Business Development & Growth Manager

Who We Are:

At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.

Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, offering deep insights in communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work.

About Us

VML Health – KOL Insights and Digital Insights is entirely focused on Key Opinion Leader (KOL) mapping and digital platforms for medical affairs, field, medicine and commercial teams in the biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, and digital health industries.

We have a rich history of using technologies to enable and support medical research and data management services. We support organisations to identify the right individuals, KOLs and HCPs and support their product lifecycles.

Our culture

We put our people first! We invest time and effort in helping them thrive in a relaxed, social and collaborative environment so that they can grow and be innovative. We believe in a healthy work-life balance therefore we provide hybrid and flexible working hours; not to mention our world class benefits.

About the role

We are seeking a Business Development & Growth Manager on the KOL Insights business to sell to existing and prospective clients at some of the world’s leading global healthcare organisations. As Business Development & Growth Manager, you will be managing and reporting on all existing and new business from inbound and outbound activities, own and build client relationships virtually or face-to-face (international travel involved), closely collaborate with internal project teams, etc. with the aim of introducing our KOL Insights offering. Each client interaction is an opportunity to engage in consultative and collaborative conversations to match our KOL services to each of our client’s needs and ultimately drive growth. This is an exciting time to join, as the company is going through substantial growth, which means you will be given the opportunity to thrive in an engaging and fast-paced environment, and to make a difference on an everyday basis.

Key Responsibilities and day to day activities of Business Development & Growth Manager

• Manage, own & oversee our commercial relationships with a number of the top pharmaceutical companies, globally
• Responsible for client services within accounts and driving growth of revenue and uptake of services and new innovations
• Proactively generate leads from multiple sources
• Identify prospective clients via LinkedIn
• Manage interactions and actions via our CRM database
• Secure regular meetings with clients (through emails, calls and persistence)
• Create and present PowerPoint decks to clients to introduce our capabilities
• Build long-term partnerships with individual clients
• Listen to, understand, and interpret client needs, feeding back interesting insights to the team
• Support the development of high-quality proposals in response to client needs & RFPs
• Pitching proposals to clients via teleconferences and in-person
• Occasional travel to Europe and US to meet clients face-to-face

• Close collaboration with UK based teams who will be running and delivering projects

  offering

• Responsible for contractual elements on your accounts (creating SOWs, managing MSAs, etc)

• Report on new business to the commercial director and leadership team

What you will bring to the table

• A driven mentality with the desire to win and support commercial development
• Multitasking - efficient at managing multiple workstreams at once, ensuring that proactive outreach is maintained in addition to inbound activity
• Managing your time whilst working towards tight deadlines supporting many different RFPs, client briefs and workstreams
• Understanding the needs of the marketing and project teams, and supporting them with required materials and
• Continuously learn about the healthcare/pharmaceutical world that we operate in, and the features, messages, and positioning of our KOL offering what we present to our clients
• Be able to lead and grow a team of individuals which are commercially focused and want to win new business continuously

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in business development
• Excellent communication skills
• A genuine love of growing client relationships with a focus on sale
• Energy, drive, resilience, and passion
• Quick learner and a “can-do” attitude
• Able to equally work as part of a team, independently and across functions
• Provide consultative advice to UK based project teams to best service clients
• Motivated by an exciting and collaborative team environment
• Able to make guide other others on decisions, take ownership and accept accountability
• Self-motivated and driven with a passion for excellence
• Self-directed worker with the professionalism and focus to work relatively autonomously, albeit with the support of business development colleagues
• Solid understanding of the global healthcare sector and medicine
• Experience in the healthcare/ pharmaceutical industry is desirable

At VML, we are committed to fostering an all-inclusive work environment that is both rewarding and career-forward. Our Inclusion, Equity & Belonging initiatives, alongside the VML Foundation, reflect our dedication to giving back and making a positive impact in our communities and beyond. Our people are the heartbeat of our organization—creators, doers, innovators, makers, and thinkers—who drive not just marketing, but meaningful experiences that resonate in every action and interaction.

VML is a WPP Agency. For more information, please visit our website, and follow VML on our social channels via Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. This explains what we do with your personal data when you apply for a role with us, and, how you can update the information you have provided us with or how to remove it.