Business Development Officer – Digital Marketing

Job Title: Business Development Officer – Digital Marketing

Reporting To: Program Manager – Digital Freelancing Program

Location: Nairobi

Contract Term: One-Year Renewable Contract

Introduction to Generation

Generation is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing, global demand-driven youth employment programs, providing young adults with the opportunity to launch successful careers and change their life trajectories. We recruit, train and place diverse adults of all ages — whether unemployed or underemployed — into careers that would otherwise be beyond their reach.

We started with a focus on youth, who are keen to launch their careers from non-traditional pathways (e.g. youth with no higher educational qualifications and require support to mitigate challenges due to socioeconomic backgrounds, individuals seeking to enter professions where their profile is traditionally underrepresented), and have now expanded to mid-career workers seeking jobs in demand (e.g. workers who have been displaced potentially due to automation or economic downturn, rejoining caretakers who have been out of the workforce for a significant amount of time).

Our goal is to deliver for job seekers and employers simultaneously: supporting the individual’s personal and financial well-being, while helping businesses acquire entry-level hires who have higher productivity, are of higher quality, are retained longer, and are faster to promotion than peers.

To date, Generation is active in 17 countries: USA, Kenya, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, India, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, UK, France, Italy, Ireland, Thailand, Chile, Colombia and Ghana, with plans of expanding to a few more countries.

Since launching in May 2015, Generation Kenya has trained over 33,429 candidates across 6 different industries. 85% of whom have been placed in meaningful employment with our over 350+ employer partners. We currently train for entry-level roles in 5 programs namely, Digital Marketing, Sewing Machine Operator, Distributed Sales, Retail and Restaurant and Digital Customer Service.

Driven by our vision, “a meaningful career and sustained well-being for every person anywhere in the world,” and mission “we transform education to employment systems to prepare, place and support people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible,” we aim to address the skills gap that hinders growth in the formal sector.

Job purpose:

Generation Kenya is seeking a dynamic and results-driven Business Development Officer (BDO) to lead employer engagement for our Digital Marketing program. The BDO will identify and cultivate relationships with SMEs and MSMEs across Kenya, Pan-Africa and beyond to secure sustainable employment opportunities for both permanent and freelance placement. This role requires a proactive individual to champion this program to the business community.  You will use labour market intelligence to inform your decisions and support individuals from diverse backgrounds to achieve the career of their dreams.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Build Long-term Employer Relationships – 70%

Employer Engagement:

  • Identify, engage, and onboard SMEs/MSMEs to hire Generation’s Digital Marketing graduates.
  • Generate leads and identify employer opportunities through referrals and online platforms.
  • Organize employer roundtables, job fairs, and networking events to drive visibility and build a network of aggregator partners to connect Generation to interested hiring partners.

Targeted Employer Acquisition:

  • Bring in employers to hire digital marketing talent and provide above the living wage.
  • Sell the full array of services offered by Generation Kenya, emphasizing their relevance to the employer’s needs.

Cross-Selling and Collaboration:

  • Recognize and refer to cross-sell opportunities that may spill into other Generation talents fostering comprehensive service adoption.
  • Work with employers to understand their staffing and talent requirements and create an effective solution to onboarding our talent.

Sales Reporting and Strategic Growth:

  • Prepare and submit weekly sales reports for the assigned sector, tracking progress toward sustainability of employment leads.
  • Track employment outcomes and ensure strong feedback loops with employers.

Graduates’ Support:

  • Support graduates in job readiness, including mock interviews and professional brand development.

Coordination with Internal Team – 20%

  • Effectively communicate important updates and relevant employer engagement information to other Generation employees.
  • Collaborate with the Operations team to schedule and manage employer presentations for candidates and coordinate employer interview days.
  • Work closely with the Operations team to ensure a seamless process once job placements have been made, ensuring successful candidates onboarding and integration into their new roles.
  • Share key data and insights from employer interactions with the internal team to inform decision making and refine plans, initiatives and strategies.
  • Collaborate with the Head of Business Development and other GPK teams to analyze trends and identify growth opportunities in line with Generation Kenya’s goals.

