Executive VA – Business Development & Relationship Management

ROLE TITLE

Executive VA – Business Development & Relationship Management

Remote | Pacific Time Business Hours | Philippine Based

Role Summary

Khalifeh & Associates is a long-established MEP engineering consulting firm in Southern California. We are hiring an Executive VA whose primary responsibility is to help leadership rebuild dormant business relationships, establish new professional connections, and maintain a consistent pipeline of future project opportunities.

This is a business development-focused position with additional executive, marketing, and project coordination responsibilities.

You will reconnect with past clients and architectural firms that previously requested proposals, research new target companies and decision-makers, initiate outbound conversations by phone, follow up through email and LinkedIn, schedule meetings, and maintain accurate records of every meaningful interaction.

You will use proposal history, relationship records, and company research to make outreach relevant and personalized rather than relying on generic messages or bulk communication.

The right person is comfortable picking up the phone, speaking confidently with business owners and professional stakeholders, following up persistently without being pushy, and independently managing multiple relationship-building priorities.

You do not need an engineering or architecture background. However, you must be capable of communicating professionally with architects, contractors, developers, consultants, and other technical design and construction professionals.

Experience in B2B business development, professional services, account management, client relationship management, or similar relationship-driven industries is essential.

Core Responsibilities

1. Business Development Outreach and Relationship Re-Engagement

• Review proposal history and the Proposal Summary Tracker to identify past clients, architectural firms, and other contacts who previously requested proposals or engaged with the firm but have since become inactive.
• Understand the history of each relationship before initiating contact. Use previous proposals, communication records, and relationship notes to establish context.
• Make outbound phone calls to reconnect with past clients, architects, developers, designers, contractors, and other relevant professional contacts.
• Research new architectural firms, developers, contractors, consultants, and architect-adjacent organizations to expand the firm’s target contact list.
• Review target companies’ websites, LinkedIn profiles, leadership teams, and recent projects before initiating outreach.
• Identify relevant decision-makers and initiate professional conversations that can lead to meetings, referrals, renewed relationships, and future project opportunities.
• Develop and maintain a structured outreach cadence, generally following up monthly unless the contact’s circumstances or timing call for earlier action.
• Follow up through phone, email, and LinkedIn without relying on a single communication channel.
• Gather feedback from previous prospects when possible, including why proposals were not awarded, pricing concerns, service gaps, or dissatisfaction with existing providers.
• Maintain an organized business development pipeline with accurate relationship statuses, outreach stages, opportunity notes, next actions, and follow-up dates.
• Recognize stalled conversations, overdue follow-ups, and opportunities that require renewed attention.
• Support re-engagement campaigns and outreach strategies intended to generate meetings, referrals, and future business opportunities.

2. Meeting Coordination & Relationship Management

• Schedule business development calls, meetings, and in-person lunches between leadership and high-priority contacts.
• Coordinate calendars and ensure promising conversations translate into defined next steps.
• Draft and send professional outreach emails that reflect the firm’s voice, positioning, and previous relationship with the recipient.
• Monitor relevant inbound communications and organize or route client inquiries, drawings, and project requests.
• Keep leadership informed of meaningful responses, potential opportunities, objections, and relationship developments.
• Ensure that important conversations and commitments are followed through rather than left undocumented.

3. Marketing Support & Materials Maintenance

• Maintain organized marketing materials and project reference documents used for business development and relationship-building.
• Help manage the firm’s LinkedIn presence by reviewing connection requests, monitoring messages, and identifying relevant industry contacts.
• Research target firms, industry opportunities, and potential partnerships that could expand the business development pipeline.
• Coordinate updates to company materials, including project lists, award announcements, and website content, when applicable.
• Support light social media and online presence updates as directed.

4. Executive Administration & Project Coordination

• Manage business development meetings, calls, and follow-up calendars through Microsoft Outlook.
• Organize proposal files, project documents, and communication records so leadership can retrieve the correct information when needed.
• Track proposal and client-request deadlines, missing documents, pending actions, and required follow-ups.
• Monitor assigned project coordination items by tracking deadlines, coordinating with internal team members and clients, and confirming that required documents, drawings, and deliverables are received and organized.
• Maintain documentation and process trackers for outreach, marketing activities, and internal priorities.
• Coordinate with IT support when access to Outlook, the phone system, shared folders, or other required tools needs to be established or resolved.
• Provide bookkeeping support using QuickBooks only when specifically assigned.

