Senior Business Development Manager, Growth Partnerships

The Team: 

Upstart’s Growth Partnerships team creates, manages, and expands  business relationships that help Upstart find and retain customers. We work with  mission-aligned companies to expand Upstart’s reach and impact - companies whose customers can benefit from effortless credit, or whose products add value for our own customers. As one of Upstart’s  primary engines of customer acquisition, the partnerships  we create and grow are central to Upstart’s success. 

As the Senior Business Development Manager  at Upstart, you will  be responsible for creating new partnership opportunities that  accelerate the success of Upstart’s new products and further our  expansion into new categories of growth and distribution partnerships. You will run the full cycle from ideation to implementation and everything between. 

How you’ll make an impact

• Own our new partnerships strategy: Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for forming new partnerships. Leverage our goals and strategic roadmap to identify high-potential categories, form hypotheses, and maintain a plan to drive growth and innovation across our product categories.
• Test and inform your hypotheses: Build relationships with prospective partners - navigating through organizations to senior decision makers
• Lead complex deal cycles: Manage the entire lifecycle of complex deals, from inception and negotiation through to implementation, ensuring a seamless transition to our Partner Management team for onboarding and ongoing relationship management.
• Your work will have high visibility to execs and other senior stakeholders - plan to communicate to leadership often, solicit feedback, and implement that feedback into your strategy and execution

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in business development focused on strategic partnerships 
• Bachelor's degree + relevant work experience 
• Highly effective communicator - including creating and delivering compelling  presentations
• External facing project and/or deal experience 
• Strong negotiator
• Ability to independently drive complex deals to completion - including  gaining alignment and buy-in from a  variety of cross-functional stakeholders
• Strong negotiator: Able to find creative solutions that create  value for both sides

Preferred Qualifications

• Partnerships / business development experience in financial technology industry 
• Track record of successfully closing long-term complex deals that involve evaluating impact, trade-offs, and alignment with company strategy
• Comfort  in a high growth environment with occasionally shifting circumstances and priorities
• Experience in management consulting or investment banking

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

What you'll love: 

• Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart 
• 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Life and disability insurance
• Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave  
• Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
• Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
• Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
• Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices

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