Brand and Knowledge Building – 10%

  • Participate in conferences, exhibitions, and other relevant venues to increase and maintain Generation’s visibility. This includes brand building at conferences, learning events, and other channels.
  • Any other responsibilities may be assigned from time to time.

Key Working Relationships

  • Digital Marketing Program Team – Continuously work with the digital marketing program team to provide reports, and insights on available job opportunities, industry trends and key market insights.
  • Kenya & Global Operations Team – support and advise the Program Manager on global and local business development strategy development and implementation. Collaborate with Generation Kenya’s business development team to identify and grow employment opportunities for digital marketing graduates.
  • Generation Programme Kenya Program Team – in liaison with the Program Manager and Operations, regularly engage, advise and support internal teams in Generation Kenya as Digital Marketing business development advisor, on best practice in Digital Marketing training and graduate preparation to meet market and employers’ needs.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge, Qualifications and Experience

Essential

  • Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Information Technology or a related field.
  • 3+ years’ proven sales track record with consistent achievement of targets
  • Strong understanding of Kenyan business, employers and the private sector landscape, with a view on their entry-level hiring trends.
  • Knowledge of the sales process from initiation to close, CRM software, and MS Office (Particularly Excel)
  • Knowledge and understanding of various forms of employment in the digital economy (full time, contract, freelancing, etc)

Skills and Abilities

  • Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and interpersonal skills
  • Thrives in high-energy, fast-paced environments, pushing others to raise the bar
  • Charismatic and persuasive, engaging and influencing employers positively
  • Resilient and persistent, maintaining focus on achieving sales targets despite setbacks
  • Energetic and enthusiastic attitude, inspiring customers and colleagues alike
  • Familiarity with video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Teams etc
  • Proven experience in online training facilitation – preferred.
  • Ability to facilitate positive change and build sustainable working relationships.
  • Ability to meet deadlines and handle diverse tasks simultaneously.
  • Knowledge and ability to manage projects is desirable.
  • Any other professional certification – is desirable.

Other Qualities

Commitment to Reflection and Growth

  • Be self-reflective.
  • Openly receive and give feedback on his / her performance.
  • Apply feedback and pursue additional learning to strengthen his / her performance.

Effective Communication

  • Adapt his/her communication style to reflect and connect with the diverse experiences of participants.
  • Explain complex topics in a non-technical way.

Personal Responsibility

  • Always act professionally, meeting Generation’s expectations and policies, even under pressure.
  • Set and attain goals, even in difficult circumstances.
  • Acknowledge mistakes and learn from them.
  • Work independently with limited oversight and seek assistance when needed.

Other Requirements

Ability to travel frequently within Kenya to the counties.

INTERESTED candidates please submit your applications to genkcareers@generation.org attaching your latest resume and cover letter. The deadline for submissions is 17th June 2025. Kindly indicate in the Email subject: Business Development Officer – Digital Marketing. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

 Equality and diversity: Generation is committed both to promoting equality and diversity within the organization and to equal opportunities in employment. We believe in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are made entirely on merit. Generation does not ask for payment from people that apply for jobs with Generation at any stage of the hiring process. If you have any specific queries, please feel free to contact us at genkcareers@generation.org.

To report instances of fraud or unethical business practices by any of our staff, vendors or mobilisers please reach out on this link for our Ethics hotline and / or the executive leadership team on kenyasmt@generation.org

About Generation

Generation is a global employment nonprofit network that supports people to achieve economic mobility so they can change their lives. We train and place adults into careers that would otherwise be inaccessible and seek to improve how education to employment systems function. Generation launched in 2015 and consists of a global hub and a network of in-country affiliates that span countries. To date, Generation has more than graduates who have earned more than in wages, and works with more than employers, implementation partners, and funders.