Business Development Manager

Summary

Support Topian Business development team through project managing all Topian Business Development partnership engagements, from NDA through to Joint Venture company incorporation.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities

NEOM aims at providing opportunities for people to live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives while sustainably using the natural resources upon which they depend. NEOM partners with governments, local and international businesses, and knowledge institutes to transform ideas into policy, policy into action, and action into impact. NEOM uses its technical knowledge and experience, passionate staff, local presence, and global influence to make a lasting difference in people’s livability, especially in desert-like conditions in a world facing climate change.

Topian is NEOM’s food business. Our vision is to create ‘a global community with food at its heart, harnessing innovation to nourish both people and planet and guaranteeing food security for generations to come’. We aim to produce quality food sustainably, providing food security for NEOM and producing food that is better for the individual and the planet.

By doing this we aim to create a leading food business of significant scale by 2030. Our Business Development team focuses on engaging with and securing commercial agreements with partners who can accelerate Topian’s growth by investing knowledge, resources, and capital.

Position description and responsibilities

• Act as Project manager for all commercial partnership engagements, from NDA to JV incorporation.
• Own the project plan for each project, ensuring that deadlines are achieved and all necessary actions are delivered by those responsible. Escalate where necessary if deadlines are being missed.
• Communicate progress on all projects clearly on a weekly basis, both to BD Project owners, Director of BD team, and to the wider Topian leadership team.
• Ensure that each project has a clear project plan with timelines, which is updated weekly, with any issues highlighted, including action plans to rectify issues where necessary.
• Co-ordinate necessary meetings on Projects with both partners and internal stakeholders, ensuring that actions are taken, with owners and timelines agreed and highlighted.
• Communicate weekly and monthly consolidated Project updates to BD team and wider Topian Leadership team Director.
• Provide adhoc updates on progress as requested to Topian leadership and Board meetings.

Background, Skills

• Passion for NEOM’s mission in adopting the most innovative and meaningful trends in agriculture and livestock technologies that can be leveraged to enhance sustainable and environmentally sensitive food production, support export initiatives, and provide the NEOM population with healthy, nutritious, and safe food.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Strong communication and presentation skills – both oral and written.
• Strong people skills – has the ability to positively engage people and motivate them to deliver what is needed.
• Good client-facing skills – has gravitas and credibility as Project management lead.
• Strong networking skills and willingness to initiate engagement with internal and external stakeholders.
• Proven team-player – demonstrably puts team ahead of self.
• Resilient – can deal with setbacks and is motivated to make a positive difference when the going gets tough.

Qualifications

• Minimum: A graduate degree is desired, and preference will be given to candidates combining qualifications in business.
• Experience in a multicultural environment is a plus.