Business Development Manager

Department: Sales

Team: 4YFN Sales

Location:  Barcelona

Position type: Contract until April 2027

What the hiring manager says

“Talent Arena is an initiative of Mobile World Capital Barcelona and takes place as a three day event during MWC Barcelona, the world’s largest and most influential connectivity  event of the GSMA.

Talent Arena puts digital professionals to the test by giving them an arena where they can showcase their talent, build networks and compete for success.

We are looking for a motivated, enthusiastic and autonomous Business Development Manager to join the Sales team in Barcelona during a very dynamic growth period for the event. The role will primarily focus on selling sponsorship opportunities to corporates  interested in attracting the best digital talent to their enterprises.

This role offers an opportunity for the individual to work within a larger organisation and experienced sales team, leveraging the GSMA and Mobile World Capital Barcelona assets, brands and member base whilst also being part of a smaller team allowing flexibility and autonomy. You will have the opportunity to work with some of the biggest global brands who are already existing clients and build on the reputation of the GSMA to identify and secure new ones.”

Richard Ferraro, 4YFN Sales Director

About the Team

The international event sales team based in Barcelona has grown to include five highly skilled sales professionals and manages a portfolio of over 200 event clients from around the world, from AWS to SAP, as well as smaller sized companies looking to participate in a global trade show for the first time.

About the Role

You are required to have prior experience in sponsorship or corporate sales and have a demonstrable passion to learn about global event sales.

You will be responsible for:

• Acquiring new business leads and account management of international clients, focussed on large corporate clients, both local (Spain-based) and global

• Assist in onboarding new clients to ensure they obtain the maximum value from their event participation

• Identifying opportunities to cross-sell and upsell sponsorship to new clients and the existing customer base

• Generating new business sales from both outbound leads as well as inbound or marketing-generated sales leads (with an approximate 30/70 split)

• Providing weekly updates to the sales pipeline, tracking of metrics underpinning the sales funnel and sharing customer feedback on product performance/quality

• Providing reports on demand in response to new business opportunities

• Troubleshooting any client issue in a proactive manner liaising with marketing, operations, customer service and finance where necessary

To achieve success in the role, the candidate will hit the agreed sales target for the event within the annual event delivery deadline.

About You

You’re someone who is passionate about growing the business and exceeding expectations.

You must want to understand and fully engage with your market, have a passion for sales and the global event ecosystem and be able to collaborate with all departments to generate deals for Talent Arena in a consultative approach.

We are looking for a great communicator with commercial insight, effective time management and attention to deadlines.

You should be fluent in English, Spanish and Catalan languages. Experience of working with a lead generation process and CRM systems is a plus.

We are expecting someone to be on top of all tasks with a high quality of service to achieve all targets from different stakeholders.

About your skills:

• Commercial Awareness: Strong track record of building and converting a strong sales pipeline, from prospecting through to close, ideally within an event sponsorship environment

• Influence: Ability to engage and develop relationships with senior stakeholders, particularly with marketing, employer branding and developer advocate teams within large technology companies – aligning their business objectives with sponsorship opportunities

• Teamwork: Collaborative team player, comfortable working with internal teams and external partners

• Agility: Highly organised and ability to work to deadlines in a fast‑paced, event‑driven environment

• Highly desirable: Experience working on events aimed at a developer audience and experience working with existing relationships with employer branding and developer marketing stakeholders within technology companies

We strive to offer a meaningful and inclusive application experience for all candidates. Should you require any accommodations or adjustments due to a disability or for any other reason during the hiring process, please contact talent@gsma.com with your request.  

Contract type

Short term Contractor

Worker type

Contingent Worker

What We Offer

Working at the GSMA offers you unparalleled access to the mobile industry. We offer a chance to truly shape the direction of mobile, whatever your role. By joining the GSMA, you will be exposed to a fast-paced rapidly evolving environment, working on global solutions, genuinely fascinating and industry-changing projects and a stimulating and dynamic environment designed to enable you to flourish.

In addition to architect-designed offices and competitive compensation, our benefits include fantastic learning & development opportunities, generous holiday allowances, four additional days off for professional development and many others.

To learn more about the GSMA, visit our career site, our LinkedIn page and our Twitter page.

Being You at the GSMA

We care deeply about diversity, equity and inclusivity and aspire to be the best at it. Your well-being and work/life balance is important, so flexi-time and remote working is available to all staff. We're keen to ensure everyone is equal, represented and connected so we particularly encourage applications from all demographics. The sucess of the GSMA year on year will continue to be contributed by people from all walks of life.

GSMA Values

Our values not only drive our culture – they shape how we work and interact inside and outside our global organisation.

Passionately driven

We approach everything we do with unparalleled capability, tenacity and commitment, knowing that the challenging scale, pace and complexity of our work is what leads to its world-changing impact.

Insightful leaders

We continually develop and engage our expertise, insight and creativity so that we’re always ready to respond to the changing landscape with authority, agility and nuance.

Stronger together

We lean on each other so the industry can lean on us, embracing our diversity by actively seeking out perspectives and skill sets beyond our own, fuelling each other’s successes and constantly asking how we can help.

Underpinning our values is our collective mindset to show up purposefully as good human beings every day, in every situation. When we’re at our best – we are collaborative, considerate and compassionate to others, and we create a safe space for one another to thrive, assuming positive intent in our colleagues. And if we aren’t at our best and the pressure is on – we feel free to be ourselves but still remain curious, lean into the tough stuff and we are always respectful to others and accountable for the part we play.