundraising, partnership development, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success building relationships and generating new business opportunities.
• Experience facilitating executive-level conversations and consultative sales discussions.
• Public speaking, presentation, and workshop facilitation experience preferred.
• Experience with business succession planning, employee ownership, startups, or nonprofit organizations is a plus
  

Skills

• Strategic thinker with strong business and financial acumen.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and facilitation skills; comfortable discussing business ownership, financial performance, and organizational strategy with executives and business owners.
• Strong relationship-building and networking abilities.
• Tech-savvy with Google Workspace, MS Office, HubSpot, and Zoom.
• Emotionally intelligent, proactive, and adaptable in the face of change.
• Mission-aligned and genuinely excited to advance shared success through Direct Employee Ownership.
• Self-starter who takes initiative and thrives in an entrepreneurial, evolving culture.

Travel Requirements

Local and regional travel for meetings, presentations, and relationship-building activities. Occasional national travel for conferences, speaking engagements, and strategic partnership development.