Director of Business Development, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the globally recognized data research platform trusted by more than 500 institutions in over 35 countries, providing centralized, high-speed access to massive datasets across finance, accounting, and economics. The Director of Business Development (Director E) leads the overarching market growth, client retention framework, and operational excellence of this platform, directly influencing global revenue and partnership ecosystem across leading universities, corporations, and quantitative investment firms. The role oversees Customer Experience, Revenue Management, and Marketing and Sales teams, managing relationships with approximately 60 data vendors, expanding into new global markets, coordinating complex agreements across multiple exchanges, and repositioning the WRDS Marketplace to drive revenue growth.

Responsibilities

• Global Market Expansion & Strategic Deals (30%): Lead the end-to-end global sales lifecycle to expand WRDS adoption within international universities and commercial sectors (e.g., hedge funds, asset managers); negotiate complex enterprise contracts and present high-level technical value propositions to university deans, corporate executives, and CIOs. Utilize deep understanding of the academic ecosystem to help determine product positioning and pricing; work with other WRDS teams to identify opportunities for expansion and net-new features and products.
• Commercial Operations & Cross-Functional Strategy (15%): Lead alignment across the Customer Experience (CX), Marketing and Sales, and Revenue Management functions to ensure cohesive strategy and execution across the client lifecycle. Provide strategic oversight and direction for international teams supporting WRDS across Europe and Asia-Pacific, aligning their relationships and engagement within local markets with WRDS’ broader commercial priorities. Integrate brand positioning, client onboarding, regional market engagement, and client usage insights to support retention and global subscription renewals.
• Leadership & People Management (10%): Leads and supports 6 direct reports, including international sales teams, through coaching, regular feedback, goal-setting, and day-to-day guidance. Invests in their growth, helps remove obstacles, and fosters a positive, inclusive, and high-performing environment. Holds individuals accountable to expectations and standards while ensuring fairness, clarity, and follow-through.
• Financial Operations & Revenue Protection (20%): Oversee the end-to-end revenue management process. Monitor institutional account aging reports and strategically intervene to clear complex procurement, legal, or administrative bottlenecks.
• Data Vendor Partnerships & Ecosystem Alignment (15%): Cultivate strategic relationships and negotiate joint-licensing frameworks with leading global data providers (e.g., S&P Global, Morningstar/CRSP, and LSEG). Develop institution-wide licensing opportunities that position WRDS as a research data provider for scholars across academic disciplines while protecting and expanding the WRDS data ecosystem.
• Salesforce Platform Ownership & Analytics (10%): Serve as the strategic business owner for an established, stable Salesforce CRM environment, ensuring high data integrity, pipeline visibility, and predictable revenue forecasting for senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree required (preferably in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, or a related quantitative field). MBA, advanced degree, or comparable experience preferred.
• Leadership & Commercial Experience: Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible leadership experience, including oversight of multidisciplinary teams or multiple functional areas, direct people management, organizational planning, and accountability for team and operational performance. Demonstrated experience leading business development, commercial strategy, or comparable market-facing initiatives is required.
• Strongly Preferred Experience: A proven record of expanding into new markets, cultivating strategic partnerships, and managing complex institutional or enterprise relationships.
• Industry Background: Strongly preferred background in financial data marketing or sales, with a deep, sophisticated understanding of the higher education ecosystem, university licensing frameworks, and academic administration.
• Technology & Systems Experience: Experience serving as the business owner of an enterprise CRM, preferably Salesforce, to support data integrity, pipeline visibility, client management, and revenue forecasting. Working knowledge of subscription-based business models, data-as-a-service (DaaS) frameworks, and cloud-based data delivery is strongly preferred.

Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits; flexible spending accounts for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
• Tuition: Exceptional tuition benefits for employee, spouse, and dependent children at Penn; dependent children also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
• Retirement: Generous retirement plans (Basic, Matching, and Supplemental) with pre-tax or Roth options; wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.
• Time Away from Work: Substantial paid time off for vacation, personal affairs, illness, family care, and recovery.
• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, coverage for employee and eligible family members for home, community, or nursing facility care; no proof of good health required for newly hired employees.
• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Wide variety of programs and resources to support health, family, and work-life balance.
• Professional and Personal Development: Array of resources for personal and professional advancement.
• University Resources: Access to libraries, athletic facilities, arboretum, art galleries, museums (Penn Museum, Annenberg Center, Penn Relays at Franklin Field), and cultural/recreational activities, many free or discounted for employees and families.

Pay

Annual salary range: $132,275.00 – $233,000.00. Offers are based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job’s level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Location & Travel

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Wharton School). Travel up to 20% (domestic and international) to represent WRDS at major academic conferences, vendor symposiums, and high-value client renewals.