Requirements – Non-Negotiable

Candidates must meet all of the following requirements:

1. Pacific Time Availability: Full-time availability for eight hours per day, Monday through Friday, during Pacific Time business hours.
2. Professional English Communication: Fluent, confident, and professional spoken and written English, with the ability to communicate credibly with business owners, executives, architects, contractors, and other professional stakeholders.
3. B2B Business Development Experience: Proven professional-level experience in business development, sales support, client relationship management, account management, lead generation, or comparable client-facing work.
4. Outbound Calling Confidence: Demonstrated ability to initiate outbound phone calls, engage professional contacts, and maintain conversations without depending exclusively on email or written communication.
5. Professional or Technical Services Exposure: Experience representing or supporting a professional or technical service to a B2B audience.
6. Relationship Management: Experience managing client relationships, prospect follow-ups, outreach campaigns, or account management activities.
7. Pipeline & Follow-Up Management: Experience using a CRM, outreach tracker, or structured follow-up system to manage contact status, next actions, and follow-up schedules.
8. Research & Prospecting: Ability to identify relevant target companies, decision-makers, and business opportunities through online research and professional networking platforms.
9. Independent Execution: Ability to prioritize activities, recognize overdue follow-ups, manage competing responsibilities, and take ownership of results without daily step-by-step supervision.
10. Organization & Documentation: Consistent and accurate documentation of interactions, relationship context, opportunities, and pending actions.
11. Microsoft Office Proficiency: Working proficiency in Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel.

Experience in architecture, engineering, construction, real estate development, design firms, building products, or similar professional services is strongly preferred.

An engineering or architecture background is not required. However, candidates must be comfortable researching and communicating with professionals in these industries.

Preferred Experience

• Business development or account management in professional services, architecture, engineering, construction, real estate development, design firms, or building product suppliers.
• Experience with architect-adjacent markets, custom manufacturers, luxury residential service providers, or similar B2B industries.
• Experience using LinkedIn for prospect research, professional networking, and relationship development.
• Familiarity with ChatGPT or other AI-assisted productivity tools.
• Experience maintaining outreach trackers, CRM pipelines, and structured follow-up processes.

Tools & Systems

• Microsoft Outlook: Email and calendar management.
• RingCentral: Outbound calling and phone-system access.
• Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Proposal Summary / Proposal History Tracker: Reviewing previous proposals and understanding existing relationships.
• Outreach Tracker: Maintaining contact records, outreach activity, relationship status, follow-up dates, and opportunity notes.
• LinkedIn: Prospect research, professional networking, and relationship visibility.
• QuickBooks: Only if bookkeeping support is assigned.

The Outreach Tracker will need to be built or maintained as part of the role. Candidates should be comfortable working with an existing tracker or organizing structured records when a process needs to be established.

What We Actually Care About

• You initiate conversations. You are comfortable making outbound calls and engaging professional contacts rather than defaulting to email or waiting for people to approach the company.
• You make outreach relevant. You review relationship history, previous proposals, and the recipient’s business before initiating contact.
• You close the follow-up loop. Every meaningful interaction is documented, with a clear next action, responsible person, and follow-up date.
• You build relationships, not just activity counts. You listen, understand business needs, capture useful context, and identify appropriate opportunities to reconnect.
• You operate independently. You recognize overdue follow-ups, stalled conversations, and missing information and take appropriate action without waiting for instructions.
• You protect execution quality. Outreach activities, calendar commitments, proposal records, and project coordination items remain organized and accurate.

What This Role Is NOT

• Not a traditional Executive Assistant position focused primarily on inbox management, calendar scheduling, and general administration.
• Not a passive lead-generation position where success means producing contact lists or sending bulk messages without meaningful conversations or follow-up.
• Not a hardcore sales-closing or engineering-sales position. The focus is relationship re-engagement, professional outreach, meeting generation, and pipeline support—not independently closing engineering contracts or providing technical advice.
• Not a bookkeeping-first position. QuickBooks support is conditional and secondary to the core responsibilities.
• Not suitable for someone who avoids outbound calling, requires daily instructions for routine follow-ups, or cannot independently maintain accurate relationship records.

Position Details

• Work Arrangement: Fully remote contractor.
• Location: Philippines.
• Schedule: Full-time, eight hours per day, Monday through Friday, during Pacific Time business hours.
• Work Environment: Performance-driven and async-friendly, with proactive communication and dependable follow-through. The required Pacific Time schedule must be maintained.
• Primary Focus: Business development outreach, relationship re-engagement, and pipeline management.
• Secondary Focus: Marketing-material maintenance, executive administration, and project coordination.
• Success Standard: Relevant professional conversations, consistently managed follow-ups, accurate relationship records, meetings scheduled, and a well-maintained pipeline of potential business opportunities.

Application Instructions

Submit your resume and answer all questions below.

1. Business Development Experience

Describe a role in which you were responsible for outbound calls, client re-engagement, business development, account management, or lead follow-up.

• Who were you contacting?
• What were you personally responsible for?
• How did you manage follow-ups?
• What measurable or practical results did your efforts produce?

2. Practical Outreach Scenario

A firm requested a proposal from our company several months ago but never moved forward. You have access to the proposal history, the firm’s website, and a contact’s LinkedIn profile.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off
• HMO
• Fully Remote Work