Examples & writing guide
Business development CV example and writing guide
Updated 28 July 2026
A strong business development CV makes the commercial story easy to follow: where you found opportunities, how you developed relationships and what changed as a result. This guide gives you a practical structure, worked personal statements and sharper ways to describe your contribution without overstating it, whether you are moving from account management or sales management.
Examples by experience level
Junior Business Development Executive
TemplateGrey Frame5 / 5
Why this works
This business development CV example pairs a concise personal statement with reverse-chronological experience and measurable evidence of prospecting, relationship building and commercial results.
Continue writing your CVBusiness Development Manager
TemplateAshford1 / 5
Why this works
This business development CV sample shows clear progression from account development to pipeline ownership, with defensible-looking example metrics for revenue, partnerships, forecasting and client retention.
Continue writing your CVSenior Business Development Manager
TemplateTeal Signal2 / 5
Why this works
Shows commercial leadership through defensible examples of revenue growth, partnership development, forecasting and team performance at increasing scale.
Continue writing your CVJunior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | Lead with transferable sales or customer experience, relevant knowledge and a clear direction for moving into business development. | Open with the scale of commercial responsibility, then identify leadership, partnership and growth outcomes supported by defensible figures. |
| Commercial evidence | Use smaller, direct contributions such as qualified leads, booked meetings, campaign responses or improved conversion within an assigned area. | Show ownership of larger targets, complex negotiations, strategic partnerships and sustained results across teams, markets or account portfolios. |
| Relationship management | Demonstrate professional follow-up, customer service and the ability to build trust with prospects or existing customers. | Show how relationships with decision-makers and partners produced renewals, expansion, referrals or other measurable commercial outcomes. |
| Leadership | Include examples of initiative, teamwork and responsibility for a defined task, event or small campaign. | Give evidence of setting direction, leading business development teams, running workshops and improving team performance. |
| Analysis and planning | Show that you can research prospects, organise pipeline information and use standard software confidently. | Demonstrate market or company analysis, sales forecasting, campaign planning and sound commercial decisions, with the resulting impact. |
| Experience section | Give more room to placements, projects and transferable roles when direct business development experience is limited. | Concentrate on recent relevant roles and pair responsibilities with measurable achievements in leadership, partnerships and growth. |
How to write a business development CV
Use a clean, professional format with clear headings and enough white space to scan comfortably. Aim for two pages unless you are at the start of your career and can present your relevant evidence on one. Arrange the main sections in this order: contact details, personal statement, skills, employment history, education and further training, followed by relevant extras. List employment in reverse-chronological order.
| Section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, UK location, mobile, professional email and profile URL |
| Personal statement | Target role, strongest relevant evidence, commercial focus and next step |
| Skills | A short selection matched to the vacancy and supported elsewhere in the CV |
| Experience | Title, employer, dates, responsibilities and measurable results |
| Education | Most recent relevant education and training first |
| Extras | Languages, volunteering or sector knowledge only when useful |
Keep the personal statement concise. It should introduce your business development expertise, a significant achievement and the kind of opportunity you are pursuing. In the experience section, give the most space to recent, relevant roles. Start bullets with direct action verbs and connect your work to a result. Numbers can make the scale clearer, but use only figures that you can explain and defend.
Choose skills that appear in the vacancy and that your experience demonstrates. Put education after experience once your employment record is the stronger selling point; a graduate or career changer may place it earlier. Further training belongs beside education or in its own short section. Extras earn their space when they add evidence, such as another language used with clients or volunteering that involved partnerships.
Personal statement examples
Business development executive with four years' experience building qualified pipelines and converting new accounts for B2B service providers. Secured £410,000 in new annual contract value during 2025, retained 89% of accounts through structured follow-up and regularly presented commercial proposals to senior decision makers. Now seeking a business development manager role with responsibility for larger partnerships and team performance.
Hard-working business development professional looking for a new challenge in a successful company. I am a people person with good communication skills, work well alone or in a team and can help a business grow. I am confident that I would be an asset to any employer.
Writing your experience
Each bullet needs a clear action, enough context to show its scale and an outcome the reader can assess. A useful pattern is: action verb + commercial task or problem + scope + result. For example: "Converted 18 of 64 qualified prospects into annual contracts worth £286,000." That sentence tells the reader what happened, the size of the opportunity and the value created.
