Director, Business Development, ASD

About Emerald

Emerald’s talented and experienced teams grow our customers’ businesses 365 days a year with products that create connections, deliver content, and drive commerce. We produce over 140 annual events, create and deliver content through print and digital channels, and power commerce through our seamlessly integrated in-person and digital platforms and channels. For more information, please visit http://www.emeraldx.com.

Emerald is seeking a driven and strategic Business Development Director to lead outbound sales initiatives for ASD Market Week, one of the largest and most comprehensive B2B trade shows in the U.S. This role is focused on traveling to external industry events and trade shows to prospect new clients and uncover emerging verticals to build the sales pipeline and expand the ASD exhibitor base.

This is a high-impact, field-driven, “hunter” role ideal for someone who thrives on in-person networking, business discovery, and creating growth through fresh, untapped markets. The ideal candidate has deep curiosity about product and market trends, strong relationship-building skills, and a passion for outbound sales.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the outbound face of ASD Market Week, representing the show at key industry trade shows and networking events throughout the year.
• Build new business pipeline through prospecting, cold calling, cold emailing, and networking to identify potential customers and set up meetings for account executives (AEs). 
• Identify and qualify new product categories and verticals with potential alignment to ASD's multi-category retail and wholesale audience.
• Proactively research, vet, and build a high-quality pipeline of prospective exhibitors discovered through trade shows, competitive analysis, industry events and through organic research using LinkedIn and social media channels (ie. Facebook, Instagram, etc.).
• Craft and deliver tailored pitches to potential exhibitors, showcasing how ASD can uniquely serve their growth goals.
• Partner closely with the internal Account Executive team to transition and support the closing of qualified leads.
• Analyze market trends, competitor events, and retail shifts to help shape ASD’s vertical expansion strategy.
• Maintain accurate activity and lead tracking in Salesforce and other internal CRM tools.
• Provide real-time feedback to sales and marketing leadership about emerging categories and opportunities.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of business development, outbound sales, or partnership experience—ideally within the trade show, B2B events, or wholesale/retail industry.
• Proven success in prospecting and sourcing new business opportunities from the ground up.
• Strong communication and persuasion selling skills; able to quickly build rapport in face-to-face settings.
• Comfortable traveling frequently and independently representing ASD.
• Self-motivated, highly organized, and results-oriented.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRM systems.
• Experience attending or exhibiting at trade shows is a strong plus.
• Creative and resourceful approach to identifying new categories and leads.

Preferred But Not Required:

• Experience with sponsorship or media sales
• Knowledge of the wholesale, sourcing, or general merchandise landscape
• Ability to travel up to 50%

About Emerald

At Emerald, we strive to foster a diverse and inclusive community. We actively recruit and champion candidates who bring new perspectives from varied professional backgrounds and experiences, and we are intentional about ensuring a positive hiring experience for everyone. Our job postings don’t contain experience inflation, and most don’t require college degrees. Instead, they’re crafted to focus on outcomes and transferable experiences that are assessed in a structured interview process carried out by trained hiring teams. 

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Target Compensation: $85,000-95,000 (sales incentive eligible)

Please note that this range reflects a reasonable estimate of the target compensation for this position. This range may ultimately vary based on a candidate’s qualifications and may be higher where required by applicable law. 

We offer a competitive benefits package designed to strengthen our employees’ physical and mental health, including unlimited vacation for exempt employees, flexible working locations, 401(k) plan with a company match, medical/dental/vision coverage with inclusive provisions including transgender services and fertility benefits, parental and caregiver leave, dependent, commuter and FSA benefits, professional development programs like Toastmasters, and mental wellness tools.

If you need accommodation in our application process or have questions about our posted salary range, please email our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].