Business Development Director

At Strategic Wealth Designers (SWD), we are a full-service financial firm specializing in assisting individuals who are near or in retirement. We pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and close-knit environment, and we are looking for a new team member who can complement our team’s values and culture.

We’re seeking an experienced, patient, organized, and efficient individual who is excited to contribute to the success of our business. The right person will exceed expectations and develop strong, lasting working relationships with our growing team. If you bring a positive attitude to work each day and are motivated by personal and professional growth, we would love to hear from you.

Job Description:

Strategic Wealth Designers is looking for a strategic operator with strong business instincts, a love for building processes, and a bias for execution. As the Business Development Director, you won’t be selling, you’ll be building: scalable revenue-generating, non-traditional product verticals, better infrastructure, and stronger cross-functional alignment across the firm.

You’ll take ownership of multiple non-traditional product verticals (think Medicare, P&C, Small Business Lending, insurance, etc.), dissect what's working, fix what’s not, and roll out processes that help those channels grow faster and more predictably. This is a non-sales leadership role that blends operational rigor, strategic thinking, and people leadership.

This is not a maintenance role. While some of these verticals are already established, they are currently being under-optimized. We are looking for a builder who can take ownership of fragmented or underdeveloped sales funnels, design repeatable systems, enhance accountability and drive measurable revenue growth from our existing client base and national client database.

This is a core leadership position within the organization. You'll partner with marketing, compliance, advisors, and executive leadership to build effective, scalable, sustainable systems that turn great ideas into revenue-producing business units.

What You'll Actually Do:

Own & Optimize Revenue Verticals

-Lead and scale multiple non-traditional product verticals, including:

• Property & Casualty
• Medicare
• Financial Planning
• Insurance
• Securities-Based Lending (SBL)
• Cash Management
• Referral Partner Channels

-Identify what's holding each vertical back, whether it’s operational inefficiencies, capacity issues, unclear roles, and implement sustainable improvements as well as develop new ideas to drive even further success.

-Build and execute growth strategies with clear KPIs, accountability, and team alignment.

Build Processes That Scale

-Design, implement and refine scalable funnels that drive consistent and predictable revenue.

-Create infrastructure for repeatable execution with reporting, SOPs, workflows, and delegation systems that allow for increased conversion rates, efficiency and client lifetime value.

-Define clear roles, expectations, and systems for vertical leads and support staff that ensure success.

-Roll out performance dashboards to drive transparency and alignment and facilitate continued development.

-Build infrastructure where it does not exist, including workflows, staffing models, vendor relationships, compensation structures and reporting.

Drive Strategic Partnerships

-Identify and negotiate new partner or referral opportunities.

-Strengthen and scale existing relationships through systems that track, reward, and replicate high-value referrals while also identifying opportunities to enhance or strengthen those systems.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally

-Partner with Marketing to create cohesive strategies for each non-traditional product and ensure their alignment with execution (messaging, campaigns, events, lead-gen).

-Work closely with Advisors and Operations to ensure frictionless handoffs, smooth client onboarding, and high close rates while integrating offerings into the broader client experience.

-Partner with Compliance to maintain licensing standards and regulatory requirements.

Lead & Develop People

-Provide hands-on leadership for each non-traditional business unit and support with everything from strategic planning to tactical coaching.

-Create a culture of accountability, communication, and performance excellence.

-Serve as a connective tissue between business units and executive leadership.

What Success Looks Like:

• Meaningful growth in non-traditional product revenue across multiple verticals
• Clearly documented, repeatable sales systems that do not rely on individual heroics
• Improved monetization of the firm’s existing client base and database
• Teams operating with clear expectations, accountability and measurable outcomes
• Confidence from executive leadership that these verticals are durable, scalable and well-managed

Who You Are:

• You’ve scaled business units before, either from the inside or as a consultant.
• You’re process-minded but not rigid. You value structure, but know when to improvise or when to try something new.
• You’re a problem-solver who builds, tests, refines, and repeats all while constantly looking for new ways to improve processes and systems.
• You can lead people, but you’re not above rolling up your sleeves to fix a broken handoff or clarify a messy metric.
• You’re fluent in the language of growth, metrics, systems, marketing strategy, and execution and settling is never an option.

This person is:

• A builder who thrives in ambiguity and enjoys creating structure
• Highly self-motivated and comfortable operating with autonomy
• Strategic in thinking but execution-oriented in action
• Commercially minded with a strong understanding of sales funnels, incentives and performance metrics
• Comfortable influencing without formal authority
• Direct, accountable and solution-oriented

This person is not:

• Someone who needs fully built systems handed to them
• A pure individual contributor focused only on personal production
• A passive manager waiting for direction
• Uncomfortable with accountability or performance expectations

Requirements:

• 5 years of experience in business development, sales operations, or non-traditional product ownership (preferably in financial services, insurance, or advisory firms)
• Experience launching or optimizing non-traditional product lines (Medicare, P&C, SBL, insurance, etc.)
• Proven success in building scalable processes across multi-disciplinary teams
• Strong understanding of client acquisition, cross-sell strategies, and revenue operations
• Excellent communicator, written, verbal, and interpersonal
• Skilled at influencing across departments (e.g., marketing, compliance, operations)
• Excited about building the future of financial services from the inside

What This Role Is Not:

This is not a quota-carrying sales role. You’ll lead revenue through others, not by direct selling. Your impact comes from building engines, not pitching products.

Why This Role Matters:

This is a rare opportunity to own and scale multiple business units inside a growing, innovative RIA. You’ll operate at the intersection of strategy, systems, and execution and your work will directly influence the future trajectory of the firm. You won’t just maintain, you’ll build, optimize, and lead.

Position Details:

• Compensation: Starting salary range is $150,000 to $190,000, plus a generous benefits package and bonus dependent upon firm profitability and growth in revenue generated from ancillary services. Total compensation expectation is $300,000/year.

Want to Experience the Fun?

Check out our over-the-top experiences at SWDGroup.com/Careers. From company trips to incredible opportunities, we’re confident that we’re unlike any company you’ve ever worked for before!