New Business Developer

UpStar Tech develops commercial opportunities across technology talent services and related technology solutions. Our initial sales focus is cloud-engineering talent services, including staffing, contract and contract-to-hire engagements. We will expand into other specialist technology staffing areas where customer demand and our ability to fulfil requirements are demonstrated.

UpStar is also developing TrustStar, an evolving product opportunity that includes Intelligent Job Posting (IJP) and candidate skill-evidence capabilities. Its relevance will be explored against real hiring requirements, particularly contract-to-hire opportunities. Customer discussions must reflect verified capabilities and current product maturity.

We are a Founder-led business with limited team capacity. This role suits someone who enjoys direct customer engagement, takes ownership of execution and can build a disciplined sales process while winning business.

The Business Development Manager will own new-business development: finding opportunities, building a qualified pipeline, winning clients and achieving company-defined sales targets.

Revenue generation is the primary responsibility. The role will also provide practical support to the Founder’s fundraising activities, with that workload prioritized around commercial execution.

This is a hands-on individual-contributor position. You will work directly with the Founder and coordinate with available delivery, talent-sourcing and product support.

• Identify and prospect organizations with cloud-engineering talent needs, prioritizing accounts with credible demand, access to decision-makers and a viable route to business.
• Build relationships with engineering and delivery leaders, hiring managers, talent-acquisition teams, procurement stakeholders and economic buyers.
• Run discovery meetings to understand required skills, engagement model, scope, budget, timing, buying process and success criteria.
• Qualify staffing, contract and contract-to-hire opportunities against commercial fit and UpStar’s ability to fulfil them.
• Explore adjacent specialist technology staffing opportunities when demand is evidenced and the Founder agrees the priority.

• Prepare tailored proposals and coordinate pricing, scope, candidate or resource requirements, and commercial documentation.
• Negotiate within approved limits, secure decisions and manage opportunities through to signed agreements.
• Obtain Founder approval for pricing exceptions, non-standard terms, references, partners, capacity commitments and spend.
• Confirm delivery or sourcing feasibility before making commitments to clients.
• Identify account-expansion opportunities through customer feedback, emerging requirements and relationship development.
• Develop relevant referral and commercial partnerships, with partner commitments approved by the Founder.
• Introduce TrustStar/IJP where it fits a customer requirement, using approved messaging and clearly explaining current capabilities and limitations.

• Keep CRM records current, including qualification evidence, stakeholders, stage, estimated value, next action, expected close date and blockers.
• Produce evidence-based forecasts and explain changes, risks and slippage.
• Coordinate sales-to-delivery handovers covering agreed scope, responsibilities, timelines, commercial terms and customer expectations.
• Maintain customer contact after signing and coordinate issue escalation with the Founder and relevant fulfilment support.
• Support customer payment follow-up by tracking agreed milestones, identifying concerns and coordinating with the Founder or finance support.
• Capture customer signals, objections, win/loss reasons and reusable lessons to improve future sales execution.

The role owns the commercial relationship and coordination. It does not carry sole responsibility for recruiting candidates, conducting technical assessments, delivering client work or running a full marketing function.

Under the Director’s direction:

• Research potential investors against agreed relevance criteria and prepare concise briefs.
• Maintain the investor pipeline, meeting history, next steps and follow-up records.
• Prepare outreach drafts for approval and coordinate meetings and approved follow-ups.
• Organize current versions of presentations, supporting materials and diligence requests.
• Track outstanding information requests and coordinate responses with the Founder and relevant contributors.

The Director retains approval of investor-facing claims, external fundraising communications and financing terms. This role supports fundraising execution; it is not independently accountable for closing a funding round.

• Demonstrated success in B2B new-business sales involving technology staffing, talent services or closely related services.
• Evidence of personally prospecting, qualifying, proposing, negotiating and closing business.
• Practical understanding of staffing, contract and contract-to-hire commercial models.
• Ability to discuss cloud-engineering role requirements credibly and translate customer needs into a clear commercial brief.
• Strong discovery, relationship-building, proposal-writing and follow-up skills.
• Commercial judgment around pricing, margin, payment terms, delivery feasibility and escalation.
• Consistent CRM discipline and the ability to produce defensible forecasts.
• Ability to work independently in a small business, prioritize limited resources and use lightweight tools or automation effectively.
• Clear written and verbal communication, discretion with confidential information and honesty about capability and evidence.

• An established network among technology buyers, hiring managers or staffing partners.
• Experience selling across Southeast Asia, Gulf markets, or Central and Northern Europe.
• Exposure to cloud-security or other specialist technology staffing markets.
• Experience coordinating with recruiters, sourcing partners or technical evaluators.
• Early-stage company experience, including testing an evolving offer with customers.
• Experience supporting investor research, fundraising administration or diligence coordination.

Fundraising experience is helpful, but strong commercial execution is the priority.

Targets will be set by UpStar based on the agreed offer, market focus, available fulfilment capacity and sales cycle. Performance will be assessed through:

• Qualified opportunities created, their quality and their progression.
• Relevant discovery meetings and access to buying decision-makers.
• Proposals issued and proposal-to-win conversion.
• Signed business, bookings and revenue against company-defined targets.
• Gross margin and adherence to approved commercial terms.
• Forecast accuracy, sales-cycle progression and CRM completeness.
• Handover quality, customer feedback, repeat business and account expansion.
• Timely payment follow-up and escalation of collection risks.
• For fundraising support: accurate records, timely coordination and completion of approved actions.

Activity volume alone will not substitute for commercial results.

Agree the initial offer, target-customer profile, qualification criteria, approval limits and performance measures with the Founder. Understand fulfilment constraints, organize the CRM, build a prioritized prospect list and begin outreach and discovery. Establish a simple investor-support tracker for Founder-directed activity.

Progress discovery, validate requirements and buying processes, coordinate feasibility checks and prepare proposals where opportunities are ready. Establish a regular pipeline review and forecast. Use customer feedback to refine messaging and qualification.

• Advance qualified opportunities toward signed business, with initial wins pursued where customer buying cycles allow. Coordinate handovers for closed engagements, identify expansion potential and review conversion, margin and forecast quality. Agree the next quarter’s priorities and targets using evidence from the first 90 days.