New Business Development Director, SEA (Market Research)

About us

At Toluna, we keep the world's biggest brands one step ahead of their markets, their competitors, and their customers. For 25+ years we've been a leader in consumer insights, and today we're at the center of our industry's biggest shift: the move to AI-powered research grounded in real human truth.

Brands come to us because we've solved a problem most of our industry is still wrestling with: how to move fast without losing trust in the answer. Speed comes from AI we've been developing in-house since 2019, always-on platforms, and a 79M+ validated consumer community across 100+ countries.

Introduction

In this position, you will be responsible for driving net-new business opportunities across Southeast Asia, with a primary focus on Singapore and expansion markets including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. This newly created role is dedicated to opening doors, building relationships with stakeholders, generating qualified opportunities, securing client briefs, and achieving initial client conversions before transitioning accounts to Client Directors for long-term growth and account management.

As part of Toluna's growth ambitions in Southeast Asia, you will play a key role in expanding our presence among leading brands and organizations. Success in this role will be measured primarily by your ability to build a strong pipeline, create new commercial opportunities, acquire new clients, and contribute to the region's long-term growth strategy.

The ideal candidate is an established commercial leader with deep regional networks, strong credibility with senior decision-makers, and a proven track record of developing high-value business opportunities within the market research, consumer insights, analytics, or consulting sectors.

Your Responsibilities

• Define and execute a regional business development strategy focused on acquiring new strategic accounts across Southeast Asia.
• Build and maintain an ambitious pipeline of qualified prospects while achieving and exceeding quarterly and annual business development targets.
• Identify, prospect, engage, and win new accounts to accelerate Toluna's growth in Singapore and broader Southeast Asia markets.
• Develop trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across Marketing, Consumer Insights, Analytics, Innovation, and Business Transformation functions.
• Leverage existing relationships, market credibility, and industry networks to create new opportunities and establish strategic conversations with prospective clients.
• Manage the full business development lifecycle from prospect identification and outreach through discovery, qualification, proposal development, negotiation, and initial conversion.
• Work closely with Research, Client Services, and Client Director teams to develop compelling and commercially viable client solutions.
• Develop a deep understanding of Toluna's solutions portfolio and recommend tailored approaches based on client business challenges and objectives.
• Act as a market ambassador for Toluna, representing the company at industry events, conferences, networking activities, and executive-level client meetings.
• Monitor industry trends, competitive activity, and market opportunities to identify areas for growth and expansion.
• Maintain rigorous pipeline management, forecasting, and CRM discipline while tracking key commercial metrics and business development performance indicators.

Your Profile

• 12 to 15+ years of experience in business development, client acquisition, commercial leadership, or growth-focused roles within market research, consumer insights, consulting, analytics, marketing services, or related industries.
• Proven track record of identifying, developing, and closing new strategic business opportunities with enterprise-level clients.
• Strong regional network across Southeast Asia and the ability to engage credibly with senior client stakeholders and C-suite executives.
• Demonstrated success in building robust pipelines and consistently achieving or exceeding commercial and revenue targets.
• Ability to create new relationships from scratch, identify the right stakeholders, initiate conversations, and convert opportunities into long-term client partnerships.
• Strong consultative selling skills with the ability to understand complex business challenges and position solutions that create measurable value.
• Excellent presentation, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• High level of resilience, perseverance, and commercial acumen, with the confidence to engage senior decision-makers and overcome objections.
• Organized and disciplined approach to pipeline management and CRM tools, ideally Salesforce.
• Experience working across multicultural and international environments with excellent written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of market research, consumer insights, data analytics, customer experience, or related solution areas is strongly preferred.

Our Values

• Acting with Ownership- Demonstrating individual accountability
• Bringing a forward mindset- Being action-oriented, bold and entrepreneurial
• Collaborating with Curiosity- Exhibiting teamwork through togetherness
• Discussing openly, committing jointly- Sharing your views openly
• Embracing empathy- Being egoless & caring

What we Offer

At Toluna, we're all about creating a welcoming, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive. We offer competitive pay, great benefits, and plenty of opportunities to grow within our global team. Inclusion and respect are at the heart of what we do. Our community connects over 72 million people across 70 countries. If you're passionate about making an impact, we'd love to have you on board. Join our global team.

We welcome big thinking and reward great work.