JOB OVERVIEW
The Director, Strategic Partnerships and New Ventures originates, structures, and closes major partnerships and new ventures that open new verticals, business models, and routes to market for Serve and our various subsidiaries. Reporting directly to the Chief Strategy Officer, the role is a zero-to-one commercial builder: your job is to turn a blank sheet of paper into a credible proposition, drive complex opportunities from thesis through signed agreement, and create a practical path from pilot to scaled business.
The position creates value by translating Serve's robotics, fleet, operating infrastructure, data, autonomy capabilities, and technology into new revenue, partner-funded development, and strategic growth. The role works across Finance, Legal, Engineering, Product, Operations, and Commercial to turn novel concepts into executable agreements, and serves as a senior proxy for the Chief Strategy Officer in major partner discussions and negotiations within agreed authority.
JOB DUTIES- Identify, prioritize and close whitespace opportunities across enterprise partnerships, robotics, data and other offerings.
- Build the strategic case for each opportunity, turning an undefined need into a proposition a counterparty can fund and an internal team can execute.
- Design and own end to end deal structures from first principles. Align incentives, allocate risk, and secure credible funding, resource, and scaling commitments from counterparties.
- Own the pitch: craft the narrative, shape the deck with the strategy lead, carry the room, and translate hard or unfamiliar technology into a compelling business outcome for VP- and C-level decision-makers.
- Negotiate and close commercial terms through term sheet and signed agreement.
- Partner with Finance, Legal, Engineering, Product, Operations, and Commercial. Validate economics, technical maturity, delivery requirements, dependencies, and resource commitments before promising outcomes; bring the Chief Strategy Officer and C-suite a recommendation, decision request, and executable path rather than an unresolved question.
EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS, & SKILLSRequired Experience, Qualifications, and Skills
- 8+ years of relevant management consulting, business development, strategic partnerships, corporate development, new-venture, or comparable experience, including personally selling hard or novel technology and originating, negotiating, and closing complex enterprise agreements.
- Demonstrated ability to create an opportunity from a blank sheet and drive material signed deal outcomes. Structuring range, including having modeled and negotiated multiple deal shapes.
- Exceptional narrative, executive presence, and presentation skills
- Enough financial fluency to build, own, and defend a model without analyst support.
- Comfort working in ambiguity at a company still writing its category definition.
- Ability to work well as a remote team member, with willingness to travel for partner meetings, conferences, and time on-site.
- Creativity, comfort with ambiguity, presentation skills and analytical prowess are the building blocks of success.
- Experience securing first-of-their-kind deals in novel or new markets
Preferred Experience, Qualifications, and Skills
- Start-up, logistics, last-mile delivery, marketplace, mobility, or robotics experience.
- Experience structuring or negotiating joint ventures, co-investments, white label arrangements, or data licensing agreements.
- Experience building a new business or partnerships motion at an early- or growth-stage company, including moving from an initial experiment to a funded commercial offering.
Additional Information
- Reports directly to the Chief Strategy Officer.
- Within the first 12 months, success means a focused portfolio of credible material opportunities and signed commercial agreements with clear economics, funding, execution ownership, and a credible path to scale.
- The position is remote, open across the US and Canada, and requires regular travel for partner meetings, conferences, and on-site work.
- No sharp elbows. We do good work and we enjoy doing it together.
