Business Development Manager, Local Partnerships

Wanderboat AI; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Wanderboat AI is building an AI-powered local discovery platform in Sunnyvale, CA. We are seeking a hands-on Business Development lead to build the SF Bay Area restaurant and local-merchant network, turning partnerships into dining experiences, campaigns, and local activations.

You will identify partners, negotiate terms, and drive co-marketing campaigns, activations, and community events, collaborating with product, content, and growth teams to fuel growth in real-world markets.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in business development, local partnerships, or field marketing.
• Direct experience with restaurants, merchants, venues, or community partners.
• Proven ability to manage partnership pipeline from prospecting to execution.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills for in-person meetings.
• Excellent organization with CRM/pipeline management.

Responsibilities

• Identify and prioritize high-quality local partners across the SF Bay Area.
• Own the full partnership process from outreach to onboarding and follow-ups.
• Help partners boost visibility, engagement, and discovery.
• Develop and execute co-marketing campaigns and activations.
• Collaborate with product, content, growth, and marketing teams.
• Track results and improve participation and repeatability.
• Build relationships with creators and community partners.
• Create scalable local growth playbooks.

Skills

Business development

Local partnerships

Account management

Field marketing

Relationship building

Tools

Salesforce

HubSpot

Airtable

Notion

Google Sheets

Job description

Wanderboat is an AI-powered local discovery platform that helps people explore cities and find great places effortlessly.

By combining conversational AI, interactive maps, and community-driven content, Wanderboat enables users to discover restaurants, attractions, and unique local experiences through simple, natural interactions.

We are building the next generation of AI-powered discovery, reimagining how people explore the world around them.

Our mission is to create immersive and personalized AI experiences that seamlessly integrate into users' real-world activities.

About the Role

Build Wanderboat's restaurant and local-business partnership network across the SF Bay Area.

In this hands-on role, you will develop relationships with restaurants, cafés, bars, venues, creators, and community partners, then turn those partnerships into dining experiences, neighborhood campaigns, creator events, check-in activities, and other user-facing local activations.

This is an ideal opportunity for someone with experience in restaurant partnerships, merchant growth, local business development, field marketing, or city operations who wants to help build a new AI-powered local discovery platform from the ground up.

This role combines local partnerships, restaurant partnerships, field marketing, and local activation. You will independently identify, engage, and build relationships with restaurants, cafés, bars, local venues, lifestyle businesses, creators, and community partners, then support co-marketing campaigns, dining experiences, check-in activities, UGC opportunities, and local growth initiatives.

This is a field-facing execution role for someone who enjoys talking to local businesses, spending time in the local market, coordinating offline activities, and helping a consumer product grow through real-world local partnerships.

What You'll Do

Build Local Business Partnerships

• Identify and prioritize high-quality restaurants, cafés, bars, venues, attractions, and lifestyle businesses across the SF Bay Area.
• Own the full partnership process—from outbound outreach and in-person meetings to negotiation, onboarding, follow-up, and relationship management.
• Help partners understand how Wanderboat can increase their visibility, customer engagement, and discovery among local consumers.
• Maintain an organized partnership pipeline, including outreach records, follow-up notes, collaboration status, and next steps.

Launch Co-Marketing Campaigns and Local Activations

• Develop and execute restaurant features, local guides, check-in campaigns, tasting experiences, special offers, neighborhood crawls, creator meetups, and event collaborations.
• Own activation logistics, including partner communication, scheduling, event coordination, content capture, and post-campaign follow-up.
• Work closely with product, content, growth, and marketing teams to turn partner opportunities into engaging user experiences.
• Evaluate campaign results and identify opportunities to improve participation, engagement, and repeatability.

Connect Businesses, Creators, and Local Communities

• Build relationships with local food creators, tastemakers, community organizers, ambassadors, and city explorers.
• Develop collaborations that connect local businesses with creators and Wanderboat users.
• Create simple participation mechanisms that encourage users to discover businesses, visit locations, check in, and share content.
• Stay connected to Bay Area food trends, neighborhood culture, local events, and emerging communities.

Build Repeatable Local Growth Playbooks

• Collect feedback from partners, users, and creators to inform product, content, and growth decisions.
• Track local business activity, creator content, competitive platforms, and consumer behavior.
• Document outreach processes, activation learnings, partner feedback, and successful campaign formats.
• Help develop a scalable partnership and activation model for future city launches.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of experience in business development, local partnerships, merchant growth, account management, field marketing, community activation, or city operations.
• Direct experience working with restaurants, merchants, venues, creators, or community partners.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage a partnership pipeline from prospecting and negotiation through execution and follow-up.
• Experience executing offline events, co-marketing campaigns, merchant programs, or local activations.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with confidence meeting business owners and local decision-makers face-to-face.
• Highly organized and comfortable managing outreach lists, calendars, follow-ups, partner records, and campaign summaries.
• Comfortable traveling throughout the SF Bay Area and working fully on-site in our Sunnyvale office.
• Excited about food, local discovery, lifestyle experiences, city exploration, consumer products, and early-stage startups.

Nice to Have

• Experience at or working with platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Yelp, OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Toast, Square, Tripadvisor, or Google Maps.
• Existing relationships with Bay Area restaurants, cafés, bars, venues, creators, food communities, or neighborhood organizations.
• Experience with creator partnerships, ambassador programs, UGC campaigns, or community-led growth.
• Experience launching a new market, building a local partner network, or creating a partnership program from the ground up.
• Familiarity with Salesforce, HubSpot, Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets, or similar CRM and pipeline-management tools.

Why Join Us

• Help shape how people discover restaurants, local businesses, and city experiences in the AI era.
• Build Wanderboat's local partnership and activation model from the ground up.
• Own highly visible projects that connect digital discovery with real-world experiences.
• Work with a team of former Microsoft AI, Meta, and Google builders backed by leading investors.
• Make a direct impact on local growth, user engagement, and Wanderboat's expansion into new cities.