What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Global Business Development (INTERNAL) position at South Carolina Department of Commerce?
Job Responsibilities
Welcome to South Carolina. The new headquarters of American innovation.
The South Carolina Department of Commerce (S.C. Commerce) is committed to maintaining the state’s long-term competitiveness while building a modern economy — one that is diverse, supporting businesses at every phase of their lifecycle, while allowing people to live and work where they love.
As one of 22 cabinet agencies, S.C. Commerce is the state’s lead economic development agency. Its mission is to create economic opportunities to increase choices for all South Carolinians, which it does by supporting new and existing businesses and partnerships that fuel emerging industries such as life sciences, headquarters, and advanced energy. To drive the state’s advanced energy potential and global impact, S.C. Commerce helped organize the SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy (SC NEXUS), designated as one of 31 federal Technology and Innovation Hubs in 2023. A national leader in foreign direct investment, South Carolina extends its international reach with representation in Europe and Asia, ensuring the state remains a top, global business destination from launch to legacy.
Job Purpose:
SC Department of Commerce is seeking an experienced and knowledgeable professional to be our Director of Global Business Development. The Director will lead the dynamic team of business development officers domestically and internationally. This focused effort is intended to contribute to the continued successful economic development initiatives in all industry segments that are critical to the State’s economy. This position reports directly to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
Job Responsibilities:
Enterprise Leadership & Strategy
A bachelor’s degree and relevant program management experience.
A valid driver’s license and passport are required.
This position may require up to 25% travel (in-state, domestic and international).
Skills And Competencies
Executive Leadership & Judgment
Prefer 5-10 years of sales and/or economic development experience.
Additional Comments
The South Carolina Department of Commerce offers an exceptional benefit package for full-time and temporary grant positions that include:
Welcome to South Carolina. The new headquarters of American innovation.
The South Carolina Department of Commerce (S.C. Commerce) is committed to maintaining the state’s long-term competitiveness while building a modern economy — one that is diverse, supporting businesses at every phase of their lifecycle, while allowing people to live and work where they love.
As one of 22 cabinet agencies, S.C. Commerce is the state’s lead economic development agency. Its mission is to create economic opportunities to increase choices for all South Carolinians, which it does by supporting new and existing businesses and partnerships that fuel emerging industries such as life sciences, headquarters, and advanced energy. To drive the state’s advanced energy potential and global impact, S.C. Commerce helped organize the SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy (SC NEXUS), designated as one of 31 federal Technology and Innovation Hubs in 2023. A national leader in foreign direct investment, South Carolina extends its international reach with representation in Europe and Asia, ensuring the state remains a top, global business destination from launch to legacy.
Job Purpose:
SC Department of Commerce is seeking an experienced and knowledgeable professional to be our Director of Global Business Development. The Director will lead the dynamic team of business development officers domestically and internationally. This focused effort is intended to contribute to the continued successful economic development initiatives in all industry segments that are critical to the State’s economy. This position reports directly to the Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
Job Responsibilities:
Enterprise Leadership & Strategy
- Oversees the statewide business attraction strategy in alignment with the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, ensuring a coordinated, enterprise-level approach to domestic and international recruitment.
- Works closely with agency leadership to evaluate and reimagine traditional recruitment practices, steering the agency toward modern, agile, and innovation-driven approaches that reflect the future of economic development.
- Leads and oversees the strategic integration of new and emerging industry opportunities, including advanced energy initiatives supported through SC Nexus Tech Hub, Landing Pad Program and associated innovation assets.
- Partners with the Deputy Secretary and Secretary to design and advance proactive strategies that shape South Carolina’s future competitiveness.
- Provides strategic oversight to two Deputy Directors, ensuring clear delegation, alignment, and cohesion across domestic and international recruitment teams.
- Champions the development of the agency’s prioritization model, guiding how targeted sector recruitment efforts are balanced against ongoing inbound opportunities.
- Functions as a thought leader to senior executives, county and regional economic development partners, and statewide stakeholders, translating global trends into actionable strategies.
- Represents the agency through high-level speaking engagements, frequently presenting in place of the Secretary or Deputy Secretary at conferences, missions, industry summits, and regional economic development events.
- Provides executive-level coaching, mentorship, and performance leadership to business development staff, ensuring a culture of accountability, excellence, and continuous growth.
- Ensures clear delegation structures that empower Deputy Directors and Project Managers to execute with confidence while maintaining strategic alignment across teams.
- Oversees staffing structure, capacity planning, and talent development strategies to ensure the agency can meet both current and future global recruitment demands.
- Guides the development of training modules, professional development plans, and technical curricula to strengthen the capabilities of business development professionals.
- Provides strategic oversight and integration of the agency’s international offices, ensuring their activities, targets, and workplans align with South Carolina’s global business development strategy.
- Establishes a structured reporting cadence with the Deputy Secretary for international activity, lead-generation performance, and event return-on-investment.
