Business Development Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Illinois

Position purpose

Taher is seeking two experienced business development leaders to expand our Business & Industry portfolio. These are two separate Director positions: one focused on Nashville / Tennessee and one focused on Texas. Each role is a true new-business development position centered on creating relationships, opening doors and converting qualified opportunities into long-term corporate dining and workplace hospitality partnerships.

Each Director will identify and cultivate relationships with organizations in the assigned market that are seeking customized dining, hospitality, workplace foodservice, catering, executive dining, micro-market and employee experience solutions. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable initiating a relationship with a corporate executive, walking an operating location, developing a financial solution with internal partners and presenting a compelling vision to a decision-making team.

Each leader will serve as a market-facing ambassador for Taher and build meaningful relationships long before a formal RFP is issued. Success requires curiosity about the client's business, a strong network-building mindset and disciplined partnership with Operations throughout the sales process.

New business development

• Develop and execute a focused growth strategy for the assigned market - Nashville / Tennessee or Texas.
• Build a qualified pipeline of corporate dining, workplace hospitality, catering, executive dining, micro-market and related opportunities.
• Identify organizations with strong alignment to Taher's capabilities, culture and service model and prospect directly into targeted accounts.
• Develop relationships with executives, workplace experience leaders, Human Resources, Facilities, Procurement, Finance, Operations and other decision makers.
• Build referral relationships with consultants, brokers, property managers, developers, professional associations and other market influencers.

Sales process and solution development

• Own qualified opportunities from initial outreach and discovery through solution design, proposal, presentation, negotiation and transition.
• Conduct detailed discovery to understand workplace culture, employee populations, utilization patterns, hospitality expectations, financial goals and service priorities.
• Lead RFP and proposal development and coordinate site surveys, tastings, presentations and finalist meetings.
• Partner with Operations and Finance to build staffing plans, operating models, financial projections, pricing structures and pro formas.
• Ensure proposed solutions and commitments are financially sound, operationally realistic and clearly differentiated.

Workplace dining and hospitality solutions

• Develop customized solutions that may include corporate cafes, employee dining, executive dining, catering and special events, grab-and-go programs, micro-markets, coffee and beverage programs, culinary innovation, wellness and nutrition programming, and multi-site dining programs.
• Sell through a consultative approach: understand the organization first, then design the right solution rather than forcing a standard model.
• Translate Taher's culinary expertise, operational capabilities and family-owned service approach into a clear value proposition for each prospect.

Executive relationships and market presence

• Establish meaningful relationships with corporate decision makers and influencers throughout the assigned business community.
• Maintain regular communication with strategic prospects throughout long and complex sales cycles.
• Represent Taher at relevant workplace, facilities, Human Resources, foodservice, hospitality, real estate and business events.
• Build an active professional network that generates referrals, market intelligence and early visibility into upcoming opportunities.
• Maintain exceptional responsiveness and follow-through throughout the relationship.

Cross-functional partnership

• Engage Operations early enough in qualified pursuits to shape the solution, validate assumptions and prepare for successful execution.
• Collaborate with Culinary, Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Procurement and other internal teams when developing client solutions.
• Create a disciplined handoff from business development to implementation and remain engaged through launch to support continuity and client confidence.
• Evaluate strategic fit, commercial potential, operating feasibility and organizational capacity before advancing major pursuits.

Market development and accountability

• Develop and maintain strategic target-account lists by market, industry and opportunity timing.
• Monitor contract expirations, competitor relationships, corporate relocations, campus expansions, return-to-office activity and changes in workplace strategy.
• Track relevant business investment, commercial real estate development and employer growth within assigned markets.
• Maintain an accurate, active pipeline and provide regular forecasts, opportunity updates and market intelligence to leadership.
• Use win/loss insights and prospect feedback to improve positioning, solution design and sales execution.

Experience and qualifications

• Demonstrated business development or sales experience in contract foodservice, corporate dining, hospitality, workplace services, facilities management, commercial real estate services or another complex B2B service environment.
• Strong preference for experience selling outsourced services to corporate clients and generating new-logo revenue.
• Established relationships within the Nashville/Tennessee and/or Texas business community are highly desirable.
• Experience managing complex, long-cycle sales opportunities and responding to formal RFPs.
• Strong financial and business acumen with the ability to understand operating models, labor assumptions, pricing, margins and financial projections.
• Strong executive presentation, communication, networking and relationship-building capabilities.
• High level of initiative, personal accountability and comfort working in an entrepreneurial, family-owned environment.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively throughout the assigned market and as business needs require.

Leadership expectations

The successful candidate is a hunter with a consultative mindset. They are energized by creating relationships and opening doors, but they listen before proposing. They understand what makes a contract attractive for both the client and Taher and are disciplined enough to walk away from opportunities that are not a strong fit.

This leader should be polished but practical, equally comfortable presenting to an executive team and walking a cafe or production environment with operating leaders. They must be connected, curious, persistent and collaborative, with the judgment to build business that Operations can successfully deliver.

Why Taher

Taher is a family-owned organization with decades of experience delivering customized foodservice and hospitality solutions. Our portfolio across Business & Industry, K-12 education, senior living, healthcare, restaurants and food manufacturing gives us the resources of a substantial organization while maintaining the responsiveness and relationships of a family-owned company.

For the right business development leader, this is an opportunity to build meaningful market presence and create long-term partnerships rather than simply inherit a territory.

EOE/AA

Pay Transparency In order to support the Fair Compensation Strategy by the US Govt., HR Dept., clients are required to adhere to "Pay Transparency Law"; in the impacted states; that have mandated the employers to list the salary ranges in Job advertisements or postings for job opportunities and Job promotions.