Business Development Director

Base salary $135,000$185,000 depending on experience, plus a performance-related bonus, on a full-time basis

Los Angeles-based (or within easy reach), with remote-first working and regular in-person client relationship building 33 days paid time off and benefits

A senior commercial role working with globallyrecognisable brands across US entertainment, media, streaming, fandom,social and content

A rare opportunity to shape the next stage of Storm Ideas as an AI-native entertainment agency

High-end, fast computer and all the latest software, AItools and productivity tools you will need

Who We Are

At Storm Ideas, we work with some of the biggest names in US entertainment. Since 2008, our international team has helped major entertainment, media and content-led businesses build stronger relationships with audiences through strategy, social, creative production, community, operations,productsand technology.

Our work sits at the intersection of entertainment, fandom, content,technologyand operations. Storm is an entertainment agency for the AI era: combining deep social,contentand audienceexpertisewith practical AI capability. We help clients make excellent work today, while redesigning the teams,workflowsand operations they need as AI reshapes the industry.

Wepractisewhat we sell: we have transformed how Storm itselfoperatesforthe AI era, with agentic tools, shared context and AI-native workflows woven into everyday work. You will be stepping into an environment most agencies are still only talking about and we want someone who finds that thrilling, and whocan'twait to turn it into a business development advantage.

Storm is headquartered in the UK, with an international, remote-first team and a client basecentredon US entertainment. Our growth to date has been relationship-led by our founders and senior team we have never had dedicated sales staff. This role is our first: a senior commercial lead who will turn everything above into a clear,disciplinedand repeatable growth system in the US market.

About the Role

This is a senior business development and commercial leadership role, based in or within easy reach of Los Angeles.

The role is not a generic sales-rep role. We are not looking for someone to run a high-volume SaaS playbook or sell from a fixed menu of services. Storm sells trust, judgement, creativity, operationalcapabilityand transformationexpertise. Our best opportunities arenot one-off projects,butagency-of-record and always-on partnerships for organic social. That kind of work is won on strategy, trust and proof built over time.

You will own the commercial system that helps Storm create, capture and convert opportunities: opening new relationships, accessing new rooms inside large entertainment clients, activating our existing network, qualifying carefully, coordinating senior Storm leaders into the right conversations, shaping pitches and proposals, and keeping the whole pipeline visible, disciplined and moving. A small AI-first marketing team will report to you, producing the research, content,proofand materials the commercial system needs they exist to keep you selling.

If you are looking for a role where the brief is already neat, the proposition is static and the sales process is already mature, this is not it. This role is for someone who can help build the commercial operating system while also doingthe seniorrelationship work.

What You'll Make Happen

Build and lead Storm's commercial growth system for the US entertainment market, with a strong focus on Los Angeles-based studios, streamers, networks, platforms,franchisesand entertainment brands

Create a clear named-account strategy across priority client ecosystems, prospects, former clients, warm-path relationships, partners,intermediariesand referral sources

Open new rooms inside large existing clientorganisationsby mapping stakeholders, departments, title groups, franchises, budgetownersand sponsor paths

Take Storm's AI transformation offer tomarket:qualify where there is practical operational pain, sell the bounded diagnostic entry engagement, and growprogrammesfrom the evidence it produces

Turn Storm's existing senior relationships into a deliberate commercial rhythm, with clear next steps, follow-up, accountmapsand opportunity ownership

Qualify opportunities with strong judgement, including strategic fit, budget, urgency, senior sponsorship, delivery feasibility,marginand cultural fit

Lead or coordinate early-stage diagnostic conversations that uncover client problems, commercial context, operational painpointsandpossible routesinto paid work

Own the CRM and pipeline discipline for commercial growth, making sure opportunities, contacts, rooms, next steps,forecastsand risks are visible and current

Lead and direct our AI-first marketing team: set their commercial priorities, direct their research, content,proofand collateral output, and hold the quality bar

Manage the pitch and proposal flow, including RFPs, credentials conversations, proposal narratives, pitch timelines, internal contributors,follow-upsand post-pitch learning

Work with Storm's senior leadership and specialists to shape compelling proposals, workshops, diagnostics, retainers,pilotsand larger transformationprogrammes

Represent Storm externally as a credible commercial ambassador in LA, including industry events, private meetings, client networking, partnerconversationsand selective roundtables

Build relationships with relevant agency search consultants, procurement contacts, platform partners, AI andmartechpartners, and other routes into entertainment clients

Bring market intelligence back into Storm: what clients are asking for, what clients are changing around AI, where budgets are moving, where buyers are cautious, and where our proposition needs sharper proof

Protect Storm from poor-fit opportunities, unfocused pitches, underpricedworkand sales activity that creates delivery risk

Over time, recommend whatadditionalcommercial, marketing,partnershipsor sales-ops support should be hired around the role

YOUR EXPERTISE

You are likely to have:

Significant business development, growth or commercial experience in an agency, entertainment,mediaor adjacent environment

Existing relationships or credible access within the Los Angeles entertainment, media,marketingor agency ecosystem

Experience leading or contributing to pitches, proposals, RFPs, credentials meetings,SOWsand commercial negotiations

Evidence that you can understand bespoke services like ours strategy, social, content, creativeproductionand AI transformation and a genuine appetite to engage with them deeply

AI already in your day-to-day work, and real curiosity about what it can do for a role like this youdon'tneed to be an expert, but you need to want to learn

Who You Are

Relentlesslyhigh-agency:you'redriven, you see possibility where others see blockers, and you turn uncertainty into momentum

Commercially sharp: you instinctively weigh value, fit and margin, and you care about revenuethat'sactually worthwinning

Perceptive: you read people,roomsand politics quickly, and sense what really matters

Seller-first: selling is the mission everything else you build exists to serve it

Technically minded:you'rejoining an AI-forward company with technical DNA, andyou'reat home in that world

A charismatic and rigorous communicator: you bring presence and warmth to senior rooms, and clarity and thoroughness to everything you share with your own team

WhatIt'sLikeToWork Here

Modern Tech Stack

We use current tools, hardware, AIsystemsand working methods across our teams. You will be expected to use AI and modern commercial tools thoughtfully to improve the quality and pace of your work.

Ideas Welcome, Always

We actively encourage people to bring forward ideas that improve how the company works. This role is expected to shape the commercial system, not simply follow an inherited one.

Fast, Agile, Adaptive

We move quickly, make decisions pragmatically and adapt as tools, clients and opportunities change.

Team-based

This is a senior commercial role, but not a solo act. You will lead a small commercial support team and work with Storm's senior leadership, account management, marketing, creative, AI operations and delivery specialists to create and convert the right opportunities.

Remote-First and International

Storm is a remote-first company with an international team. For this role, we expect Los Angeles presence tomatter:client meetings, events,networkingand market access will be a meaningful part of the job.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Application with your resume a short intro note is welcome but notrequired

Online video questions for shortlisted candidates, focused on your commercial judgement, relationship-led sellingexperienceand interest in Storm's AI-native direction

First interview with Storm's senior leadership to discuss the role, our commercialcontextand your relevant experience

A short practical exercise relevant to the role, followed by an interview with senior leadership including task discussion

Final interview with a member of Storm's senior leadership

Not sure if you tick every box? Apply anyway if the core of this role feels like work you have genuinely done, or work you are ready to own at a senior level. by Jobble