Junior Business Development Representative (BDR)
A junior Business Development specialist (junior BDM) finds and qualifies new partners and clients for fintech products, handles first contacts, and passes suitable leads to senior colleagues.
What a Junior Business Development Representative does
Junior Business Development is an entry-level business development role focused on finding and qualifying new partners and clients for fintech and payment products. In a heavily regulated market, where banks and providers screen counterparties carefully, this role makes sure the pipeline is filled with suitable companies rather than random inquiries.
In most companies, a junior BDM sits in the business development or commercial department and reports to a BD manager (Head of BD or Sales Team Lead). Senior colleagues handle complex negotiations and contract signing, while the junior takes on outbound outreach, first calls, preparing materials, and CRM maintenance. They also receive some inbound leads that need to be reviewed quickly.
Responsibilities
- Searching for potential partners and clients within defined segments and geographies: merchants, payment providers, affiliate networks, issuers, and agents.
- Outbound outreach within approved scripts and sequences: emails, messenger messages, and calls.
- Initial lead qualification: business model, transaction volume, geography, current providers, and readiness for KYC and AML checks.
- Booking meetings and calls for senior colleagues and preparing a short brief for each meeting.
- Maintaining the sales pipeline and up-to-date CRM data: stages, statuses, reasons for rejection, and next steps.
- Preparing presentations and answers to standard requests together with the product team and lawyers.
- Collecting market feedback: objections, competitor moves, client requirements, and passing insights to product and marketing.
- Taking part in industry events, webinars, and partner sessions: preparing contact lists and making first introductions.
- Following internal rules on personal data handling and compliance requirements when communicating with counterparties.
Skills
- Communication by phone and in writing in Russian and English.
- Quickly understanding the product and the client's business model.
- Basic payments knowledge: acquiring, payouts, chargebacks, KYC, and AML.
- Handling objections and structuring conversations step by step.
- CRM discipline and accuracy in data and notes.
- Self-organization with a high number of daily touchpoints.
- Knowing when a question should be escalated to a senior colleague.
- Flexibility: the ability to switch between different client segments.
Tools
- CRM: Bitrix24, amoCRM, HubSpot, Salesforce.
- Contact search and enrichment tools: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo.
- Email sequencing and mailing services: Lemlist, Woodpecker.
- Phone systems with call recording.
- Google Sheets and Excel for lists and basic analytics.
- Notion or Confluence for the knowledge base and scripts.
How performance is measured
- Number of outbound touchpoints over the period.
- Number of qualified leads according to the agreed qualification criteria.
- Number of meetings booked for senior colleagues and the share of meetings that actually took place.
- Completeness and accuracy of CRM data.
- Conversion rate from qualified lead to meeting.
- Speed of first response to an inbound lead.
By vertical
FinTech
In fintech, a junior BDM works with providers, acquirers, issuers, and e-wallets. The first conversation almost always touches on licenses, KYC, AML, and risk restrictions, so it is important to clarify these during qualification and not waste senior colleagues' time on clearly unsuitable projects.
Levels
Junior / Entry
Junior: first experience in sales or business development. Works according to scripts and a contact plan, does not make decisions on terms, discounts, or signing, and gets everything approved by the manager. Responsible for the quality of first contacts, data completeness, and timely lead handover.
How to get there
People usually enter the profession from SDR or telemarketing, customer support, administrative or assistant roles with communication tasks, or marketing and analytics. Clear communication, punctuality, the ability to work in a CRM, and willingness to talk to strangers a lot matter most. Fintech experience is not required, but it is valued.
To get started, it helps to understand the basics: how acquiring works, what a PSP and an acquirer are, why KYC and AML exist, and what chargebacks and reserves are. It is worth learning to write short first emails, run a conversation by script, and record results in the CRM. Reading public materials from industry companies and understanding how they differ from each other is also useful.
Growth usually comes through greater independence: from following scripts to owning your own segments and running negotiations with a senior colleague involved. Strong KPI results, accurate data, and a good understanding of the product help move into a BDM or Account Manager position.
Next steps: Business Development Manager (BDM), Partnership Manager, Account Manager, Sales Manager
FAQ
What is a junior Business Development role and how is it different from a sales manager?
A junior BDM looks for new counterparties and qualifies them rather than closing large deals. Their job is to fill the pipeline with quality meetings for senior colleagues. A sales manager usually runs the deal from first contact through to signing.
Do you need fintech experience to become a junior BDM?
Experience is usually not mandatory, but a basic understanding of payments and KYC and AML requirements speeds up the start considerably. You can come from related fields if you have communication experience and CRM skills. Industry knowledge is usually built up on the job.
What determines a junior BDM's income?
Income usually consists of a fixed salary and a bonus tied to performance targets, for example the number of qualified meetings. The final amount depends on the company, region, segment, and pipeline volume. Exact figures are best confirmed in a specific job posting.
What payments knowledge is needed at the start?
You need to understand the basic terms: acquiring, PSP, acquirer, merchant, chargeback, KYC, and AML. That is enough to hold a first conversation and understand what matters to the client. Integration and compliance details are usually explained by senior colleagues and the product team.
Is it hard to work with cold contacts in high-risk verticals?
The difficulty is that many companies are cautious and respond slowly or decline because of regulatory restrictions. Precise targeting and understanding who to offer what helps. It is important not to pressure the client and to record reasons for rejection so that contact lists can be improved.
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