Business Development Manager
Business
Builds the relationships and pursuit strategy behind a contractor's biggest wins, the senior counterpart to Construction Sales focused on major, long-cycle pursuits rather than direct selling.
What is a Business Development Manager?
A Business Development Manager builds and maintains the relationships that win a contractor major work, developers, owners, architects, and repeat clients, and leads the strategy behind pursuing large projects long before a bid is ever due. It overlaps with Construction Sales, but where sales is often about closing individual deals, business development is usually a longer game: staying visible with the right people for years so that when a major project comes up, the firm gets invited to pursue it at all.
What they do
- Build and maintain relationships with developers, owners, architects, and repeat clients
- Identify and track upcoming project opportunities well before they go out to bid
- Lead go/no-go decisions on which pursuits are worth the firm's time and resources
- Develop proposal strategy and messaging for major pursuits, working with marketing and estimating
- Represent the company at industry events, associations, and client meetings
- Track win/loss data and refine pursuit strategy over time
A typical day
- 8:30 AMReview the pipeline of upcoming project opportunities and update pursuit priorities
- 10:00 AMMeet with a developer client to discuss an upcoming project still in early planning
- 12:00 PMHave lunch with a developer the firm has cultivated for years, ahead of a major project still a year or two from breaking ground
- 2:00 PMLead a go/no-go meeting on whether to pursue a major upcoming project
- 3:30 PMWork with the marketing team on proposal strategy for a pursuit due next month
Skills
Software
Pay expectations
Pay for this role, nationally
as of October 2026
Source: Real Business Development Manager job postings at commercial general contractors cross-checked against ZipRecruiter's generalist percentile data; the generic Sales Managers BLS code spans finance and tech sales leadership and significantly overstates real construction-company pay
Reviewed October 2026. Business Development Manager is typically reached through promotion or years of experience in a related role, not a day-one starting point, so this chart shows the pay range for people already working as a Business Development Manager rather than entry-level pay. "Lower range" is the lower part of the national wage distribution for this occupation, "typical" sits around the national median, and "top of scale" is the upper part, since pay isn't actually tracked by years on the job. Real pay varies a lot by state, metro area, union status, and employer, so scale these up or down for your market.
Education
- Required:
- High school diploma or equivalent, plus significant industry relationship-building experience; no license is legally required for this role
- Preferred:
- Bachelor's degree in construction management, business, marketing, or a related field
- Helpful:
- The Society for Marketing Professional Services' Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) credential, which requires four or more years of relevant marketing/business development experience (with a bachelor's degree) and passing a 150-question exam
- Not necessary:
- A construction-specific degree; many business development managers come from sales, marketing, or account management backgrounds in other industries
Career progression
- 1.Business Development Coordinator
- 2.Business Development Manager
- 3.Director of Business Development
- 4.Vice President of Business Development or Chief Growth Officer