Business Development Associate
BURN Manufacturing
Sales & Business Development
Nairobi, Kenya
Posted on Jul 17, 2025
About the role:
BURN is seeking a dynamic and driven early-career professional to join our team as a Business Development Associate. In this role, you will play a key part in sourcing and closing sales opportunities, while supporting the execution of major commercial projects for carbon markets, B2B wholesale, corporate accounts, and NGO customers. This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual passionate about building a career in business development and sales within a fast-paced, impact-driven environment.
Duties and Responsibilities:
New Business Development (40%)
Account Management (30%)
Market Intelligence and Decision Support (30%)
Skills and Experience:
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
EXPECTATIONS WITHIN 6 MONTHS
Qualified Female Candidates encouraged to Apply
BURN does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, processing, training, or any other fees).
BURN is seeking a dynamic and driven early-career professional to join our team as a Business Development Associate. In this role, you will play a key part in sourcing and closing sales opportunities, while supporting the execution of major commercial projects for carbon markets, B2B wholesale, corporate accounts, and NGO customers. This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual passionate about building a career in business development and sales within a fast-paced, impact-driven environment.
Duties and Responsibilities:
New Business Development (40%)
- Conduct weekly outreach (cold calls, messaging, virtual meetings, etc.) to engage potential and existing clients, understand their needs, and develop tailored sales proposals that clearly communicate BURN’s value proposition.
- Build, own, and manage a balanced and high-quality sales pipeline focused on carbon developers, corporate entities, wholesalers, and non-governmental organizations. Proactively source leads through industry registries, publications, conferences, LinkedIn, BURN inbound channels, and other relevant sources, while ensuring timely and accurate reporting within the CRM database.
- Proactively source and track relevant clean cooking and carbon project tenders and RFPs from development agencies, NGOs, government entities, and carbon finance institutions.
- Drive sales and revenue growth by new closing deals and generating repeat orders from existing clients, while consistently meeting or exceeding assigned quarterly sales targets.
Account Management (30%)
- Proactively manage assigned customer accounts to ensure the fulfilment of BURN’s contractual obligations, while driving high levels of customer satisfaction and strengthening client relationships for long-term engagement.
- Manage all pre- and post-contract negotiation activities to deliver end-to-end customer satisfaction, including negotiating commercial terms, drafting and executing contracts, onboarding and collecting due diligence documentation, overseeing order creation and invoicing, coordinating production and dispatch planning, and maintaining continuous engagement to drive repeat business and cross-selling opportunities.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for client requests and complaints, coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver timely, effective, and customer-centric resolutions.
- Led the preparation and submission of competitive technical and commercial proposals for cookstove supply and carbon services tender opportunities.
- Coordinate cross-functionally with R&D, Carbon, MRV, Distribution, and Supply Chain teams to champion a customer-centric mindset and ensure the successful delivery of carbon project engagements on time and within budget.
- Monitor project delivery performance (carbon projects and tenders) against key metrics, identify gaps, and implement corrective actions to optimize client satisfaction and improve both Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).
- Lead post-delivery customer satisfaction surveys for tenders, carbon projects, and sales, and maintain a centralized tracker to capture insights for continuous improvement and case study development.
Market Intelligence and Decision Support (30%)
- Conduct bi-monthly research and strategic analysis on industry trends, client needs, and competitor activities—including product portfolios, technical specifications, pricing, and commercial terms—to generate actionable insights that inform product strategy, lead generation, service enhancements, and broader business development efforts.
- Gather and review financial, sales and logistics data from internal teams to produce monthly performance reports and dashboards that support business decision-making.
Skills and Experience:
- Deep interest in business development, sales, and client relationship management, with a genuine desire to grow a career in commercial roles.
- Highly coachable with a strong willingness to learn, receive feedback, and continuously improve skills and performance.
- Minimum of 1 year in customer-facing roles such as B2B sales or account management within a corporate or fast-paced business environment.
- At least 1 year of experience managing projects and coordinating with cross-functional teams (e.g., sales, manufacturing, distribution).
- Strong analytical skillset with the ability to analyze information, extract insights, and apply findings to optimize decision-making and business strategies.
- Demonstrates a strong sense of ownership, self-motivation, and a hands-on approach to solving challenges and driving outcomes independently.
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel (data analysis and modelling), PowerPoint (presentation creation), and solid research capabilities for market intelligence.
- Proficiency in French or other languages is an asset but not required.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
- Outreach: No. of Calls and/or Meetings Made, Follow-ups Done, Proposals Delivered.
- Revenue and Profitability: Unit Sales, Revenues, Gross Margin, Quota Attainment.
- Sales Pipeline: Growth Rate, Pipeline Value, Conversion Rate.
- Competitor Scorecard: Technical Specifications, Pricing, Terms, etc.
- Relationship: Customer Satisfaction Score, Net Promoter Score
- Other strategic and tactical KPIs may be added from time to time.
- Fully own and advance all assigned leads, achieving a minimum 30% conversion from initial engagement to qualified opportunity.
- Demonstrate strong command of BURN’s product offerings, market landscape, and competitive differentiators; independently lead client discovery calls and draft tailored proposals with limited revision rate from supervisors.
- Build a robust personal pipeline by sourcing a minimum of 30 high-quality new leads through inbound and outbound activities, referrals, and industry channels.
- Launch and maintain a dynamic competitor intelligence dashboard and a live customer satisfaction tracker, with insights reports to guide business development strategies.
EXPECTATIONS WITHIN 6 MONTHS
- Successfully close at least 2 new deals from assigned and/or self-sourced pipelines.
- Generate high-quality leads with a cumulative potential of over 50,000 unit sales, each supported by a documented engagement strategy and a clearly defined path to closure within the sales cycle.
Qualified Female Candidates encouraged to Apply
BURN does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, processing, training, or any other fees).
