Business Development Manager, UK

Responsibilities

Develop Unicorn Hospitality Group’s presence across the UK and Ireland by identifying hotel and serviced-apartment operators, owners, and brands, building relationships, and securing new business. Manage opportunities from initial meetings through proposals and signature, maintain a clear CRM pipeline, and work with the Founder and UK General Manager to advance deals.

Requirements

Applicants should have two to five years of UK business development, sales, or partnerships experience in hospitality-related sectors and a demonstrable industry network. They should understand hotel operations and financial measures, communicate credibly with operators, manage their own pipeline and research, have excellent English, and be eligible to work in the UK.

Skills

• Business Development
• Sales
• Partnerships
• Hospitality Industry Knowledge
• Hotel Operations
• Relationship Building
• Negotiation
• Proposal Development
• Pipeline Management
• CRM
• Market Research
• AI Tools
• Financial Literacy
• P&L Analysis
• Labour Ratio Analysis
• Written and Spoken English

Benefits

• Success Bonus
• 28 Days of Holiday Plus Bank Holidays
• Discounted Stays Across Europe
• MacBook
• Phone

About this role

London · Full-time · Start February 2027 ·
Who we are
We are hotel people. We believe a stay is made in the details nobody writes about: the room that is ready when the guest arrives early, the host who remembers the name, the bed made the same way in London and in Berlin. That is what our clients buy from us, and it is why they stay.
Unicorn Hospitality Group runs the operations behind some of Europe's fastest-growing hotel and serviced-apartment brands: the people in the building and everything it takes to run it, delivered by our own people, on our clients' systems and the tools we build on top of them. Ten cities in five countries, close to 350 colleagues. In the UK we run houses in London and Brighton for operators you know. We have been quiet here for too long. That changes with you.
The role
You put Unicorn on the map in the UK and Ireland. Not through a campaign; through people. You get to know the operators, owners and brands who run aparthotels, lifestyle hotels and serviced apartments, and the people inside them who decide how operations are bought. You get us the first meeting, you make it count, and you carry it through to signature, bringing in the right people from Unicorn when it helps.
What you sell is trust. An operator who hands us their building is handing us their guests and their name on the door. They do that for people they believe. So you show up, you tell the truth about what we can and cannot do, and you keep your word.
London is where you start. Scotland is next. After that, wherever in the UK and Ireland there is an operator who is opening, growing, or ready to run their houses a different way.
This is a doing role, not a managing one. You are the first person in it; there is no playbook yet, and you write it with the Founder. You report to the Founder and work alongside our General Manager UK, who runs the houses and the clients we already have.
What you will do
Build the map: every operator, owner and brand in the UK and Ireland worth working with, who decides, what they are opening and when
Get the first meeting, run it well, and bring in the Founder or the General Manager UK when the conversation needs them
Prepare proposals with the Founder and the Controller, inside the pricing framework we set, and keep every open conversation moving until it is signed or closed
Hear about the new building before it is announced: brokers, developers, PMS vendors, the people who see pipelines early
Show up where the UK segment meets, with Unicorn's name, and build a LinkedIn presence that makes the right people curious
Keep a pipeline the Founder can read in five minutes, and say what you need to move it
What you bring
Two to five years in business development, sales or partnerships in hospitality, serviced apartments, hotel services or hospitality real estate in the UK, and a network you can name
You know London. You are curious about Scotland and the regions and happy on a train to Edinburgh
People trust you quickly, and they are right to. You say what you mean, you do what you said, and you would rather lose a deal than win it on a promise we cannot keep
You have been close enough to hotel operations to talk credibly with an operations director, and you would rather see a housekeeping floor than a slide about one
You read a P&L and a labour ratio, and you can explain to an operator what it actually costs to run their building well, and why that is a better conversation than the price per room
You run your pipeline in a CRM, your research with AI, and your proposals from data, without being asked to. If a tool makes you faster, you are already using it
You love hotels. The lobby at seven in the morning, a freshly made room, the host who gets it right
You run your own week; nobody will book your meetings
Excellent English, written and spoken
Right to work in the UK
What we offer
Direct line: you report to the Founder and learn how Unicorn sells from the person who built it
Base salary: GBP 50,000 to 60,000 gross per year, depending on track record
Success bonus: a meaningful bonus for every new house or client you help bring in
Place: London, with travel across the UK and Ireland and regular time with the team in Berlin
Time off: 28 days of holiday plus bank holidays
Staying: discounted stays in the houses we operate, across Europe
Kit: MacBook and phone
Start: February 2024
How to apply
Apply below with your CV and a few lines in your own words: the doors you have opened, the deals you helped close, and the hotel you still think about. Name one person in UK hospitality who will take our call about you.
Lars Lindø, Founder and Chairman

About Unicorn Hospitality Group

Hospitality · 201-500 employees · headquartered in Berlin · founded 2019