Business Development Associate, Distribution Partnerships at Skillz Inc.

Wayne State University; New York (NY); On-site; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayne State University is seeking a Business Development Associate to generate partnership opportunities and maintain pipeline management. This execution-heavy role requires a focus on daily outbound across various verticals including QSR and Telco.

The ideal candidate will have 1-3 years of experience in business development and a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.5. The role is office-based in New York, requiring strong organizational skills and a proactive communication approach.

Qualifications

• 1-3 years in business development, sales, partnerships, or related roles.
• Proven ability to own and advance deals or accounts.
• Experience with high-volume outreach and deal support.

Responsibilities

• Execute high-volume daily outbound across priority verticals.
• Prospect and run initial outreach to engage partners.
• Maintain Salesforce hygiene and manage pipeline across opportunities.

Skills

Pipeline generation

Communication clarity

Strong execution

Organized & methodical

Coachable & learning agility

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with a minimum of 3.5 GPA

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Business Development Associate, Distribution Partnerships

This is a high-volume, execution-heavy role focused on generating partnerships opportunities. It is best suited for candidates who want to learn by doing and are motivated by output and results.

Responsibilities

• Consistent Pipeline Generation Execute high-volume daily outbound across QSR, CTV, Telco, and other priority verticals via cold email, LinkedIn, and calling to generate, qualify, and advance new partnership opportunities against consistent activity targets.
• Early-Stage Deal Advancement Prospect and run initial outreach to move partners into active discussions, adapting messaging by vertical and use case while maintaining urgency and momentum across all conversations.
• Pipeline Management & CRM Discipline Maintain rigorous Salesforce hygiene across all opportunities, tracking stages, next steps, and contacts with zero slippage or stale follow-ups.
• Deal Support Support senior team members on live opportunities by preparing financial models, pitch decks, and materials while coordinating internal follow-ups to push deals from early-stage into structured opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Coordination Coordinate inputs with Product, Legal, and Finance as needed, tracking dependencies and ensuring internal follow-ups are completed on time.
• Strong ExecutionComfortable with high-volume outreach and repetition; consistently hits activity targets.
• Organized & MethodicalMaintains rigorous pipeline hygiene across 50+ active opportunities. Ensures deals are maintained.
• Communication ClarityWrites crisp outreach, runs clean discovery calls, communicates progress to leadership proactively.
• Coachable & Learning AgilityAbsorbs Skillz business model quickly, adapts messaging by vertical, and improves from feedback.
• Comfortable with AmbiguityOperates without a fully formed playbook and creates structure where none exists.

Experience

• 1-3 years in business development, sales, partnerships, or a high-execution adjacent role. Minimum 1 year of experience, will accept internships.
• Demonstrated track record of owning and advancing deals or accounts.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with a minimum of 3.5 GPA.
• Must work out of the NY office, 5 days per week. Relocation assistance not offered / must be based on the east coast or open to relocate.

Nice To Have

• B2B or platform sales experience (selling technology/infrastructure to consumer-facing companies).
• Exposure to CTV, Telco, or digital distribution ecosystems.
• Startup or high-growth company experience.
• Familiarity with gaming (mobile, casual, competitive) as a consumer or professionally.
• Advanced proficiency with AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude) to drive productivity - including building workflows for outreach, research, and pipeline generation.
• CRM experience (Salesforce preferred).
• Consumer, tech, media, or QSR/retail industry background.