Business Development Degree Apprentice

FIRST INTUITION EAST AND NORTH LIMITED

Chelmsford (CM1 1TD)

Closes in 14 days (Friday 21 August 2026 at 11:59pm)

Posted on 7 August 2026

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Summary

This newly created role has been designed to strengthen the connection between marketing activity, lead generation and commercial conversion across the business. Sitting within the Business Development team, you will act as a central point of coordination between Marketing, Customer Managers, BD teams & regional stakeholders

Wage

£15,600 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age

National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Training course
Business to business sales professional (integrated degree) (level 6)
Hours
Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm at FI Chelmsford offices. 3 days office-based. 1 day remote working or field activity. 1 day allocated to degree study.

37 hours 30 minutes a week

Start date

Thursday 1 October 2026

Duration

3 years

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Lead management and qualification

  • Provide a timely and professional response to inbound enquiries received through website forms, marketing campaigns and other lead generation activities
  • Assess and qualify inbound opportunities to understand customer requirements, purchasing potential and suitability of First Intuition programmes
  • Route opportunities to the appropriate Customer Manager, Business Development representative or regional team member
  • Ensure all lead interactions are recorded accurately within HubSpot
  • Track lead progress through the sales pipeline and support follow up activity where required
  • Help improve enquiry response times and conversion rates across the business

Business development activity

  • Support national business development initiatives aimed at increasing employer and student engagement.
  • Conduct targeted outbound prospecting activity to organisations that may benefit from First Intuition services
  • Research potential employers, sectors and market opportunities to identify new business prospects
  • Assist with the development of employer outreach campaigns in collaboration with marketing and sales colleagues
  • Support networking, employer engagement and promotional events where required
  • Develop confidence in conducting professional business conversations across telephone, video and face-to-face channels

Dormant opportunity reactivation

  • Identify dormant leads and historic opportunities within HubSpot
  • Create and deliver structured re-engagement campaigns aimed at reigniting conversations with prospective employers and students
  • Work closely with Customer Managers to support conversion of reactivated opportunities
  • Monitor and report on reactivation performance and conversion outcomes

CRM and data management

  • Maintain accurate and timely records within HubSpot
  • Support good CRM discipline across sales and customer management teams
  • Ensure new leads, contacts and opportunities are recorded correctly and consistently
  • Assist with reporting on lead sources, conversion rates and sales activity
  • Support ongoing improvements to CRM processes and lead management workflows

Marketing and commercial alignment

  • Work closely with the marketing team to understand ongoing campaigns and promotional activity
  • Support the effective handover of marketing generated leads into the sales process
  • Provide feedback on lead quality, campaign effectiveness and customer insights
  • Help develop case studies, testimonials and customer success stories that support future sales activity
  • Contribute ideas for improving the customer journey from enquiry through to booking

Administrative and project support

  • Produce accurate reports and updates on lead activity, conversion performance and business development outcomes
  • Maintain records of customer interactions and follow up actions
  • Support commercial projects and initiatives as directed by the Head of Commercial (Essex)
  • Attend team meetings and contribute to continuous improvement discussions
  • Undertake additional administrative duties that support the achievement of commercial objectives

Where you'll work

First Intuition
5th Floor Halford House
Chelmsford
CM1 1TD

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY

Training course

Business to business sales professional (integrated degree) (level 6)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Working with others: Influential, able to conduct stakeholder analysis and develop strong relationships at all levels, internally and externally, to build trust. Interacts professionally and ethically maintaining a positive and flexible attitude. Demonstrates emotional intelligence.
  • Consultative Selling: Works with customers to identify new business and market challenges, utilising insights and good questioning and listening techniques. Identifies strategic & innovative solutions integrating products and excellent service solutions, to meet customer needs.
  • Pitching: Leads a confident, clear and compelling sales pitch in front of a customer, which builds rapport, establishes credibility and delivers commercial benefit. Handles questions, objections and demonstrates the value of the proposal in a clear, quantifiable way.
  • Negotiation and Closing: Applies the principles of negotiation, develops strategies and tactics to a mutually agreeable outcome, ensuring both customer and supplier leave committed to the outcome.
  • Psychology of Sales: Critically reflects on the different psychological needs of customers and other key stakeholders in the buying/selling process. Takes into account strategic and organisational context when adapting their sales approaches, by using the psychological models pertinent to developing positive and ethical buyer and seller relationships.
  • Leveraging Digital Business: Adopts different approaches to social selling & digital technologies which aid the sales process. Develops a digital selling strategy that leverages social selling to support lead generation, nurturing and customer engagement. Develops digital networks and drives insight-led engagements. Measures results and return on investment.

Training schedule

  • On-the-job training and mentoring from marketing and business development team
  • Some on site training at Middlesex university (accommodation will be paid for by employer - approx 5 days a year)
  • Most lessons will be online
  • Time in work for degree assignments

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

  • English (grade 4)
  • Maths (grade 4)

A Level in:

Min 2 A levels or equivalent (grade C or above)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • IT skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • Administrative skills
  • Analytical skills
  • Team working
  • Initiative
  • Commercial awareness

Other requirements

Safeguarding

First Intuition is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of learners and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

As part of this commitment, First Intuition incorporates safer recruitment practices including reference checks, investigation of employment gaps, online screening and enhanced DBS checks where appropriate.

About this employer

First Intuition is a premier provider of professional services training including accountancy training and apprenticeships

http://www.fi.co.uk (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

  • 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays and FI days over the Christmas period.
  • Private healthcare.
  • Company laptop.

Disability Confident

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).

Business Development Executive.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000046963.

Apply now

Closes in 14 days (Friday 21 August 2026 at 11:59pm)