Business Development Representative
About Us:
Vortexa was founded to close the information gap in global energy and freight markets. Using proprietary data, advanced analytics, and deep industry expertise, we deliver trusted market intelligence that helps customers make better commercial decisions.
With offices across London, New York, Houston, Singapore, Geneva, and the UAE, Vortexa is building the definitive platform for energy and freight analytics — backed by leading investors and trusted by the world’s most sophisticated market participants.
The Role:
We are hiring a Business Development Representative (BDR) based in Houston, TX to help drive growth across North American financial institutions, energy and oil & gas related companies. This role will focus on identifying, engaging, and qualifying new opportunities with organizations that rely on waterborne energy, fleet, and freight data and analysis (e.g., trading desks, research teams, risk, logistics and chartering, shipowners, and commodity funds).
The BDR will work closely with a team of Sales Representatives, helping them build healthy pipelines by generating and qualifying leads, booking high-quality meetings, and uncovering new segments and use cases in the region.
Key responsibilities:
- Pipeline generation & qualification
- Research and identify target accounts across financial services, oil & gas, shipping, and related sectors in North America.
- Run outbound campaigns (email, phone, LinkedIn, events) to engage key personas such as traders, analysts, portfolio managers, risk managers, and commercial/logistics leads.
- Qualify inbound and outbound leads against clear criteria (fit, need, timing, budget, decision process) and route them appropriately.
- Support for the regional sales team
- Partner with Sales Representatives to build and maintain strong opportunity pipelines in their territories and segments.
- Schedule and prepare high‑quality discovery calls and demos, ensuring the sales team has relevant context and account insights.
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date records in the CRM, including activities, contact details, and opportunity status.
- Market and account research
- Map complex organizations, while identifying key stakeholders and decision makers across trading, analytics, risk, and operations.
- Stay on top of market trends in waterborne energy, freight, and tanker markets, and use this knowledge to tailor outreach and conversations.
- Track competitor presence and alternative solutions within accounts to position our value clearly.
- Messaging and outreach execution
- Craft targeted outreach sequences that speak to specific workflows (e.g., crude and refined product trading, LNG/LPG, freight and chartering, macro and commodities funds).
- Test and refine messaging based on response rates and feedback; share best practices with the wider go-to-market team.
- Represent the company at industry events and conferences in Houston and across North America, supporting on‑site meetings and lead capture.
- Collaboration and feedback loop
- Work closely with Marketing to align with on campaigns, target lists, and follow-up processes.
- Provide structured feedback to Sales, Product, and Marketing on prospect reactions, use cases, and objections.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of playbooks, talk tracks, and qualification frameworks for the North American market.
Requirements
Required:
- Experience in a business development, sales development, or inside sales role in B2B, ideally within energy, commodities, financial markets, or data/analytics.
- Strong familiarity with oil & gas, shipping, or energy trading markets, or financial institutions that trade or invest in energy and freight (e.g., commodity funds, banks, hedge funds, physical traders).
- Demonstrated success in outbound prospecting and pipeline generation: comfortable with high-volume, high‑volume, high‑quality outreach via email, phone, and LinkedIn.
- Ability to quickly understand and explain data and analytics products, with an interest in how waterborne energy, fleet, and freight data are used in trading and commercial decisions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to different seniority levels and personas.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; disciplined in using CRM systems to track activities and manage pipeline.
- Self-starter mindset: comfortable working in a fast‑starter mindset: comfortable working in a fast paced, high‑growth environment, taking ownership of targets and proactively finding ways to exceed them.
Preferred:
- Experience selling or prospecting into North American financial institutions and energy companies (e.g., banks, hedge funds, commodity trading houses, oil majors, independents, midstream organisations, shipowners, charterers).
- Prior experience with sales engagement tools (e.g., sequencing, intent data, prospecting platforms) and mainstream CRM systems.
- Understanding of key concepts such as freight benchmarks, ton-mile demand, vessel tracking, and how mile demand, vessel tracking, and how‑mile demand, vessel tracking, and how marine flows impact trading strategies.
- Experience working closely with field sales teams and contributing to regional go-tomarket strategy.
Benefits
- Stock-options in a fast-growing, high-potential business
- A vibrant and diverse workplace
- An open, collaborative, and supportive working culture built on merit, which celebrates creative thinking and “getting things done.”
- The opportunity to work with AI-driven technology in a scale-up environment with commodity trading experts
- 401k with up to 2% contributions matched by Vortexa
- Private Health Insurance offered via Blue Cross Shield
- Dental and Vision cover offered via Guardian
- Global Volunteering Policy to help you ‘do good’ and feel better