Business Development Partner - Financial Institutions

Soil Capital is on a mission to regenerate over 10 million hectares of land by 2030, addressing our environmental and food security challenges through regenerative and low-carbon agriculture. As a leading expert in this field, we have developed the first payment for ecosystem services program for farmers in Europe.

Through our certified programme and our platform, Soil Capital leads the food and ag sector transformation by engaging with blue chip organisations who seek to deliver on their environmental commitments and build supply chain resilience. These business purchase regenerative units, acting as an incentive for farmers to measure and earning improve their agricultural practices.

Our technology supports farmers by allowing them to efficiently and accurately measure farming practices, as well as the GHG balance of their farm which we then audit and certify to generate certificates. This helps farmers understand the levers to accelerate their adoption of regenerative practices.

In the past ten years, Soil Capital has established as a thought leader and a driver of change at scale in France, Belgium, the U.K, Ireland, Poland and Argentina. Pursuing its ambitious growth trajectory, it is now expanding geographical and product scopes.

Our Resilience Index is our newest offer: an analytical methodology that shows how farming practices affect yield stability under drought and other climate stress. It gives financial institutions, amongst others, a way to measure a counterparty risk they currently can't quantify.

We're looking for someone to build and close a pipeline of banking, insurance and institutional investor engagements in France, the UK and Belgium. We already have a target list, solid evidence base behind the offer and a credible first paying client. We now need someone with the right sectoral experience and network to close the next deals.

1. Practical information

• Job title: Business Development Partner - Financial Institutions.
• Location: Based in or with strong reach into France, the UK and/or Belgium. Some travel required.
• Contract: This starts as a contributor role, structured as an external consultant: a monthly retainer plus a success fee on each signed engagement.
• Reporting to:
  Colja, Senior Account Executive and Corporate Partnerships.

2. The opportunity

The objective of the role is to bring additional business for Soil Capital, signing commercial agreements for our Resilience Index. You’ll build relationships with risk, front office and sustainable finance leads at the institutions on our list, and run lead the sales process from first meeting to signed contract, engaging our team every step of the way. Risk teams will want the numbers to back it up before they commit, and regulatory rules as well as recent market experience give them a good reason to listen now.

This starts as a contributor role: a monthly retainer plus a success fee on each signed engagement. We would consider a full time position upon at least two closed 2 engagements within 6 months.

3. About you

• You've sold data, analytics or advisory services into risk or sustainability functions at financial institutions before, at an ESG data provider, a sustainable finance advisory practice, or somewhere similar.
• You're senior enough to carry real weight in a first conversation with a financial institution's risk committee (10+ years, ideally including time at director or partner level).
• You have current relationships at Head of Sustainable Finance, CRO or CSO level, ideally at more than one institution, and you've closed five and six figure deals yourself rather than just generating leads for someone else.
• You're comfortable selling something that's still taking shape. French and English language both help.

4. Our recruitment process

1. Joint interview — 45 minutes with Colja and Charlotte, People Specialist
2. Technical interview — 1 hour with Andrew, Chief Impact Officer and Nathalie, Chief Revenue Officer
3. Final interview — 15 minutes with Chuck, Co-founder and CEO

We provide feedback between each stage. The full process typically takes about 2 to 3 weeks.

Soil Capital is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all candidates who meet the requirements of the role, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.

Join a supportive, dynamic team that celebrates successes together and works toward a shared mission of transforming the future of agriculture! 🌳