Director of Business Development, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Director of Business Development, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)

Job Profile Title

Director E, Academic Affairs, Academic Administration

Job Description Summary

Wharton School Overview
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in both Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a dynamic community of staff, bringing a wide range of skills, experiences, and perspectives. To learn more, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is a globally recognized data research platform trusted by more than 500 institutions in over 35 countries to drive high-impact academic and institutional research. It serves as the global standard for business intelligence, providing millions of users worldwide with centralized, high-speed access to massive datasets across finance, accounting, and economics.


Position Summary
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is seeking a highly strategic and operationally proven executive for the role of Director of Business Development (Director E). Operating at the intersection of B2B data-as-a-service (DaaS), financial technology, and global academic research, this executive leader is responsible for the overarching market growth, client retention framework, and operational excellence of the world's leading academic research data platform.
This position carries substantial institutional accountability, directly influencing WRDS’ global revenue and partnership ecosystem across leading universities, corporations, and quantitative investment firms. The Director will lead high-priority business development initiatives, including managing relationships with approximately 60 data vendors, expanding into new global markets, coordinating complex agreements across multiple exchanges, and identifying opportunities to reposition the WRDS Marketplace to drive revenue growth.
The Director will also oversee the Customer Experience, Revenue Management, and Marketing and Sales teams, ensuring that business development, marketing, client retention, Salesforce CRM operations, and revenue collection function as a coordinated and effective global operation.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

• Global Market Expansion & Strategic Deals (30%): Lead the end-to-end global sales lifecycle to expand WRDS adoption within international universities and commercial sectors (e.g., hedge funds, asset managers); negotiate complex enterprise contracts and present high-level technical value propositions to university deans, corporate executives, and CIOs. Utilize your deep understanding of the academic ecosystem to help determine product positioning and pricing; work with the other WRDS teams to help identify opportunities for expansion and net-new features and products.
• Commercial Operations & Cross-Functional Strategy (15%): Lead alignment across the Customer Experience (CX), Marketing and Sales, and Revenue Management functions to ensure cohesive strategy and execution across the client lifecycle. Provide strategic oversight and direction for international teams supporting WRDS across Europe and Asia-Pacific, aligning their relationships and engagement within local markets with WRDS’ broader commercial priorities. Integrate brand positioning, client onboarding, regional market engagement, and client usage insights to support retention and global subscription renewals.
• Leadership & People Management (10%): Leads and supports 6 direct reports, including international sales teams, through coaching, regular feedback, goal-setting, and day-to-day guidance. Invests in their growth, helps remove obstacles, and fosters a positive, inclusive, and high-performing environment. Holds individuals accountable to expectations and standards while ensuring fairness, clarity, and follow-through.
• Financial Operations & Revenue Protection (20%): Oversee the end-to-end revenue management process. Monitor institutional account aging reports and strategically intervene to clear complex procurement, legal, or administrative bottlenecks
• Data Vendor Partnerships & Ecosystem Alignment (15%): Cultivate strategic relationships and negotiate joint-licensing frameworks with leading global data providers (e.g., S&P Global, Morningstar/CRSP, and LSEG). Develop institution-wide licensing opportunities that position WRDS as a research data provider for scholars across academic disciplines while protecting and expanding the WRDS data ecosystem.
• Salesforce Platform Ownership & Analytics (10%): Serve as the strategic business owner for an established, stable Salesforce CRM environment, ensuring high data integrity, pipeline visibility, and predictable revenue forecasting for senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree required (preferably in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, or a related quantitative field). MBA, advanced degree, or comparable experience preferred.
• Leadership & Commercial Experience: Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible leadership experience, including oversight of multidisciplinary teams or multiple functional areas, direct people management, organizational planning, and accountability for team and operational performance. Demonstrated experience leading business development, commercial strategy, or comparable market-facing initiatives is required.
• Strongly Preferred Experience: A proven record of expanding into new markets, cultivating strategic partnerships, and managing complex institutional or enterprise relationships.
• Industry Background: Strongly preferred background in financial data marketing or sales, with a deep, sophisticated understanding of the higher education ecosystem, university licensing frameworks, and academic administration.
• Technology & Systems Experience: Experience serving as the business owner of an enterprise CRM, preferably Salesforce, to support data integrity, pipeline visibility, client management, and revenue forecasting. Working knowledge of subscription-based business models, data-as-a-service (DaaS) frameworks, and cloud-based data delivery is strongly preferred.

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Travel: Ability to travel up to 20% (domestic and international) to represent WRDS at major academic conferences, vendor symposiums, and high-value client renewals.

Department / School

Wharton School

Pay Range

$132,275.00 - $233,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job’s level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Equal Opportunity Statement 

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

Special Requirements 
Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

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To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay