Frend Zone

CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Studio Kimchi, Barcelona Who We Are Studio Kimchi is a boutique animation studio. We make films for NGOs and socially conscious brands. We've made films that have reached many millions, films that premiered on ITV, and films that screened at Annecy, Locarno, SXSW and Tribeca. We're a small team, and we intend to stay that way. We work with a few clients at one. By choice. Every project gets our full attention, every relationship gets properly maintained, and every film we make is something we're genuinely proud of. The Role We're not looking for someone to run a high-volume outreach machine. We're looking for someone who understands that the right relationship, built slowly and honestly, is worth more than a hundred cold outreaches. This is a Client Relationships role. Yes, it covers business development, but the word that matters is relationships. You'll be responsible for nurturing past, present and future clients. You'll work directly with the founder and the team. There are no layers between you and the work or the people making it. What You'll Do Nurture relationships • Stay in genuine contact with existing and past clients: check in, share relevant work, notice when their world has changed in a way that creates a new need • Manage a small, carefully tended pipeline of warm leads, people who've shown interest and need the right moment, not more pressure • Re-engage dormant leads with substance: a new case study, a relevant question, something that earns their attention rather than demands it Have real conversations • Lead first calls and discovery conversations, more listening than pitching • Help leads articulate the story they want to tell, often before they know it themselves • Discuss budgets openly and honestly, and help organisations think through funding routes • Develop proposals in close collaboration with the creative team Think strategically • Identify the right targets, organisations whose missions align with what we do and whose communications challenges animation can genuinely solve • Know when to say no to an opportunity that isn't the right fit • Feed insights from conversations back into how we position ourselves and who we reach out to next • Keep the CRM accurate and the pipeline honest What We're Looking For You'll need • Fluent, professional English (written and spoken) • Previous experience in business development or sales, either in creative services (agency, production, design, branding, or similar) or working with NGOs, foundations, or purpose-driven brands. If you have both, you'd be a rockstar for us • A natural instinct for listening. The ability to understand what someone actually needs, not just what they say they want • Comfort discussing budgets, timelines, and creative scope without hedging • Strong written communication: cover notes, follow-ups, and proposals that feel like they were written by a human who paid attention • Self-direction and accountability. You’ll manage your own pipeline and your own rhythm It would help if you • Have existing relationships in the third sector • Understand how animation is made and roughly what it costs • Have worked in sales processes that take three to twelve months to close and you know what patient relationship-building actually looks like What Success Looks Like • You know our current leads well, you know what they care about, what's blocking them, and what would make them ready • You convert one to two strong projects per trimester, the right projects, not just any project • Past clients hear from you before they need to reach out themselves • You can run a first call without hand-holding and a follow-up without chasing • Organisations trust you as someone who genuinely cares whether the project is right for them How We Work This is a fully onsite role, based in our Barcelona studio. We work a four-day week (Monday to Thursday). We believe focus, creativity, and sustainable work practices are key to how good work gets made. Why This Role Is Different This business development role is not about volume, it’s about depth. You won't be measured on how many people you emailed each week. You'll be measured on whether the relationships in your care are alive, warm, and moving in the right direction. You'll sell work you can be proud of. Films that matter to the organisations that commission them and to the audiences who watch them. And you'll help shape how a studio with a strong point of view grows into the next chapter of its story. A few things to be honest with yourself about before applying: this role requires genuine patience, real curiosity about other people's work, and comfort with long sales cycles where the next step is often a warm note rather than a close. If that sounds like the kind of work you find meaningful, we'd like to hear from you. One Last Thing We're not in a hurry. We will wait for the right person to come along. If you recognise yourself in some but not all of this, you’re likely not a good fit. But if this genuinely sounds like the role you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you.