Business Development Representative - Data & AI

What to expect when you join Sikich

Team members at Sikich have a lot in common while also being part of a rich and diverse group of contributors, creating a distinct and thriving culture. Chief among our commonalities is a desire for growth and a shared unity of purpose in our professional lives. We believe that through diverse perspectives, challenging the status quo and rewarding action, we accelerate innovation and drive growth – for our clients, for ourselves and for our communities.

The professional services landscape continues to evolve. For Sikich, this means we have an opportunity to further cement our leadership position in this industry and continue to grow our organization in increasingly exciting ways. This growth is meaningful for every team member at our company because larger companies simply see more interesting client opportunities and can attract impressively talented individuals like you. Through a dedicated focus on key business priorities and intentionally creating a rewarding employee experience, Sikich has developed into a highly regarded provider of professional services and a sought-after employer of choice.

Do you want to work with other skilled practitioners and serve clients in a way that makes a difference? Are you seeking a supportive environment backed by a deep and extensive set of skillsets? Are you ready to make an impact and be acknowledged for your contributions? If you answered yes to these questions, we see a mutually beneficial and gratifying relationship on the horizon!

Are you ready to grow with us?

Position Summary

The Business Development Representative (BDR) is responsible for driving the growth of pipeline value for Sikich DAi by managing outreach to carefully targeted organizations and individuals, qualifying prospects, and supporting the Data and AI team as they execute account-based marketing (ABM) strategies and sales cycles. The BDR blends research, outreach, campaign execution, and technology-enabled process innovation to ensure our messaging reaches the right people and generates measurable business opportunities. A core focus is accelerating the movement of prospects through the early stages of the sales funnel, while also nurturing existing relationships to uncover new opportunities.  We are looking for someone who is committed to closely partnering with our marketing team to drive sales performance

What will you do in this role?

• Pipeline Growth & Early-Stage Velocity 

• Identify, qualify, and nurture high-potential accounts to grow the overall value of the sales pipeline. 

• Accelerate the movement of prospects through early funnel stages, from initial engagement to first meeting. 

• Monitor and report on pipeline value and prospect progression as key performance indicators. 

• Target List Management & Research 

• Build and maintain a pipeline with a minimum number of target companies and related individuals, as defined by team goals. 

• Categorize targets based on the potential business value to Sikich, prioritizing high-value opportunities. 

• Collaborate with services and sales teams to apply clear criteria for adding organizations to the target list. 

• Ensure every target account is linked to the DAi service catalog, strengthening the relevance of messaging at both the organizational and individual level. 

• Conduct thorough research to confirm targets meet sales qualification standards, including monitoring industry news, financial performance, and organizational changes. 

• Keep target lists accurate and current in Microsoft CRM. 

• Funnel Monitoring & Responsive Outreach 

• Continuously monitor prospect activity, including financial performance, job changes, strategy shifts, and public announcements. 

• Respond quickly to major changes at any prospect with targeted, timely outreach. 

• Use automation and modern technology (such as Copilot, GPT, and other AI tools) to support research and monitoring. 

• Sales Qualification & Messaging 

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of Sikich DAi’s go-to-market strategy and service catalog to ensure messaging is relevant and reaches the right individuals. 

• Collaborate with marketing to measure and improve campaign effectiveness. 

• Ensure all communications are tailored, authentic, and do not sound AI-generated. 

• CRM & Data Management 

• Manage contact records and target lists in Microsoft CRM, ensuring data is current and accurate. 

• Track engagement data from marketing systems (e.g., Marketo), LinkedIn, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. 

• Outreach & Opportunity Identification 

• Proactively conduct outreach via phone, email, LinkedIn, and other tools to identify opportunities aligned with DAi’s services. 

• Take initial phone calls and organize first meetings with qualified prospects, serving as the first point of contact in the sales process. 

• Be prepared to hold conversations with C-suite executives, focusing on the value of meeting with Sikich DAi and securing an appointment. 

• Strive to get target individuals interested and excited about engaging with Sikich DAi. 

• Account-Based Marketing & Nurture 

• Execute ABM activities to build and maintain an active sales funnel at required quantity levels. 

• Engage in high-level nurture activity, including re-engaging prospects who have previously interacted but failed to reengage. 

• Nurture existing customer organizations to uncover additional opportunities for engagement. 

• Demonstrate creativity in outreach, composing targeted messaging to understand and address reasons for lack of engagement and reactivate relationships. 

• Relationship Building 

• Establish and maintain strong, long-term partnerships with clients, ensuring they remain active recipients of outreach and are represented in the pipeline over time. 

• Marketing Collaboration & Multi-Channel Engagement 

• Work closely with marketing to leverage social media, podcasts, and other digital channels as part of a comprehensive strategy to reach and nurture prospects. 

• Professional Communication 

• Compose friendly, professional, and recipient-relevant communications for outreach and follow-up. 

• Demonstrate excellent email communication skills, as much of the outreach will be performed electronically. 

• Use of AI Sales & Marketing Tools 

• Familiarity with modern AI-powered sales and marketing tools that enhance productivity and personalization, including: 

• Prospect Intelligence & Research: Experience with AI-driven platforms like Clearbit, 6sense, ZoomInfo, or Apollo.io for enriching prospect data and identifying buying signals 

• AI-Powered Email & Outreach: Familiarity with tools like Instantly, Outreach.io, or similar for managing multi-channel sequences and automating follow-up workflows 

• Conversation Intelligence: Experience with platforms like Gong or similar that use AI to analyze prospect interactions and surface insights for improved messaging 

• AI Content & Copywriting: Proficiency with Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or similar for drafting, refining, and personalizing outreach messaging at scale 

• Predictive Analytics & Intent Data: Understanding of how to leverage AI-generated signals (job changes, funding announcements, technology adoptions) to identify and prioritize high-value opportunities 

• CRM Automation & AI: Experience building automated workflows within Microsoft CRM using AI capabilities to streamline pipeline management and follow-up 

Personal Attributes & Technology Skills 

We are looking for someone who demonstrates: 

• Excellent Communication: Clear, professional, and recipient-focused in writing and speech, especially over email and electronic channels. 

