Business Development Specialist

Rate; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Rate is seeking a friendly Business Development & Sales Assistant for our San Francisco mortgage team. You’ll be the face of our group, building relationships with local real estate agents, attending broker opens, and helping agents call on clients.

No mortgage experience required—we’ll train you and help you grow into a mortgage career. In this role you’ll learn loan processes, support loan officers, and help with pre-approvals.

Qualifications

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to build trusted relationships with real estate agents.
• Willingness to learn mortgage basics; no prior mortgage experience required.
• Sales or hospitality or client-facing background preferred.

Responsibilities

• Build genuine relationships with real estate agents throughout San Francisco.
• Attend weekly broker open houses and local real estate events.
• Represent the team in person at events and offices.
• Assist loan officers with new and past clients and loan applications.
• Maintain calendars and support day-to-day team operations.

Skills

Outgoing personality

Relationship building

Communication skills

Microsoft Office proficiency

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Word

Excel

Job description

Rate is one of the nation’s top retail mortgage lenders, delivering a seamless, tech-driven experience that helps customers reach their homeownership and financial goals. Founded in 2000 and based in Chicago, Rate is licensed in all 50 states and D.C. and has helped over 2 million homeowners with a wide range of loan products, competitive rates and personalized service. With 5,000+ employees across 300+ offices and 12+ subsidiaries, Rate’s Loan Officers rank among the best in the country. From purchases and refinances to tapping into equity, Rate makes financing faster, simpler and less stressful. Our technology — including Same Day Mortgage, the Rate App, FlashClose℠, MyAccount and the Language Access Program — has earned recognition from HousingWire, Scotsman Guide, NerdWallet, the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business. Learn more at rate.com.

Business Development & Sales Assistant — Mortgage

$50,000 Base Salary, Plus Bonus — Uncapped Earning Potential

Rate is looking for an outgoing, relationship-driven Business Development & Sales Assistant to join our San Francisco team. You'll be the face of our team with local real estate agents — building relationships, showing up at broker opens, and becoming the person agents call first. No mortgage experience required: we'll teach you the business directly. If you're a natural at meeting people, building trust quickly, and want a real path into a mortgage career, we want to talk to you.

The Role

The primary function of this role is to build and manage relationships with real estate agents across San Francisco, serving as our team's local face in the real estate community — while learning the mortgage business hands-on from an experienced Loan Officer.

What You'll Do

• Build genuine, professional relationships with real estate agents throughout San Francisco — this is the heart of the role.
• Attend weekly Broker Open House Tours and local real estate events to represent our team in person.
• Proactively visit real estate offices and introduce yourself to build and grow our agent network.
• Promptly return calls and follow up with borrowers and real estate agent partners.
• Create and share new listing and open house flyers with our agent partners.
• Learn to interview borrowers, take loan applications, and understand loan pricing and guidelines — we'll train you.
• Support our Loan Officers with new and past clients to help lock loans and grow monthly production.
• Assist with Commitment and Pre-Approval Letters and keep the team organized day to day.
• Maintain calendars and jump in wherever the team needs support.

Who You Are

• Outgoing and personable — you genuinely enjoy meeting new people and building relationships.
• Comfortable walking into a room, or a real estate office, and introducing yourself.
• Competitive and self-motivated, excited about a role with real growth potential into a mortgage career.
• Exceptional communication skills, written and verbal.
• Positive, proactive attitude that thrives in a fast-paced, relationship-driven environment.
• Comfortable with social media and basic marketing content.
• Sales, hospitality, real estate, or other client-facing experience preferred — mortgage or real estate industry experience is a plus, but not required.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel.

Great Backgrounds for This Role

We've seen this role go especially well for people coming from real estate, luxury retail, hospitality, fitness/boutique sales, events, or other client-facing sales backgrounds — anyone with a track record of building relationships and closing that trust gap quickly. Mortgage knowledge isn't the prerequisite; the drive to build relationships and grow is.

Rate is an Equal Opportunity Employer that welcomes and encourages all applicants to apply regardless of age, race, sex, religion, color, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital or parental status, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy or other reason protected by law.

The company offers a comprehensive benefits program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; critical care insurance; personal accidental insurance; commuter benefits; pet insurance; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program); and other supplemental benefits (e.g. legal planning assistance; identity theft protection; pet insurance; wellness resources).