Business Development Lead - Bristol - Ponda

Description

PONDAPonda is a UK-based biomaterials company developing BioPuff, a regenerative, plant-based insulation made from Typha grown on rewetted peatlands through paludiculture. We work at the intersection of advanced materials, regenerative agriculture, and global supply chains, helping brands replace fossil‐based or extractive insulation with a credible, scalable alternative. Our work spans fashion, outdoor, and adjacent industrial sectors where performance, reliability, and environmental integrity all matter.

THE ROLEYou will be taking Ponda's extensive CRM and leveraging it alongside new leads to grow repeatable, scaled revenue. This is an opportunity to work with some of the world's leading brands to create truly regenerative supply chains. We have both a direct‐to‐brand and merchandising model, meaning you will have to create, adapt and manage multiple sales funnels.

The ideal candidate is someone who is happy building and defining their role as they deliver on key overarching targets. This is an opportunity to not just enable a regenerative transformation, but to also define what sales is at Ponda. You will be working directly with the CEO and other founders to ensure Ponda becomes the defacto go‐to for regenerative materials and garment solutions.

You should be someone who is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure customers receive the highest quality service. You will manage complex timelines across multiple different business units, including manufacturing, product and marketing, to ensure customer expectations are met whilst working within the resources available at Ponda.

This is a consultative, trust‐led role, working with retail, materials, innovation, brand, sustainability and sourcing teams at global brands. You will sit between customers and internal teams, shaping how BioPuff is positioned, tested, and ultimately adopted. The role is central to how Ponda learns from the market and turns insight into strategy.

Key ResponsibilitiesBuild & Convert Customer Relationships into Revenue

Manage end‐to‐end pilot‐to‐commercial customer journeys, from early engagement through validation, internal buy‐in, and scale‐up

Build and maintain long‐term relationships with brands, manufacturers, and strategic partners across fashion, outdoor, and adjacent sectors

Act as a primary commercial point of contact for selected accounts, balancing credibility, responsiveness, and realism

Support and lead commercial negotiations

Represent Ponda clearly and credibly in meetings, workshops, and industry contexts

Orchestrate Internal Delivery & Customer Success

Build and manage CRMs, understanding how to effectively categorise leads and select the best

Coordinate closely with product, R&D, and operations teams to align customer needs with technical capability and delivery timelines

Work closely with product teams to ensure customer success, connecting sales to production and delivery of orders

Build the Commercial System & Future Capability

Own and maintain a clear, structured commercial pipeline, working closely with marketing to optimise a productive funnel

Feed structured market insight back into product development, pricing, positioning, and go‐to‐market strategy

The potential to build a department at Ponda which is at a key turning point of growth

Who Are YouThis role is for someone who is target‐driven and comfortable operating in an agile environment. You will manage and juggle multiple timelines across novel material production, apparel production times and customer expectations. You are curious about how materials, systems, and supply chains work, and motivated by the idea of building something genuinely new and impactful.

You are commercially sharp, but not aggressive in style. You are able to build trust with senior stakeholders by being well‐prepared, thoughtful, and honest about constraints. You care about sustainability and impact, but you are pragmatic about what it takes to make change happen at scale.

You will be joining Ponda at a pivotal moment of our journey as we transition from capsules to scaled production. With growth there will be ongoing opportunities for career development and for constructing a growing sales and business development team.

Your Experience5+ years in a relevant sales position including materials, manufacturing, apparel, outdoor (will consider wider supply chain sales but needs to be a physical product).

A strong track record of growing sales at previous roles, with a particular focus on:

Experience working with insulated products in apparel, interiors or soft goods is highly valuable

Experience working in merchandising roles is highly valuable

Experience selling or managing partnerships around biomaterials, ingredient materials, or fabrics/textiles is highly valuable

You do not need deep technical expertise on day one, that can be learned, but you must be comfortable engaging with technical conversations and translating them into commercial outcomes. A genuine interest in sustainability and regenerative systems is essential.

What You Get

£50,000 salary plus commission on sales

Equity plan – be part of an innovative endeavour towards truly regenerative materials

Contribute to company research direction

Flexible working around core hours

Cycle to work scheme

Scale with a rapidly growing organisation, working with experienced and motivated individuals

Birthday day off

Dog friendly office

Fun – we work hard, but we make sure we enjoy the process

#J-18808-Ljbffr