Business Development Manager – UK Market (Transport & Customs)
C4 Logistics, Coventry (CV4) Hybrid or office-based | £42,000–£55,000 base + uncapped commission | Realistic OTE £65,000–£90,000 year one, no cap
About the role
C4 Logistics is one of Europe's leading time-critical and expedited transport providers, with an in-house customs brokerage handling declarations across UK and EU trade. We're expanding our UK sales team and hiring a Business Development Manager to win new UK customers for both our transport and customs services.
This is a pure hunter role, and we want to be honest about what that means. Your job is to bring in new business. Most of the pipeline you build will be your own. We can share some leads and give you a defined Ideal Customer Profile, sector focus, and target account list to work from, but we're not handing you a warm-lead-fed desk. If you need a steady stream of inbound to hit target, this role won't suit you. If you thrive on building pipeline from scratch and closing accounts you've hunted yourself, keep reading.
Once you've won an account, you hand it cleanly to our customer success team and get back to what you do best: finding, qualifying, and closing the next one.
Let's also be honest about the sale itself. Every prospect you call already has a freight or customs provider. Most sales people accept "we're happy with our current supplier" and move on. That's not this job. Your job is to build the relationship, understand what they actually do, spot where their current provider is quietly letting them down, and be the person they call when the wheels come off, because eventually, they always do.
This is a mature, technical, consultative sale. It rewards trust, persistance, and strategy. If that sounds like your kind of work, apply.
What you'll do
- Own the UK new-business pipeline end-to-end: prospecting, qualification, discovery, capability, negotiation, close
- Build your own pipeline in the sectors we target, the majority of your leads will come from your own hunting, prospecting, and networking
- Work the smaller number of leads we do provide, alongside your self-sourced pipeline
- Have credible, technical conversations with supply chain managers, freight managers, and operations directors about their current setup, pain points, and where we can genuinely add value
- Play the long game on incumbent-held accounts: stay in touch, add value, be the obvious choice when the current provider slips
- Close new accounts and hand them cleanly to customer success and operations
- Maintain a clean, honest pipeline in our CRM, pipeline hygiene is non-negotiable
What we're looking for
- You must understand transport and/or customs. This is non-negotiable. You've either sold freight forwarding, road transport, air freight, express/expedited, or customs brokerage services before, or you've worked operationally in one of these areas and moved into sales.
- 5+ years' B2B sales experience, with a real track record of winning new business against incumbents from a self-built pipeline
- You're a genuine hunter. You enjoy the outbound work, the discipline of pipeline-building from a cold start.
- You're comfortable building a pipeline from scratch. You know how to research a market, identify prospects, get past gatekeepers, and generate meetings without waiting for marketing to hand you a lead list
- You work autonomously. You'll have a CRM, an Ideal Customer Profile, a defined sector focus, and some leads to get you started. Everything else is yours to figure out. If you need daily direction to stay productive, this role won't suit you
- You know how to switch-sell. You've moved incumbent business before and can talk credibly about how you do it
- Strategic and organised - you know which prospects deserve which level of investment
- Confident and articulate on phone, video, and in person - the majority of the sale is online, but you'll visit customers when the opportunity warrants it
Hours
Monday–Friday, 08:00–17:00. No shift rotation, no weekends.
What we offer
- £42,000–£55,000 base, depending on experience
- Uncapped commission on new business. Realistic first-year OTE £65,000–£90,000, with top performers earning significantly more
- Travel expenses covered for customer visits when the opportunity warrants it
- 30 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays, with the option to buy additional days
- Company pension
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Free eye tests
- On-site parking at our Coventry office
- A defined route to Senior BDM or Head of UK Sales as you build your book
Where you'll work
Hybrid or full-time in our Coventry office. Customer visits welcome and encouraged where the opportunity warrants it with travel expenses paid.
Pay: £42,000.00-£55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- On-site parking
- Work from home
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Coventry CV4 8AW: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:
- B2B sales: 5 years (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Coventry CV4 8AW
