Business Development Lead Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Illinois

About Inovus: For 25 years, Inovus has been helping clients better serve their customers and team members by delivering custom designed and configured business management solutions leveraging low-code and no code Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms.

Our work currently focuses on CRM, workflow automation, team collaboration, and WorkOS solutions built on Monday and Creatio. We work across industries, but typically focus our business development efforts on manufacturing companies and non-profit organizations.

The emergence of AI is creating new kinds of opportunities for Inovus and our clients to leverage embedded AI capabilities and cross-platform AI automation in a rapidly shifting, high-change environment.

As a highly rated partner with Monday and Creatio, known for our excellent team, strong technical capabilities, and exceptional client service, we have historically relied on our platform partners for new client development. We’re now investing in building out our own business development capabilities, and are looking for an entrepreneurial Business Development Lead who can develop new connections and opportunities for our team.

Job Mission: Own and build the top of funnel by creating access to Blue Chip accounts through targeted outbound, strategic partnerships, and events - generating qualified pipeline and enabling a scalable, repeatable growth engine that complements and expands beyond Monday- and Creatio-sourced demand.

Wildly Important Goal: New Pipeline Generation: $570,000

Lead Measures, First 12 Months

• Qualification Meetings w/ New Prospects: 37
• Strategic Partner Meetings: 24 (focused on Monday and Creatio Account Executives)
• Event Meetings: 4
• Outbound Connections w/ Interest: 93
• Outbound Attempts: 5,650 (email, LinkedIn, calls)

Responsibilities: Own the front-end of the sales motion: creating access, generating qualified opportunities, and building pipeline with Blue Chip accounts through a combination of outbound, partner collaboration, and events.

Outbound Pipeline Creation

• Identify and prioritize Blue Chip accounts aligned to ICP
• Execute insight-driven outreach (email, LinkedIn, calls)
• Test, refine, and evolve messaging through execution
• Convert cold warm qualified conversations
• Use outbound to open doors within partner-aligned accounts and reinforce strategic partner relationships

Strategic Partner Development (Monday + Creatio)

• Build & maintain relationships with Monday & Creatio AEs / AMs through value-driven engagement
• Clearly position Inovus’s ICP, use cases, and differentiators
• Collaborate on target accounts and opportunities to create mutual pipeline
• Provide visibility and follow-through to reinforce trust and drive repeat opportunities

Event-Driven Pipeline

• Identify high-value events aligned to ICP
• Schedule meetings in advance and convert on-site
• Own structured follow-up to drive pipeline conversion

Sales Process Support

• Support John (Principal) in advancing opportunities
• Research & account prep
• Executive summaries & 1-page business cases
• Scheduling, coordination, and follow-up

Sales Playbook Execution & Continuous Improvement

• Execute the sales playbook consistently.
• Capture data, patterns, and feedback from outreach and live deals to identify what’s working and what’s not
• Translate insights into recommendations that refine messaging, targeting, and playbook effectiveness over time
• Share market and account insights back to partners to strengthen alignment and joint execution

Key Competencies

• Drive for Results: Works with urgency, discipline, and a bias toward action. Focused on efficiency and effectiveness.
• Tech / AI Fluency: Tech savvy and able to use AI as a thinking partner to accelerate insight, improve output quality, and build scalable systems. Can translate technical capabilities into clear business value.
• Intuition / Discernment: Understands the big picture, reads between the lines, and connects the dots. Adapts the playbook to real world nuance rather than following it rigidly.
• Dealing With Ambiguity: Operates effectively without a complete picture. Shifts gears comfortably, makes decisions with imperfect information, and handles risk and uncertainty with confidence.
• Effective Communication: Communicates clearly and confidently in both writing and conversation. Crafts Executive Summaries and messaging that drive alignment and resonate with stakeholders.
• Coachability & Continuous Learning: Actively seeks feedback, learns quickly, and improves through repetition, coaching, and real world application.

Required Experience

• Experience in a business development, outbound, or early-stage sales role where pipeline had to be created (not inherited)
• Demonstrated ability to generate meetings through cold outreach, networking, or events
• Experience working in ambiguous or evolving environments with limited structure or defined process
• Track record of high activity and persistence in the face of rejection or slow traction
• Experience selling Services (technical, professional) vs. a product
• Experience selling or supporting SaaS, workflow, or operational systems (e.g., CRM, project management, automation tools)

Desired Experience

• Experience in a “first seller” or early commercial hire role
• Experience building or contributing to: outbound strategy, messaging development, ICP refinement
• Experience leveraging: events / trade shows, strategic partners / referral channels
• Experience working within a partner ecosystem (e.g., SaaS, channel, co-selling) and collaborating with external stakeholders to generate pipeline

Challenges

• Operating with a new, not fully proven outbound motion
• Will be working on a very small business development team

Compensation:

• Base Salary: $70,000 - $80,000
• Commission (25% of Base): $17,500 - $20,000
• Qualified pipeline generated: 2.5%
• Qualified appointments held: $100/each
• On-Target Earnings: $87,500 - $100,000
• Benefits: Health, dental, 401k, 3 weeks paid time off, sick time, holidays.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Highland is committed to creating a just, equitable workplace, and is actively seeking candidates who can bring the value of diverse lived experiences to this position. We look for candidates who have a high level of demonstrated comfort with cultural competency; women, people of color, people with disabilities, and people who identify as LGBTQ are encouraged to apply.