Growth & Business Development Partner

Responsibilities:

Business Growth and Strategy:

• Develop and implement a practical growth strategy for the marketplace.
• Identify opportunities to increase awareness, user acquisition, transactions, paid subscriptions, and revenue.
• Translate business goals into actionable plans, targets, timelines, and measurable KPIs.
• Research competitors, market trends, customer behavior, and growth opportunities.

Seller Acquisition and Development:

• Identify, approach, recruit, and onboard new sellers.
• Develop effective strategies for converting free or prospective sellers into paying customers where applicable.
• Build relationships with individual sellers, SMEs, retailers, distributors, and other relevant businesses.
• Improve seller activation, engagement, retention, and repeat subscriptions.
• Develop outreach campaigns and seller acquisition partnerships.

Buyer Acquisition and Engagement:

• Develop strategies to attract relevant buyers and encourage repeat visits and inquiries.
• Build buyer communities and customer engagement channels.
• Create campaigns that encourage product discovery, buyer inquiries, and marketplace activity.
• Identify barriers preventing visitors from registering, engaging, or becoming active users, and recommend improvements.

Sales and Revenue Generation:

• Build and manage a sales pipeline for paid marketplace services and other approved revenue opportunities.
• Develop effective prospecting, follow-up, conversion, and retention processes.
• Identify opportunities to increase subscription sales, renewals, advertising revenue, partnerships, and other approved income streams.
• Track leads, conversion rates, revenue generated, and customer acquisition costs.
• Test and improve sales approaches based on results.

Digital Marketing and Brand Growth:

• Plan and execute digital marketing campaigns across relevant social media platforms and other suitable channels.
• Develop content and promotional campaigns that support seller recruitment, buyer acquisition, and revenue generation.
• Coordinate organic marketing, paid advertising where approved, email marketing, community marketing, and referral campaigns.
• Monitor campaign performance and optimize activities based on results.
• Maintain consistent brand communication and positioning.

Website and Marketplace Optimization:

• Understand how an e-commerce website operates and how its design and functionality affect conversion.
• Identify website usability issues, registration barriers, seller onboarding problems, and other obstacles to growth.
• Work with the website developer to communicate requirements, prioritize fixes, test changes, and follow up on implementation.
• Recommend improvements to the user journey, product discovery, mobile experience, seller dashboard, and conversion process.
• You do not necessarily need to be a full-stack developer, but you must be technically confident enough to work effectively with developers.

Search Engine Optimization and Organic Growth:

• Identify opportunities to improve search visibility and organic traffic.
• Coordinate keyword research, on-page SEO, useful content, and other appropriate organic growth initiatives.
• Monitor website traffic and search performance using available analytics tools.

Partnerships and Business Development:

• Identify and negotiate potential partnerships with businesses, seller communities, associations, influencers, and other relevant organizations.
• Develop referral and collaboration opportunities that can produce measurable business value.
• Build a pipeline of potential commercial partners and follow through on agreed initiatives.

Customer Experience and Retention:

• Identify challenges affecting sellers and buyers and recommend practical solutions.
• Develop processes that improve onboarding, responsiveness, satisfaction, retention, and renewals.
• Use customer feedback to improve marketplace services and the overall user experience.

Business Model and Monetization:

• Review existing revenue streams and identify opportunities to improve monetization.
• Recommend new services, pricing experiments, promotional offers, and commercial initiatives.
• Evaluate proposals based on customer value, market demand, feasibility, and revenue potential.
• Obtain the necessary approval before implementing changes that affect pricing, business policy, or major commercial commitments.

Analytics and Performance Management:

• Establish measurable KPIs for seller acquisition, buyer acquisition, engagement, sales, subscriptions, retention, traffic, and revenue.
• Maintain clear records of activities, leads, conversions, campaign performance, and revenue generated.
• Use data to identify what is working, what is not working, and what should change.
• Provide regular performance reports with results, challenges, lessons, and next steps.

Independent Execution and Accountability:

• Take ownership of approved growth initiatives from planning through execution and evaluation.
• Work independently without requiring daily supervision or an existing team.
• Prioritize activities according to expected business impact and available resources.
• Identify problems early, propose solutions, and follow through on agreed actions.
• Distinguish between completed activities and actual business results.

Process Development and Future Team Growth:

• Develop repeatable processes for sales, seller onboarding, marketing, customer engagement, and reporting.
• Document effective approaches so they can be repeated and scaled.
• Recommend future hires, contractors, or specialist support when justified by results and approved by the business owner.

Requirements:

• Substantial hands-on experience in e-commerce, online marketplaces, digital business growth, sales, business development, or a closely related commercial role.
• Evidence of personally contributing to measurable customer acquisition, sales growth, revenue generation, or business expansion.
• Experience acquiring customers or business accounts and converting prospects into paying customers.
• Practical knowledge of digital marketing, social media, content promotion, and customer acquisition.
• Strong sales, negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• An understanding of website performance, user experience, conversion optimization, and working with web developers.
• The ability to use performance metrics to guide decisions and demonstrate results.
• Strong initiative, commercial judgment, problem-solving ability, and personal accountability.
• The ability to work independently, manage priorities, and execute without constant supervision.
• A practical, results-oriented approach to operating with limited resources.
• Experience with marketplace subscriptions, seller recruitment, SEO, email marketing, analytics, paid campaigns, and referral programs will be an advantage.

What Success Will Look Like:

Success will be assessed against agreed targets and measurable progress, including:

• Growth in the number of active sellers and buyers.
• Increased seller activation and paid subscription conversion.
• Improved website engagement and buyer inquiries.
• Growth in sales, renewals, and revenue from approved commercial activities.
• More effective marketing campaigns and acquisition channels.
• Stronger partnerships and referral opportunities.
• Improved customer retention and operational processes.
• Clear reporting and evidence of results achieved.