Business development work can include prospecting, closing opportunities, negotiating prices, developing customer relationships, analysing markets, forecasting targets, proposing campaigns and presenting reports. Select only the activities that match your actual work. Then show how well you performed them. Revenue, contract value, conversion rate, pipeline size, retention, meeting volume, sales-cycle time and forecast accuracy can all provide useful context when the figures are genuine.
| Weak bullet | Stronger version |
|---|---|
| Responsible for finding new clients | Prospected 120 target accounts and booked 31 qualified meetings in one quarter |
| Helped with customer relationships | Introduced quarterly account reviews for 24 clients, contributing to 91% annual retention |
| Attended networking events | Built 46 relevant contacts across six industry events and converted eight into sales opportunities worth £175,000 |
The improved versions do not simply add numbers. They specify the action and connect it to an observable business result. If revenue was shared across a team, say so: "Contributed to a five-person team that closed £1.2m in new contracts" is more credible than claiming the whole figure personally. If an opportunity has not yet closed, describe the pipeline created rather than treating potential value as booked income.
Useful opening verbs include won, converted, negotiated, secured, prospected, qualified, expanded, retained, presented, forecast, analysed, launched and trained. Vary them because the work varied, not for decoration. Keep each bullet to one or two lines where possible, and place the strongest result first under each role.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
There is no single specified qualification route for becoming a business development manager in the UK. That makes the evidence around your education important: present what you studied, then connect relevant modules, projects or activities to the vacancy without implying that the qualification is universally required.
A business-focused degree, including business studies, finance or marketing, can be particularly relevant. List the degree, institution and completion dates, followed by one or two details only when they strengthen your application. A dissertation involving market analysis, a commercial group project or experience presenting recommendations may be worth mentioning if it is accurate. A degree in another field, such as law, healthcare or education, may support business development opportunities in the corresponding sector. Explain that connection through specific knowledge rather than expecting the degree title to speak for itself.
Many business development managers progress from sales, account management or marketing. If that is your route, give employment results more space than education. Larger organisations may also recruit for these roles through graduate schemes, so an early-career applicant can foreground relevant academic work, placements and customer-facing experience when applying through that route.
No named certification is supported by the available grounding for this role, so avoid adding one merely to make the CV look fuller. Include genuine further training with its exact title, provider and completion date when it relates directly to the vacancy. Keep expired or unrelated courses off the main page unless an application specifically asks for them.
Common mistakes to avoid
AvoidDescribing routine activity without showing the result, such as saying only that you contacted prospects or managed accounts.
InsteadConnect each activity to a defensible outcome. State the market or account scope, what you did and the measurable result, using only figures you can verify.
AvoidLeaving commercial evidence buried beneath long paragraphs of duties.
InsteadUse short achievement statements that begin with action verbs, then make revenue, pipeline, conversion, retention or partnership outcomes easy to find.
AvoidWriting a vague personal statement that could belong to any sales candidate.
InsteadName your business development focus and briefly connect your strongest achievement, expertise and next professional goal to the target role.
AvoidListing jobs in an order that makes recent and relevant experience difficult to locate.
InsteadUse reverse-chronological order, beginning with your current or most recent position, and give the greatest space to relevant, up-to-date roles.
AvoidPresenting an unstructured CV with inconsistent headings, dense language or scattered training details.
InsteadUse a professional, well-organised format with clear language and distinct sections for contact details, personal statement, experience, education, skills and further training.
AvoidUsing the same evidence for a senior application as for an entry-level post.
InsteadFor junior roles, stress transferable selling, communication and customer evidence. For senior roles, prioritise team leadership, partnership development, commercial scale and growth outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Keep it concise enough for the reader to find your commercial evidence quickly. Give most space to recent, relevant roles and cut repeated duties, old detail and unsupported claims.
Use evidence from sales, account management, marketing or customer-facing work. Show transferable results such as qualified opportunities, successful conversations, customer relationships or campaign responses, and label your contribution accurately.
No. A British-style CV does not normally include a photo or date of birth; use the space for contact details and evidence relevant to the role.
There is no single specific qualification requirement for becoming a business development manager in the UK. Present relevant education clearly, but give equal attention to defensible commercial achievements and transferable experience.
Yes. Sales, account management and marketing are common backgrounds for progression into business development management, while customer-facing work can also provide useful evidence. Translate your experience into prospecting, relationship, negotiation and measurable commercial outcomes without overstating your responsibility.
Use numbers you can defend, such as revenue influenced, pipeline created, conversion change, meetings secured, retention or target performance. Add enough context to explain your contribution, and never estimate or invent a figure simply to make a bullet look stronger.
From example to application
Turn this business development example into a CV that sounds like you.
Keep the structure that works. Tailor the details around your experience, strengths, and the role you want.