- Strengthens global outreach through coordinated missions, targeted marketing, and increased collaboration between international representatives and domestic recruitment teams.
- Guides market prioritization efforts to ensure the state’s global presence aligns with high-probability opportunities and emerging sector trends.
- Serves as the division lead and champion for scoping and modernizing the agency’s full life-cycle sales process, ensuring a unified, modernized, and future-ready recruitment approach.
- Supports the strategic direction for the CRM redesign (including structure, workflow, and data architecture) to support enterprise-wide sales enablement and operational excellence.
- Partners with the CIO, Deputy Secretary, and senior leadership to articulate business intelligence needs, strengthen data-driven reporting, and ensure lead-generation and analytics tools support prioritization and proactive opportunity development.
- Oversees the development of standardized operating procedures, onboarding pathways, and best-practice playbooks for business development professionals across the agency.
- Champions data integrity and consistent data management practices across the business development function, ensuring accurate, reliable, and timely information that strengthens statewide reporting and decision-making.
- Partners closely with the Deputy Secretary, CIO, and Director of Marketing & Communications to explore innovative data tools, intelligence platforms, and analytics solutions that enhance market targeting, lead generation, and competitive positioning.
- Supports the development and use of data-informed reporting practices, ensuring performance metrics, insights, and trend analyses meaningfully inform strategy, prioritization, and resource allocation across the division.
- Works closely with the Director of Marketing & Communications to align business development priorities with a statewide marketing strategy.
- Supports the development of an integrated marketing plan that positions South Carolina as a top-tier destination for global investment.
- Serves as a champion for the continued execution of the “Launch to Legacy” brand strategy through targeted outreach, messaging, and stakeholder engagement.
- Represents the agency at high-level industry conferences, missions, and executive engagements, elevating South Carolina’s profile among decision-makers and influencers.
- Strengthens relationships with regional alliances, local economic development teams, industry associations, site consultants, and strategic partners to expand the state’s competitiveness footprint.
- Oversees statewide relationship strategies with site consultants, brokers, advisors, and corporate executives to foster long-term engagement and pipeline development.
- Ensures consistent, high-level communication and collaboration with regional and county economic development partners, aligning local priorities with state strategy.
- Identifies new partnership pathways — industry, higher education, technical colleges, innovation districts, energy ecosystem partners — that can expand South Carolina’s value proposition to companies.
- Functions as an executive partner to the PMO, championing enterprise governance, data integrity, and consistent adoption of agencywide project standards.
- Partners with the PMO to ensure all major business development initiatives follow established intake, feasibility, and governance processes.
- Provides timely, accurate, and strategic inputs to PMO project reporting to support agencywide visibility, decision-making, and resource allocation.
- Collaborates with the PMO Director to assess project readiness, cross-division dependencies, and organizational impacts before advancing new initiatives.
- Ensures GBD sponsored project teams are aligned with enterprise timelines, reporting standards, and risk-management practices.
A bachelor’s degree and relevant program management experience.
A valid driver’s license and passport are required.
This position may require up to 25% travel (in-state, domestic and international).
Skills And Competencies
Executive Leadership & Judgment
- Functions as an integral part of the executive leadership team, advancing and reinforcing the strategic direction and long-term vision established by agency leadership.
- Exhibits executive presence, emotional steadiness, and maturity in high-pressure or ambiguous situations.
- Demonstrates sound judgment and the ability to make decisions with clarity and balance.
- Operates effectively in fast-moving and evolving environments, providing stability and direction.
- Maintains professionalism, discretion, and confidentiality when navigating sensitive matters.
- Demonstrates an enterprise mindset with the ability to align and coordinate across multiple divisions.
- Strong political and relational savvy when partnering with stakeholders at all levels, internally and externally.
- Ability to synthesize data, market intelligence, and insights to inform strategic decisions.
- Proactive communication skills, especially upward to executive leadership, ensuring clarity, updates, and structured recommendations.
- Proven ability to delegate effectively and elevate work through others rather than defaulting to hands-on ownership.
- Strong coaching, mentorship, and talent development skills to cultivate high-performing teams.
- Ability to build trust and empower Deputy Directors, Project Managers, and staff.
- Competency in cross-cultural engagement and experience collaborating with international partners.
- Demonstrated ability to build long-term, trust-based relationships with site selectors, alliances, industry leaders, and global partners.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, including public speaking.
- Ability to partner closely with Marketing & Communications to align messaging and outreach strategies.
- Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to juggle multiple streams of work under tight deadlines.
- Ability to adapt to change on short notice.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and CRM platforms (preferred).
Prefer 5-10 years of sales and/or economic development experience.
Additional Comments
The South Carolina Department of Commerce offers an exceptional benefit package for full-time and temporary grant positions that include:
- Health, Dental, Vision, Long Term Disability, and Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse and Children.
- 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year.
- 15 days of sick leave per year.
- 13 paid holidays.
- State Retirement Pension and 401K Plans
- Deferred Compensation Programs
- Paid Parental Leave