Business Development Lead - Restoration Scaleup
About The Company
The company is headquartered in London and is the leading tropical forest restoration scaleup in Africa. It is restoring some of the richest tropical forests on Earth, starting with the Upper Guinean Forest in West Africa - one of the most biodiverse yet critically threatened ecosystems globally.
Since its founding in 2022, it has:
- Restored thousands of hectares of degraded formerly-forested land
- Employed over 2,500 people across three countries
- Secured partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and institutional investors
The company is fully integrated, running its own operations on the ground rather than outsourcing, ensuring data integrity, operational control, and long-term restoration at scale.
Its founding team brings a rare blend of top-tier finance experience, large-scale frontier-market execution, and world-class climate and nature expertise, creating a highly commercial organisation delivering real restoration outcomes at scale.
The Opportunity
This is a pivotal commercial role at a high-growth climate venture. As the Business Development Lead, you will secure carbon-removal offtake agreements from some of the biggest companies in the world. You will work at the intersection of corporate climate strategy, project finance, and large-scale ecosystem restoration. You will report directly to their Head of Partnerships and work closely with the founders.
What You’ll Work On — and What You’ll Build
1. Lead strategic corporate relationships
- Source, build and manage relationships with senior stakeholders across major international corporates
- Guide partners from first conversation through to signed long-term offtake agreements
- Manage long-term client relationships (including reporting) with leading Fortune 500 corporates
- What you’ll build: A trusted presence in a high-influence, tight-knit climate-buyer market
2. Drive end-to-end commercial execution
- Own the full sales cycle including: outreach, pitching, technical and ESG diligence, NDAs, contract negotiation, and closing.
- Prepare polished, board-quality materials for senior decision-makers.
- What you’ll build: deep expertise in complex, multi-stakeholder B2B dealmaking.
3. Translate reforestation science into compelling commercial value
- Help corporates understand our science, biodiversity outcomes, social impact, and delivery risk. Support negotiations on pricing and risk allocation.
- Travel with clients to West Africa for field visits and due diligence.
- What you’ll build: strong technical grounding in carbon markets, reforestation economics, and frontier-market realities.
4. Shape the commercial and market strategy
- Feed insights into pricing, positioning, and go-to-market strategy, and open new buyer geographies.
- What you’ll build: the skillset of a builder influencing how a high-impact climate venture scales globally.
Ultimately, your work will help channel capital into restoring forests, regenerating ecosystems, and transforming livelihoods across West Africa.
Requirements
Must have:
- Min 5 years total work experience
- Management consulting or investment banking experience: providing strong analytical grounding, excellent slide-building and executive presentation skills, and experience with senior client communication
- Experience in complex business development, partnerships, or multi-stakeholder commercial roles
- Strong communication skills and comfort engaging senior corporate audiences
- Proven ability to thrive in a lean, entrepreneurial, fast-moving environment
Nice to have:
- Experience in climate, carbon markets, renewables, sustainability, or commodities
- Exposure to emerging markets is strongly valued
- Comfort with periodic travel across West Africa
Personal qualities:
- Low-ego, collaborative, and mission-driven
- Highly autonomous and proactive
- Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid scaling
Benefits
- Competitive salary plus benefits and equity (stock options)
- A central role in a high-calibre, low-churn team
- Ownership of strategic relationships with leading global climate buyers
Know someone suitable for the role? Please email georgina@kupaglobal.com to learn about our referral fee for this role.