Business Development Manager

Reinventing Short-Term Renting

SmartStay is a holiday homes company that offers luxury furnished apartments in prime locations like Downtown Dubai. At SmartStay, we pride ourselves on delivering exceptional service and reliability to our clients. As we scale in the UAE, we are looking for a highly driven Business Development Manager to lead property acquisition, deal closures, and portfolio expansion through direct sales execution and growth strategies.

The Role: Business Development Manager

You will own the full acquisition journey, sourcing, qualifying, negotiating, closing, and bringing units live. Using brokers, direct landlord outreach, partnerships, and personal networks, you will build a strong pipeline of high-quality units and act as the primary commercial contact for owners and partners, ensuring each opportunity meets SmartStay’s standards.

You will lead negotiations, execute agreements, and manage broker relationships professionally, escalating only genuine exceptions. Partnering with Operations, you will ensure units move quickly from signed agreement to live, guest-ready status.

You will continuously optimize acquisition channels, focus on what works, test new approaches, and document processes to create scalable playbooks. As the portfolio grows, you will help build and lead a dedicated Growth team. Your Performance will be measured by net units live per month, landlord NPS, cost per unit, revenue per unit, and speed from first contact to live operation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end acquisition: sourcing, qualifying, negotiating, closing, and onboarding units.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline through brokers, landlords, partnerships, and personal networks.
• Serve as the primary commercial contact for property owners, brokers, and referral partners.
• Assess opportunities against SmartStay’s unit criteria, prioritizing larger, high-quality, repeatable units with strong margins.
• Lead negotiations, execute agreements using approved templates, and manage broker/agent relationships professionally.
• Partner with Operations to ensure units move quickly from signed agreement to live, guest-ready status.
• Continuously evaluate and optimize acquisition channels, testing new approaches and focusing on high-ROI sources.
• Document learnings, develop repeatable processes and playbooks for scalable growth.
• Contribute to building and leading a dedicated Growth team as the portfolio expands.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Proven experience in Dubai real estate (short-term or long-term rental markets).
• Strong commercial acumen with excellent negotiation skills.
• Hands-on, results-driven, and highly structured.
• Motivated by performance-based compensation.
• Bonus: Established network of brokers/landlords, hospitality or holiday home experience, experience building or scaling acquisition teams.

What we offer:

• Competitive base salary aligned with market benchmarks, complemented by high-performance, uncapped commissions and bonuses tied directly to live units.
• High earning potential with no hard cap for top performers
• Health insurance and statutory benefits as per UAE labour law

Our Core Values- How We Win Together

At SmartStay, our values aren’t just words on a page, they shape how we work, grow, and win together. If you thrive in a fast-paced, high-impact environment and love seeing your efforts translate into real results, you’ll fit right in.

• Own It: You take full responsibility for outcomes and follow through with accountability.
• Think in Impact: You make decisions with revenue, cost, guest value, and long-term results in mind.
• Deliver Excellence: You maintain high standards for guests, clients, and teammates in every interaction.
• Communicate Clearly: You practice direct, honest, and respectful communication to drive clarity and alignment.
• Improve Every Day: You learn, adapt, and grow continuously to deliver better results over time.ance and statutory benefits as per UAE labour law

Why Join SmartStay:

This is a founding growth role. Until now, acquisitions have been led directly by the founder. You will take full ownership of portfolio growth, with clear impact on revenue, profitability, and the future direction of the company. Success unlocks the opportunity to lead a dedicated Growth team as SmartStay scales.

Join us at SmartStay and help shape the future of Dubai’s holiday homes, where every stay is unforgettable, every guest feels at home, and our values guide everything we do.