Business Development Lead

4 Months ago • 8 Years + • Business Development • $180,000 PA - $250,000 PA

Job Summary

Job Description

Sierra is seeking a Business Development Lead to build and nurture a partner ecosystem, amplifying market reach. Responsibilities include developing industry partnerships, cultivating strategic customer acquisition channels beyond traditional sales, aligning partnership efforts with Go-To-Market strategies, collaborating with Sales and Marketing, building relationships with VCs and PE firms to position Sierra as an AI partner for their portfolios, and gathering market intelligence to inform product development and explore new market segments. The role requires 8+ years in business development or strategic partnerships in tech, a strong understanding of the VC/PE landscape, proven success in closing high-value partnerships, ability to engage with C-level executives, and an analytical mindset to evaluate opportunities in a fast-moving startup environment.
Must have:
  • 8+ years in business development or strategic partnerships in tech
  • Strong understanding of VC/PE landscape and investor experience
  • Proven track record of structuring and closing high-value partnerships
  • Ability to engage with C-level executives and investors
  • Analytical mindset for evaluating partnership opportunities
  • Ability to navigate ambiguity in a startup environment
Good to have:
  • Prior experience at a high-growth AI or enterprise SaaS startup
  • Deep expertise in key industries: financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, media, travel, transportation and hospitality, retail and consumer goods, and/or technology
  • Experience structuring and managing ecosystem partnerships
Perks:
  • Flexible (Unlimited) Paid Time Off
  • Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits for you and your family
  • Life Insurance and Disability Benefits
  • Retirement Plan with Sierra match
  • Parental Leave
  • Fertility and family building benefits
  • Lunch, snacks, and coffee
  • Discretionary Benefit Stipend
  • Free alphorn lessons
  • Equity

Job Details

About us

  • At Sierra, we’re creating a platform to help businesses build better, more human customer experiences with AI. We are primarily an in-person company based in San Francisco, with growing offices in Atlanta, New York, and London.

  • We are guided by a set of values that are at the core of our actions and define our culture: Trust, Customer Obsession, Craftsmanship, Intensity, and Family. These values are the foundation of our work, and we are committed to upholding them in everything we do.

  • Our co-founders are Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor. Bret currently serves as Board Chair of OpenAI. Previously, he was co-CEO of Salesforce (which had acquired the company he founded, Quip) and CTO of Facebook. Bret was also one of Google's earliest product managers and co-creator of Google Maps. Before founding Sierra, Clay spent 18 years at Google, where he most recently led Google Labs. Earlier, he started and led Google’s AR/VR effort, Project Starline, and Google Lens. Before that, Clay led the product and design teams for Google Workspace. 

What you'll do

As a Business Development Lead, you’ll play a critical role in building and nurturing a robust ecosystem of partners and stakeholders around Sierra, amplifying our reach and market impact.

  • Industry Partnerships: Develop and grow partnerships with key industry players and technology platforms

  • Strategic Customer Channels: Explore and cultivate alternative customer acquisition channels beyond traditional sales, leveraging Sierra’s ecosystem of investors, partners, and industry influencers to drive inbound interest and adoption

  • GTM Strategy & Collaboration: Align partnership efforts with Sierra’s broader GTM approach, collaborating closely with Sales and Marketing

  • Investor & VC/PE Engagement: Build and deepen relationships with VCs and PE firms to position Sierra as a strategic AI partner across their portfolios. Proactively identify opportunities to introduce Sierra to portfolio companies that would benefit from our agents

  • Industry & Market Expansion: Gather market intelligence, share insights to inform product development, and explore opportunities for potential growth across new market segments and geographies

What you'll bring

  • 8+ years in business development, strategic partnerships, or related roles in tech

  • Strong understanding of the VC/PE landscape and experience working with investors

  • Proven track record of structuring and closing high-value partnerships with senior stakeholders

  • Ability to engage and maintain relationships with C-level executives, investors, and key decision-makers

  • Analytical mindset to evaluate partnership opportunities and align them with Sierra’s long-term vision

  • Ability to navigate ambiguity in a fast-moving startup environment

Even better...

  • Prior experience at a high-growth AI or enterprise SaaS startup

  • Deep expertise in a few of our key industries: financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, media, travel, transportation and hospitality, retail and consumer goods, and/or technology

  • Experience structuring and managing ecosystem partnerships

Our values

  • Trust: We build trust with our customers with our accountability, empathy, quality, and responsiveness. We build trust in AI by making it more accessible, safe, and useful. We build trust with each other by showing up for each other professionally and personally, creating an environment that enables all of us to do our best work.

  • Customer Obsession: We deeply understand our customers’ business goals and relentlessly focus on driving outcomes, not just technical milestones. Everyone at the company knows and spends time with our customers. When our customer is having an issue, we drop everything and fix it.

  • Craftsmanship: We get the details right, from the words on the page to the system architecture. We have good taste. When we notice something isn’t right, we take the time to fix it. We are proud of the products we produce. We continuously self-reflect to continuously self-improve.

  • Intensity: We know we don’t have the luxury of patience. We play to win. We care about our product being the best, and when it isn’t, we fix it. When we fail, we talk about it openly and without blame so we succeed the next time.

  • Family: We know that balance and intensity are compatible, and we model it in our actions and processes. We are the best technology company for parents. We support and respect each other and celebrate each other’s personal and professional achievements.

What we offer

We want our benefits to reflect our values and offer the following to full-time employees:

  • Flexible (Unlimited) Paid Time Off

  • Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits for you and your family

  • Life Insurance and Disability Benefits

  • Retirement Plan (e.g., 401K, pension) with Sierra match

  • Parental Leave

  • Fertility and family building benefits through Carrot

  • Lunch, as well as delicious snacks and coffee to keep you energized 

  • Discretionary Benefit Stipend giving people the ability to spend where it matters most

  • Free alphorn lessons

These benefits are further detailed in Sierra's policies and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans. Eligible full-time employees can participate in Sierra's equity plans subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies.

Be you, with us

We're working to bring the transformative power of AI to every organization in the world. To do so, it is important to us that the diversity of our employees represents the diversity of our customers. We believe that our work and culture are better when we encourage, support, and respect different skills and experiences represented within our team. We encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. We strive to evaluate all applicants consistently without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

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About The Company

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London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)

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