Business Development Manager

Support our ambitions for commercial services growth by co-ordinating and leading our commercial projects.

At a glance

Position

Business Development Manager

Contract

Full-time, Fixed Term (until 30th June 2026)

Salary

£27,500 Per Annum

Reporting to

Head of Business & Finance

Direct Reports

Bar Staff

Location

Carmarthen; with travel to other UWTSD SU sites

Important Information: Please ensure you read the full job description. This is a full-time role (35 hours per week). Note it is expected that once a week the Business Development Manager will work a shift in the Carmarthen Bar Venue and will be present for any night club nights or events after 12am, it is expected they will also be the DPS for our venue and hence hold a personal licence.

About Us

We’re UWTSD Students’ Union. We’re a registered charity on a mission to help all students at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) make the most of their time at university. We’re a student-led charity, we’re separate from the university, and our membership is free and automatic for every UWTSD student once they enrol, joining a thousand-strong student community.

We're a dedicated team of friendly people, usually dressed in purple, on a mission to help our members make the most of their time as students. Our head office is based in Swansea, and we have additional offices and presences at Birmingham, Cardiff, Carmarthen, and London. 

There are three core pillars to what we do: Opportunities, Voice, and Advice.

  1. Opportunities: University is more than just lecturers. With us, students can get involved with clubs and societies, attend our events, develop their skills, and volunteer to help their communities.
  2. Voice: We are proudly student-led, and it’s our mission to ensure that the thoughts and opinions of our members get heard - we run a large network of student representatives to help us achieve this goal.
  3. Advice: We also run an advice service that is free, independent, and confidential - we want to empower our members to make the decisions that are right for them.

About The Role

The purpose of the role is to support our ambitions for growth of our commercial services via coordinating and leading commercial projects within the Students’ Union. This will involve liaising with multiple stakeholders, contractors, management team and other relevant departments to ensure successful project delivery. As a challenging role, it is ideally suited for someone who has a strong track record of commercial project development and success, and, is highly motivated.

We are also keen to explore new areas of commercial development that can generate increased income and provide more services for our students such as a Job Shop and the creation of a media sales strategy across all our campuses.

With a focus on creativity and income generation, the role aims to maximise visibility, enhance commercial opportunities, and drive sales growth across the Union’s platforms while fostering community engagement within the local and national area.

3 key areas of delivery:

  1. Carmarthen Venue
  2. Job Shop
  3. Developing media and other innovative sales revenue ideas

Carmarthen Venue

UWTSD SU has run a commercial bar venue at the Carmarthen campus for over 10 years, this has been a venture that has been run by external parties but most recently has been bought back in-house with the service being delivered by employing students’ staff. The venue opens 3 days per week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and runs late night club nights at least 2 times a month.

This role will require the successful candidate to:

  1. Ensure the smooth running of the venue ensuring that all Health and Safety responsibilities are full filled and staff are suitably trained.
  2. Create the termly staff roster ensuring that each bar opening night can be serviced.
  3. Create an itinerary of termly events taking on board feedback from students and liaising with students groups (societies and sports teams).
  4. Review the stock onsite and put in orders as relevant, ensuring that deliveries are received, checked and securely put away.
  5. Ensure that stock rotation is maintained to avoid waste due to out-of-date products.
  6. Regularly reviewing the prices of products sold to ensure that margins are maintained.
  7. Carry out regular staff reviews and appraisals.
  8. Book all relevant security, DJ’s and externals in order that event nights run smoothly.
  9. Attend one shift each week as part of the working team to ensure health and safety and standards are being maintained, and staff are working effectively.
  10. Take up the role of DPS for the venue and liaise with Licensing police as necessary.

Job Shop

UWTSD is enhancing its employability strategy developing this area of work for students, alumni, and employers. The university has a proud history of employment-focussed degrees, and this project will play an essential part in ensuring the SU is able to support students to showcase their skills. Part of this role is to lead on the creation and delivery of a successful employment agency, through the provision of recruitment solutions to local businesses. The post holder will work proactively with the careers service to ensure that students are able to confidently recognise and articulate the employability skills they are developing through work.

Duties will include:

  1. Posting jobs on Job Shop.
  2. Manage the Job Shop webpage on our website.
  3. Assisting students who visit Job Shop.
  4. Dealing with Job Shop queries via email and telephone.
  5. Assisting with the running and planning of Job Shop events.
  6. Contacting potential new clients to introduce Job Shop.
  7. Generating new ideas to promote Job Shop.
  8. Develop and enhance efficient systems and processes to ensure all advertised external employers conform to our employability charter.
  9. Liaise with departments and faculties to identify student work opportunities across the University.
  10. Champion and actively promote the Job Shop, developing effective relationships within the wider University.

Developing media and other innovative sales revenue ideas

  1. Seek out and explore new business opportunities to generate additional income for Students’ Union across all our campuses
  2. Develop and lead in the creation of medium to long term Business Development strategies and plans identifying trends and concerns.
  3. Maximise use of existing space and resources both physically and digitally, internally, externally and online, proposing how this may be increased and improved where relevant.
  4. Develop business plans and proposals, including risk and reward for new revenue streams.
  5. Generate purchase orders as relevant and track any potential income streams, liaising with the Head of Business and Finance to determine commercial viability of new ideas/projects.
  6. Be commercially aware, and able to review budgets and update commercial income profiles
  7. Maintain financial controls and ensure that all relevant financial information is kept, in accordance with the SU’s financial procedures.
  8. To work closely with the Head of Business & Finance to champion and drive the expansion of our service provision to generate additional income and provide more services for students at all our campuses
  9. To work closely with key UWTSD SU stakeholders, external and internal project managers to ensure the Union’s commercial development is in line with UWTSD SU’s broader objectives.
  10. To regularly review and identify additional opportunities across the UWTSD SU campuses; this includes offering a continuous stream of ideas and innovations based on the trends and developments of the wider marketplace.

General Duties

  1. To work closely with the Design and Communications Manager (and team) to develop how commercial operations are supported and marketed by the team.
  2. To fully embed the SU sustainability strategy through knowledge, engagement, collaboration and innovation.
  3. To plan and implement projects aligning with the SU commercial strategy.
  4. To be the main point of contact for internal and external project stakeholders once contracts have been signed.
  5. To be able to communicate findings and recommendations for all commercial projects.
  6. To review project documentation, identify and manage project contractual and/or scope risks and opportunities (terms, margin, schedule)
  7. To ensure all site rules and health & safety standards are observed.
  8. To ensure all policies and procedures are observed

Application & Interview

Applications Close
23:59, Friday 9 January 2026

Interviews
From Wednesday 21 January 2026

Proposed Start Date
As soon as possible