Business Development & Partnerships Manager

Pure Padel | Manchester-based | Full-time

Salary: £35,000-£38,000 basic + up to 20% performance bonus

On-Target Earnings: £42,500–£45,600

Reports to: Head of Commercial Partnerships

About Pure Padel

Pure Padel is one of the UK's growing padel club operators, bringing the world's fastest-growing racket sport to communities, businesses and players across the country.

With an expanding network of venues and ambitious plans for further growth, we're building a commercial division focused on delivering exceptional corporate experiences, developing valuable brand partnerships and creating lasting relationships with businesses.

We're looking for a proactive, commercially minded Business Development & Partnerships Manager to help us take that next step.

This is an opportunity to play a significant role in shaping how Pure Padel wins new business, develops its commercial relationships and grows its revenue across the UK.

The Role

We're looking for someone who loves finding opportunities, building relationships and turning conversations into commercial results.

You'll take ownership of outbound business development across our growing club network, identifying prospective clients, opening conversations, delivering proposals and closing deals.

Your initial focus will be on corporate events, sponsorships and recurring business relationships, with opportunities to develop additional revenue streams as the company expands.

This isn't a role where you'll simply manage incoming enquiries. We want someone who takes the initiative, identifies where the opportunities are and actively creates new business.

You'll work closely with our Head of Commercial Partnerships, Club Managers and marketing team, with the freedom to bring fresh ideas and help develop a successful, repeatable sales operation.

Key Responsibilities

New Business Development

• Proactively identify and approach businesses that could benefit from Pure Padel's events, sponsorships and corporate offerings.

• Build targeted prospect lists across our existing and upcoming club locations.

• Research decision-makers, including HR professionals, Marketing Directors, business owners and senior management teams.

• Generate new opportunities through email, telephone outreach, LinkedIn, networking and face-to-face meetings.

• Arrange and lead discovery meetings to understand prospective clients' requirements.

• Prepare tailored proposals, negotiate commercial terms within agreed guidelines and close new business.

• Manage your opportunities from initial outreach through to confirmed sale.

Corporate Events & Recurring Business

• Generate new bookings for corporate away days, team-building events, client entertainment and private hire.

• Identify opportunities to convert one-off events into regular corporate bookings.

• Introduce businesses to corporate memberships, employee wellbeing packages and recurring court hire.

• Develop relationships with previous clients to secure additional bookings and referrals.

• Work with Club Managers to identify commercial opportunities based on available court capacity and local demand.

Sponsorships & Partnerships

• Identify prospective local and regional sponsors for Pure Padel clubs.

• Present sponsorship opportunities, including court branding, advertising, corporate hospitality and activation packages.

• Develop relationships with brands looking to engage active and business-focused audiences.

• Assist with sourcing strategic commercial partnerships and cross-promotional opportunities.

• Build a forward-looking sponsorship pipeline with clear values, decision-makers and expected closing dates.

Pipeline Management & Reporting

• Build and maintain an accurate, qualified sales pipeline.

• Use prospecting and CRM tools such as Apollo and iVvy to research opportunities, manage follow-ups and track progress.

• Keep accurate records of prospect interactions, deal values, next actions and expected closing dates.

• Take ownership of weekly prospecting targets, meetings, proposals and revenue results.

• Attend weekly pipeline and coaching meetings with the Head of Commercial Partnerships.

• Share customer feedback, competitor insight and new commercial opportunities with the wider business.

Commercial Development

• Support the launch of new Pure Padel locations by researching and approaching local businesses ahead of opening.

• Identify opportunities to develop new products and packages based on customer demand.

• Work with marketing to support targeted campaigns and lead generation.

• Recommend improvements to sales processes, customer communication and commercial systems.

• Help create a scalable business development approach that can be replicated across the Pure Padel network.

About You

We're looking for someone who is confident, motivated, organised and comfortable creating opportunities rather than waiting for them.

Essential skills and experience

• Experience in business development, B2B sales, account acquisition or a similar commercial role.

• A proven ability to identify prospects, build relationships and close sales.

• Confidence communicating with decision-makers by telephone, email and in person.

• Strong written communication skills and the ability to produce persuasive, professional sales messages.

• Excellent organisation, follow-up discipline and attention to detail.

• Confidence managing multiple opportunities across different stages of a sales pipeline.

• A proactive, self-starting attitude with the resilience to handle rejection.

• Commercial awareness and an understanding of how to balance sales opportunities with business profitability.

• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with colleagues.

Desirable experience

• Sales experience within events, hospitality, leisure, sport, venues or sponsorship.

• Existing business relationships across the UK

• Experience using CRM systems, lead-generation platforms or sales automation tools.

• Familiarity with Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, iVvy, HubSpot, Make or Zapier.

• Experience developing repeat corporate business or longer-term commercial agreements.

• An interest in Padel, sport, fitness or the leisure industry.

• Experience supporting new venue launches or building sales processes from scratch.

You don't need to be a Padel expert. We're more interested in your attitude, commercial instincts and ability to build relationships.

Salary, Commission & Benefits

• Basic salary: £35,000-£38,000 per annum (Based on Experience).

• Commission: Proposed 20% of based salary based on Quarterly Targets.

• Indicative OTE: £40,000–£45,000 per annum.

• Annual leave: 28 days including bank holidays.

• Discounted Padel in line with company policy.

• Opportunities to visit and work across our growing national club network.

• Direct exposure to commercial leadership and the opportunity to contribute ideas that shape the future of Pure Padel.

• Career development opportunities as the commercial department and club network expand.

Why Join Pure Padel?

We're at an exciting stage of our development, with new venues, new commercial opportunities and ambitious growth plans.

This is a chance to do more than simply work through an existing sales database.

You'll have the opportunity to help build a commercial function, develop relationships with some fantastic businesses