Business Development Manager – Lely Owned Lely Centers

As a Business Development Manager for the Lely Owned Lely Centers (LOLCs), you play an important role in driving strategic growth, operational excellence, and sustainable profitability across all centers. You support the management teams in achieving their goals by providing expert guidance, initiating improvement projects, and ensuring alignment with Lely’s broader strategy. By combining strong project management skills with change management expertise, you help LOLCs grow, adapt, and deliver sustainable results.

Main responsibilities include:

• Leading operational excellence initiatives in logistics, inventory management, IT systems, and business processes to enhance efficiency and performance.
• Developing 5-year strategic roadmaps aligned with Lely’s Distribution Channel Development strategy and supporting implementation to ensure future-proof development.
• Lead the preparation and execution of mergers, acquisitions, and divestments of LOLCs. This includes due diligence, integration, and post-sale transformation.
• Advising LOLC leadership through data-driven insights, performance diagnosis, and ROI-based project implementation.
• Coordinating area development initiatives such as territory optimization or center restructuring.
• Providing temporary operational management support when required to ensure business continuity.

You are an experienced business developer and strategic thinker with a strong foundation in project and change management. You thrive in a dynamic, international environment where every initiative contributes to long-term business success and operational excellence.

You bring:

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Business Administration, Project Management, or a related field.
• 5–10 years of experience in managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects, preferably within an international or commercial setting.
• Proven expertise in M&A, strategic planning, and business process improvement.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and financial management skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement abilities.
• Knowledge of Lean methodologies and experience with operational excellence projects.
• Certification in PMP, IPMA, PRINCE2, or Agile is preferred.
• Willingness to travel within the Lely Center network and flexibility to take on interim management roles if needed.

What we offer:

• An international working environment with opportunities for own initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• Good growth opportunities: you are in control of your development and can choose from various training courses through our Lely Academy - from personal development to job-specific training.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk straight from our farm, as well as a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site (between 06:00 and 20:00).
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Successes need to be celebrated: from anniversaries to Christmas parties - at Lely we know how to do it!

We are also proud that our efforts and vision have been rewarded by winning the Rotterdam Entrepreneur Award 2025!

About Lely

At Lely, we believe in a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future for farming. Our mission is to make farmers’ work easier while ensuring animal welfare and improved productivity.

Lely is an international family-owned business that operates through a strong international structure. From our headquarters in Maassluis, the Netherlands, we collaborate with more than 200 Lely Centers around the world. These Lely Centers are Lely's route to the market. Some are independently run franchise partners, others are fully owned by Lely. Lely-owned Centers embody our long-term commitment to each region, serving as centers of excellence in key markets, entry points in emerging regions, or temporary hubs focused on preparing for future independent operation, all reflecting our belief in scalable, high-quality operations in-house.