Senior Business Development Specialist, Strategic Accounts

The Senior Business Development Specialist, Strategic Accounts is Axrail's primary enterprise hunter. This role exists to build Axrail's own commercial pipeline — independently, consistently, and without structural reliance on AWS referrals. The individual is expected to self-originate enterprise opportunities from cold, develop them through the full sales cycle, and close them.

The sales motion follows a deliberate solution value chain. Entry into new accounts is anchored in Axrail's AI Agent offerings — a lower-friction wedge that establishes a commercial foothold and demonstrates operational value quickly. From that foundation, the Senior Specialist progressively introduces higher-complexity, higher-value solutions: data warehousing and analytics platforms, and ultimately cloud infrastructure and migration services. The objective is not to sell a point solution — it is to become the customer's end-to-end technology transformation partner.

This is a full-cycle role. The Senior Specialist owns the opportunity from first outreach through to contract closure and post-engagement account expansion. Where the BDR generates qualified pipeline, the Senior Specialist converts it, owns it, and grows it. AWS co-sell is one channel among several — valued, but not depended upon.

This role also carries a mentoring responsibility. The Senior Specialist works in close collaboration with the Business Development Representative, providing direction on targeting strategy, sharpening qualification rigour, and ensuring that the handoff of qualified opportunities is well-contextualised and commercially sound.

The Solution Value Chain

The Senior Specialist's commercial motion follows a structured land-and-expand logic across Axrail's full solution portfolio:

• Land — AI Agents: Enter new accounts with Axrail's pre-built AI Agent offerings, targeting high-frequency, low-complexity operational workflows. Fast time-to-value, low procurement friction, demonstrable ROI. This is the door.
• Expand — Data Warehousing & Analytics: As the customer's confidence in Axrail grows, introduce data infrastructure and analytics solutions that unlock deeper organisational insight and create meaningful technical dependency on Axrail's capability. This is the relationship deepening.
• Scale — Cloud Migration & Infrastructure: Position Axrail as the customer's strategic AWS partner for their broader cloud transformation roadmap. Complex, long-cycle, high-value. This is the partnership anchor.

The Senior Specialist must carry sufficient technical literacy across all three layers to hold credible, unsupported conversations at each stage — and the commercial judgement to know when to advance the customer to the next layer of the stack.

Key Responsibilities

1. Self-Originated Pipeline Development

• Independently identify, research, and engage target enterprise accounts through direct prospecting, network development, industry events, and digital channels — building pipeline that does not depend on AWS referrals or inbound leads.
• Develop and execute a structured account targeting strategy, defining priority verticals, ideal customer profiles, and outreach approaches in collaboration with the General Manager.
• Convert BDR-qualified opportunities into active pipeline, taking ownership of the opportunity from the point of handoff and maintaining clear momentum through to close.
• Maintain a consistently healthy pipeline across all stages of the sales cycle — with sufficient new logo activity to meet revenue targets without structural dependence on partner-referred flow.

2. Full-Cycle Enterprise Sales

• Own the complete sales cycle for all assigned opportunities — from initial qualification and discovery through solution design, proposal development, commercial negotiation, and contract closure.
• Conduct deep discovery conversations that diagnose the customer's business challenges, operational pain points, and transformation priorities before any solution is proposed.
• Develop and deliver compelling, client-specific solution narratives in close collaboration with Axrail's technical and delivery teams — translating complex technical capability into clear, quantified business outcomes.
• Navigate multi-stakeholder enterprise environments with political awareness — managing C-suite sponsors, technical evaluators, and procurement teams simultaneously through long sales cycles.

3. Account Expansion & Value Chain Progression

• Manage and grow customer relationships post-closure, identifying opportunities to expand scope, introduce new solutions, and progress the account up the solution value chain.
• Develop and maintain structured account plans for all active customers, documenting current workloads, stakeholder maps, expansion opportunities, and strategic priorities.
• Proactively identify the right commercial moments to introduce data warehousing and cloud migration conversations — building the case incrementally rather than pitching prematurely.
• Identify product-line customers (AI Agent subscribers from the Growth Account segment) who demonstrate readiness to step up into bespoke development engagements, and progress those conversations.

4. Pipeline Discipline & Commercial Reporting

• Own opportunity pipelines, revenue forecasts, and commercial outcomes for all self-originated and BDR-sourced opportunities, providing regular visibility to the General Manager.
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date CRM records across all active opportunities — stage discipline, next actions, deal notes — ensuring pipeline integrity at all times.
• Deliver structured pipeline updates on a regular cadence, flagging risks and surfacing upside in a timely and commercially coherent manner.

5. AWS Ecosystem & BDR Collaboration

• Leverage the AWS partner ecosystem as one commercial channel — working with AWS account teams on co-sell opportunities while simultaneously building owned pipeline that operates independently.
• Participate in AWS partner activities, events, and co-marketing programmes that generate market visibility and relationship capital within the ecosystem.
• Work in close collaboration with the Business Development Representative — providing targeting guidance, sharpening qualification standards, and ensuring clean, well-contextualised opportunity handoffs.
• Surface structured market and competitive feedback to the General Manager and Manager, Strategic Accounts & Brand Strategy to inform BD strategy and content priorities.

What Success Looks Like

• Revenue quota is met or exceeded, with a balanced pipeline that demonstrates genuine new logo origination — not just AWS co-sell conversion.
• A measurable and growing proportion of closed business originates from independently sourced pipeline, evidencing reduced structural reliance on partner referrals.
• Customers are systematically progressed up the solution value chain — AI Agent entry points expand into data warehousing engagements; data clients develop into cloud migration candidates.
• Assigned accounts deepen over time — expanding workloads, repeat engagements, and increasing commercial value per account.
• Structured account plans exist for all active customers, with documented stakeholder maps, expansion horizons, and solution progression stages.
• The BDR operates with clear direction and consistently delivers well-qualified opportunities — a signal that the Senior Specialist is providing effective commercial mentorship.
• CRM records are accurate, forecasts are reliable, and commercial reporting requires minimal management intervention.

Who We're Looking For

Experience

• 6–8 years of experience in enterprise B2B sales or business development within a technology, cloud, or digital transformation environment.
• Demonstrable track record of self-originated pipeline — not solely managing warm inbound, partner-referred, or inherited account portfolios.
• Proven ability to own and close full-cycle enterprise deals independently, including engagement with C-suite and VP-level stakeholders in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Direct experience with a structured solution-selling or consultative sales methodology — where diagnosis precedes proposal and commercial progression is deliberate.
• Familiarity with cloud, data infrastructure, or AI solutions; direct exposure to AWS products, services, or the AWS partner ecosystem is a strong advantage.
• Prior experience guiding or mentoring a junior BD team member is an advantage.

Skills & Attributes

• A genuine hunter — energised by originating new relationships from cold, resilient through long cycles, and motivated by closing deals that did not exist before they walked in.
• Consultative by discipline — diagnoses before proposing, earns expansion through demonstrated value, and builds the kind of trust that survives a difficult delivery conversation.
• Commercially astute and target-oriented — comfortable being held to a number and capable of making sound prioritisation calls under pipeline pressure.
• Technically literate across Axrail's solution stack — able to hold credible, unsupported conversations on AI automation, data infrastructure, and cloud migration without requiring a technical co-pilot for every client meeting.
• Structured and disciplined in pipeline management — CRM hygiene, accurate forecasting, and regular commercial reporting are non-negotiable habits, not occasional obligations.
• Strong written and verbal communicator — capable of crafting executive-level proposals and briefing technical teams with equal clarity.
• Self-directed, high-ownership, and comfortable operating without close supervision in a commercially demanding environment.