Business Development Manager

Permanent, Full-time

Global

The Role

The Business Development Manager will be responsible for identifying, developing and converting new commercial opportunities across Africa and the Middle East for the Uniphar Emerging Markets team. The role will focus on government contracts and tenders, aid and development opportunities, and selected private-sector channels where Uniphar can support reliable access to pharmaceuticals, medical products and healthcare supply solutions. 
Working closely with the various internal functions, the role will combine market mapping, stakeholder engagement, tender pipeline development, proposal coordination and account growth and management. The successful candidate will build trusted relationships with government bodies, ministries of health, central medical stores, UN agencies, NGOs, distributors and private-sector partners, while translating market insight into practical growth plans and revenue opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify, qualify and pursue business development opportunities across Africa and the Middle East, with a strong focus on government contracts, tenders, aid and development programmes, and private-sector opportunities.
• Build and manage a visible pipeline of target accounts, tenders and strategic opportunities, ensuring priorities are aligned with revenue objectives and regional growth plans.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key external stakeholders.
• Conduct market research and competitor analysis to identify customer needs, funding priorities, tender cycles, regulatory considerations and emerging opportunities in the region.
• Lead or support tender and proposal activity, coordinating inputs from internal stakeholders to deliver timely, compliant and commercially competitive submissions.
• Negotiate commercial terms and support contract management processes, ensuring agreements reflect customer requirements, operational capability and business objectives.
• Work closely with internal teams including procurement, operations, quality affairs, finance and senior management to ensure reliable service delivery and strong customer experience.
• Travel internationally to meet existing and prospective clients, attend relevant industry events, assess market opportunities and strengthen in-country relationships.
• Provide regular reporting on market developments, pipeline progress, risks, opportunities and customer feedback to support decision-making and strategic planning.
• Represent Uniphar Global Sourcing professionally in all customer and partner interactions, promoting a solutions-led approach and long-term relationship building.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum of 6 years relevant experience in sales, business development, key account management or tender-driven commercial roles, ideally within pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, healthcare procurement, aid and development, or related sectors.
• Demonstrable experience developing opportunities in international or emerging markets; experience in Africa and/or the Middle East is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of government procurement, tenders, donor-funded programmes, NGO/UN procurement channels or complex institutional sales processes.
• Excellent relationship-building and stakeholder-management skills, with the confidence to engage with senior decision-makers, technical stakeholders, procurement teams and commercial partners.
• Strong commercial acumen, including the ability to evaluate opportunities, shape proposals, negotiate terms and contribute to revenue growth.
• Analytical and strategic mindset, with the ability to interpret market data, identify trends and translate insight into clear action plans.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including proposal writing, presentation, negotiation and cross-cultural communication.
• Highly organised, resilient and adaptable, with the ability to manage multiple opportunities, deadlines and stakeholders across different markets and time zones.

Uniphar – Who we are

With a workforce of more than 3000 employees spread across Ireland, United Kingdom, Mainland Europe, MENA, and the USA, Uniphar is a trusted global partner to pharma and MedTech manufacturers, working to improve patient access to medicines around the world. Uniphar provides outsourced and specialised services to its clients, leveraging strong relationships with 200+ of the world’s best-known pharmaco-medical manufacturers across multiple geographies, enabled by our cutting-edge digital technology and our highly expert teams.  Uniphar is organised into three key divisions: Supply Chain & Retail, Medtech and Pharma.

Pharma – Global Sourcing

Under the Pharma division sits Uniphar - Global Sourcing, a specialist medical supply business that sources and distributes pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and consumable supplies to healthcare professionals in over 160 countries worldwide. The business’s main activities encompass everything from Trading to Clinical Trials Supply, Unlicensed Medicines, Generics & Consumables and the storage and distribution of medical products and devices for third parties.

One of the fastest-growing business units within Global Sourcing is the Emerging Markets team. The team, spread across our offices in Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, USA, Australia and a partner office in India, focuses on the supply of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment & consumables to Africa, LATAM, MEA and APAC. Its main partners and customers are government entities, NGOs, UN bodies and Private distributors in these regions. End-to-end order fulfilment is managed through one of Uniphar’s (partner) logistics and warehousing centers in the UK, USA, The Netherlands, Kenya and India.