US Business Development Director for Media Localization

Acolad group is seeking a senior, strategic sales leader to drive new business and expansion across the US Media & Entertainment localization market. The role involves owning the full sales cycle and building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders while positioning localization solutions competitively.

Responsibilities:

• Drive revenue growth by identifying, developing, and closing high-value opportunities in US media localization (new logos and expansion within existing accounts)
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline, managing full-funnel activity with disciplined forecasting, reporting, and CRM hygiene
• Develop and execute territory and account plans to achieve and exceed annual sales targets
• Lead complex deal cycles including stakeholder mapping, solutioning, pricing strategy, procurement/legal coordination, and contract negotiations
• Engage executive and C-level decision-makers and build long-term partnerships grounded in measurable business outcomes
• Provide consultative, client-centric guidance by connecting localization programs to time-to-market, quality, cost optimization, compliance/accessibility, and audience growth
• Track market trends and competitive landscape across streaming, studio, broadcast, gaming, and adjacent media ecosystems; identify new routes to market
• Partner cross-functionally with Solutions, Operations, Product/Technology, and Marketing to deliver compelling proposals and presentations aligned to client needs
• Support go-to-market initiatives for media localization offerings in the US, including messaging, target segments, and account-based strategies

Requirements:

• 5 years of experience in direct sales in media localization (or adjacent language services with strong M&E specialization), in roles such as localization sales executive, sales manager, or sales/BD director

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Sales or similar
• Demonstrated success selling enterprise solutions/services and consistently meeting/exceeding quota in complex, consultative sales environments
• Strong ability to communicate, present, and influence at all organizational levels, including executive and C-suite
• Proven expertise in full-cycle sales execution (plan → prospect → qualify → propose → negotiate → close)
• Experience positioning offerings against competitors with clear differentiation, ROI/value articulation, and outcome-based selling
• Strong listening, negotiation, and presentation skills; confident leading executive-level conversations
• Solid understanding of media localization (subtitling and dubbing) workflows and tools (e.g., end-to-end localization process, vendor ecosystems, operational constraints and quality expectations in M&E)
• Willingness to travel up to ~50% as needed for client meetings and key industry events
• Experience selling to one or more of: streaming platforms, major studios, broadcasters, post-production houses, gaming publishers, ad/creative agencies
• Familiarity with accessibility and compliance considerations (e.g., captioning/subtitling standards), and scalable localization operations
• Experience selling or partnering with localization technology/SaaS solutions in the M&E ecosystem