Strategic Development Manager

Whatnot

• $110K — $130K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 3-5+ years in account management, partnerships, or client success, preferably in e-commerce or marketplaces.
  • Ability to manage a large, complex portfolio and drive measurable business outcomes.
  • Advanced organizational and prioritization skills to navigate competing demands effectively.
  • Comfortable using AI tools (ChatGPT, Salesforce, Gong) to enhance efficiency and decision-making.
  • Strong analytical skills to diagnose performance and inform outreach strategies.
  • Excellent communication skills for scaled messaging and seller engagement.

Responsibilities

  • Manage relationships with up to 200 high-potential sellers, balancing proactive outreach with data-driven prioritization.
  • Drive growth and account health using AI and analytics to improve seller performance.
  • Prioritize engagement efforts on sellers with high potential for growth.
  • Execute structured communication including outreach campaigns and educational seminars for sellers.
  • Utilize AI tools to summarize seller performance and automate repetitive tasks for strategic engagement.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align seller insights with category strategies and interventions.
  • Maintain data hygiene in Salesforce to track outreach and seller milestones.

Benefits

  • Generous holiday and time off policy.
  • Health insurance options including medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Support for work from home through office setup allowance and monthly internet allowance.
  • Care benefits including wellness allowances, childcare assistance, and family planning support.
  • Retirement benefits including 401k with employer match and pension plans internationally.
  • Monthly allowance to use the Whatnot app, ensuring employees actively understand the product.
  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave with a gradual return to work program.
Full Job Description
Role

The Strategic Partnerships team builds deep, long-term relationships with Whatnot sellers-guiding them to scale efficiently, elevate buyer experience, and innovate on the platform.

This role sits at the intersection of partnership management, category strategy, and go-to-market execution. You'll partner closely with your Category Lead, Marketing, Trust & Safety, and Product teams to turn seller insights into action and ensure your team delivers exceptional results for sellers and buyers.

You'll own a book of up to 200 sellers, applying a structured, data-informed approach to coaching, engagement, and performance improvement. By combining automation, AI-powered insights, and a deep understanding of seller behavior, you'll help sellers reach key growth milestones and scale their business successfully on Whatnot.

This role requires sharp and ruthless prioritization, strong operational judgment, and the ability to translate data into actionable outreach at scale. You'll act as both strategist and operator - ensuring every seller receives the right level of guidance at the right time, while balancing efficiency and impact across your portfolio.
  • Manage a scaled book of business. Own relationships with high-potential sellers, balancing proactive outreach with data-driven prioritization.
  • Drive growth and account health at scale. Use AI tools and analytics (Salesforce, ChatGPT, Gong) to identify performance trends, automate communication, and execute structured coaching programs that improve seller performance.
  • Prioritize ruthlessly. Focus time and energy on sellers with the highest engagement potential and growth opportunity, applying a clear prioritization framework to drive results efficiently.
  • Deliver structured communication. Execute scaled outreach campaigns, monthly education seminars, and automated growth treatments that improve seller account health and business fundamentals.
  • Leverage AI for insights and efficiency. Utilize Whatnot's AI-enabled toolset to summarize seller performance, generate outreach content, and automate repetitive tasks, freeing capacity for strategic engagement.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally. Partner with Category Leads, Marketing, and Product to surface seller trends, share feedback, and align scaled interventions with category priorities.
  • Track, measure, and report. Maintain high data hygiene in Salesforce, logging outreach, treatments, and seller milestones to inform team-level metrics and continuous improvement.
  • Build scalable best practices. Share insights, pilot learnings, and scaled comms templates to strengthen team-wide effectiveness and inform future Development playbooks.

We offer flexibility to work from home or from one of our global office hubs, and we value in-person time for planning, problem-solving, and connection. Team members in this role must live within commuting distance of our San Francisco, New York City, or Los Angeles hubs.

You

People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they're building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it.

As our next Strategic Development Manager, you should have 3-5+ years of experience in account management, partnerships, client success, or operations - ideally in ecommerce, marketplaces, or a creator platform, plus:
  • Proven ability to manage a large, complex portfolio while driving measurable business outcomes.
  • Advanced organizational and prioritization skills; capable of navigating competing demands with structure and focus.
  • Comfort with AI tools (ChatGPT, Salesforce automation, Gong AI, etc.) and demonstrated ability to use them to improve efficiency and decision-making.
  • Analytical mindset and strong command of metrics to diagnose performance and inform outreach.
  • Excellent communication skills for scaled messaging and seller engagement.
  • A high degree of ownership, accountability, and adaptability in a fast-moving environment.

Nice to Have
  • Experience supporting SMBs or creators at scale through digital or AI-driven programs.
  • Background in operational improvement, training, or coaching in a high-volume environment.
  • Passion for live commerce, seller communities, and Whatnot's core categories (collectibles, sports, fashion, vintage).


Benefits
  • Generous Holiday and Time off Policy
  • Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision
  • Work From Home Support
    • Home office setup allowance
    • Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet
  • Care benefits
    • Monthly allowance for wellness
    • Annual allowance towards Childcare
    • Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses
  • Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally
  • Monthly allowance to dogfood the app
    • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).
  • Parental Leave
    • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.


Please note: Whatnot will only contact you through official [redacted].com email addresses. If you see an email impersonating a Whatnot recruiter, please disregard and report it as spam.

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