Business Development - Lead Generation

Company Backgroundzenda is a financial technology partner to schools, colleges, and nurseries, building products exclusively for the education sector. We help institutions improve collection efficiency, digitise all payments, and offer flexibility to parents and guardians.

Launched in 2021, zenda is present in 40% of all UAE K-12 schools and 500+ schools across markets, serving 150,000+ parents across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and on track to process USD 1B+ in transactions annually.

We partner with leading global networks, and are actively expanding across Southeast Asia and Europe.zenda is backed by leading VCs including the $1.5bn Saudi Technology Venture and Global Founders Capital, and is seamlessly integrated with 70+ local, regional, and global SIS and ERP systems.

The Role

We are looking for a sharp, hungry business development professional to own the top of our global sales funnel. You will find, open, and qualify new opportunities across our markets, and hand the sales team pipeline that is well-researched, well-qualified, and ready to convert.

This role is based in Dubai, UAE. The work is roughly 70% digital, with outreach by email, LinkedIn, and phone powered by modern prospecting and AI tools, and 30% in the field, meeting school/university decision-makers face to face where relationships are won.

You will be reaching heads, bursars, finance directors, operations heads and admissions leads in a sector where reputation and word-of-mouth travel fast, so every interaction counts.

We are a small, flat team. You will work directly alongside the people building and closing the business, and what you do here will directly shape zenda's growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Run structured, multi-touch outreach across global markets, including email, LinkedIn, cold calling, and events, leveraging AI and modern sales tools to research, personalise, and convert faster.
• Get into the field for the visits that count: opening key accounts, navigating gatekeepers to real decision-makers, and building relationships by email can't.
• Qualify rigorously (budget, decision-making structure, timeline) and hand off to sales with full context, stakeholder mapping, and clear next steps.
• Build and maintain a clean, forecastable pipeline in Freshsales CRM, and keep sharpening messaging based on what's working.
• Represent zenda at conferences, in the inbox, and in the room: you're the market's first impression of the brand.

Requirements

• 3–5 years in B2B business/sales development or lead generation, with a proven track record of pipeline generation.
• Be ready to talk numbers.
• Strong digital skills: hands-on with outreach sequencing, CRM platforms, and AI prospecting tools, backed by experience running structured multi-touch campaigns.
• Strong written English, and comfort/credibility in front of senior, institutional buyers, with willingness to travel for school/university visits (~30%).
• Experience across multiple geographies or time zones, and a background in education, fintech, or SaaS, are pluses.zenda is building a diverse team, and we especially welcome applications from women.
• What Makes Someone Successful Here
• A hustler: high energy, self-starting, comfortable hearing no and going again.
• Digitally sharp and resourceful: fluent with modern sales/AI tools, and you find a way in when there's no obvious path.A relationship builder: people warm up to you, remember you, and refer you on.
• Structured and analytical: you build systems, track your own conversion rates, and know the difference between activity and pipeline.A strong, self-directed writer: your emails get responses, and you set and hold yourself to your own targets.

What We Offer

Ownership of a critical function at a fast-growing global edtech fintech, with direct access to the founding team and input into go-to-market strategy.

Competitive compensation with performance-based incentives, plus employee stock options (ESOPs): a genuine stake in what you help build.

Room to grow into a broader commercial role as the business scales.