• Teamwork: Collaborates effectively across sales, marketing, and delivery teams. 

• Attention to Detail: Maintains accuracy in research, CRM management, and campaign tracking. 

• Organizational Skills: Efficiently manages multiple lists, campaigns, and outreach activities. 

• Tech-Savvy & Automation-Oriented: Uses modern technology—including Copilot, GPT, and other AI tools—to streamline and automate business development processes. 

• Process Innovation: Automates repetitive tasks and improves workflows, making business development scalable and efficient. 

• Creativity: Develops engaging outreach strategies, especially for reactivating prospects and building lasting relationships. 

Performance Expectations 

• Drive growth in pipeline value and increase velocity, with a primary focus on early-stage movement. 

• Consistently secure first appointments or meetings with target individuals at prospect accounts; this is a primary KPI for the role. 

• Meet targets for funnel management and retention. 

• Maintain discipline in CRM management and campaign measurement. 

• Deliver measurable results in lead qualification, outreach, and meeting scheduling. 

• Show initiative and creativity in nurturing and reactivating prospects, including existing customers. 

• Respond quickly to major changes at prospects, leveraging data for timely outreach. 

• Ensure clear linkage between target accounts and service catalog offerings. 

What do you need to succeed in this role?

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent years of experience.
• 3+ years of experience in a consulting environment.
• Experience managing targeted lists and conducting research for sales qualification.
• Proficiency with Microsoft CRM, Marketo, LinkedIn, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
• Strong collaboration skills with marketing teams.
• Excellent communication skills for professional outreach, especially written communication that feels authentic and personal.
• Ability to organize and conduct initial prospect meetings and calls, including conversations with C-suite executives.
• Understanding of account-based marketing and pipeline management.
• Ability to leverage and automate processes using modern technology and AI tools.
• Experience with social media and podcast marketing is a plus.

In addition, specific skills/experience required are as follows:

• Servant Leader – You are hyper focused on engaging employees, fostering their development, and building a positive culture.
• Solutions Focused – You see opportunities in every business problem and can develop, articulate, and implement solutions.
• Collaboration – You are a relationship builder across all levels of the organization and across all business units.
• Instills Trust - You do what you say, and you follow through on commitments, you act with integrity, you are consistent and are perceived as credible.
• Impact & Influence Thinking – You gain support for ideas, proposals, and solutions, and get others to act, with or without formal authority, to advance initiatives/objectives.

 About Sikich

Sikich is a global company specializing in Accounting, Advisory, and Technical professional services. With employees across the globe, Sikich ranks as one of the largest professional services companies in the United States. Our comprehensive skillsets, obtained over decades of experience as entrepreneurs, business owners and industry innovators, allow us to provide insights and transformative strategies to help strengthen every dimension of our clients’ businesses.

Sikich Total Rewards

Our team members enjoy expansive benefits ranging from competitive compensation and insurance options to wellness programs and a flexible time off policy, to name only a few. Sikich also takes pride in prioritizing team members’ health, total wellbeing and time spent with family, friends and in the pursuit of personal goals, hobbies, and endeavors.

In compliance with this state’s pay transparency laws, the midpoint of the base salary range for this role is $75,400. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience, commission, and geographic location. 

Some examples of our many benefits:

• Sikich maintains a Flexible Time Off (FTO) Policy. We encourage every full-time employee, as your role permits, to utilize paid time off (personal time, mental/physical health care, vacation, sick leave, etc.). Waiting for time off to accrue is common at other companies. At Sikich, you do not have to wait for this benefit to kick in. FTO is activated on your first day with our organization.
• Sikich will also recognize paid holidays during the year and strives to permit employees to have time off the last week of the calendar year when client and project work permits. 
• Sikich offers a comprehensive wellness program to engage, challenge and empower team members to take responsibility for their wellbeing. Activities can be tracked through our wellness provider to obtain gift cards and other rewards.

We also offer:

• Flexible work arrangements
• Health, dental, vision, life, and accident/death/disability insurance options
• HSA employer contribution
• Nine (9) paid holidays annually.
• A robust paid Parental Bonding Leave program covering birth, adoption, and foster      children.
• 401(k) with employer contributions
• CPA bonus with four (4) paid exam days & four (4) paid study days.
• Tuition reimbursement
• Generous employee referral bonus program
• Client referral bonus program
• Pet insurance
• FORCE – Sikich community volunteer program enabling each team member to use up to four hours of paid time annually to volunteer and make a difference in their local communities.

Want to learn more? Visit our Careers website or Glassdoor profile.

Sikich is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V

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Sikich currently practices in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Professional Code of Conduct and applicable law, regulations, and professional standards. Sikich CPA LLC is a licensed CPA firm that provides audit and attest services to its clients. Sikich LLC has a contractual arrangement with Sikich CPA LLC under which Sikich LLC provides Sikich CPA LLC with professional and support personnel and other services to support Sikich CPA LLC’s performance of its professional services, and Sikich CPA LLC shares certain client information with Sikich LLC with respect to the provision of such services.