Competitive Intelligence & Strategy

Plaid Inc; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Plaid Inc is seeking a founding member for its Competitive Intelligence & Strategy team in San Francisco. The role involves building a competitive insights system, driving strategic insights across the organization, and collaborating with various teams to impact product and market strategy. This position is ideal for candidates with a strong strategic background and a passion for financial technology.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefit plan (medical, dental, vision, 401(k))

Equity and/or commission dependent on position

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years total experience in Competitive Intelligence, Corporate Development, or similar fields.
• Demonstrated ability to gain buy-in from diverse teams.
• High comfort with ambiguity and systems-building.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage Plaid’s Competitive Intelligence system and workflows.
• Own the creation and maintenance of Competitive Intelligence assets.
• Partner across departments to integrate insights into product strategy.

Skills

Strong writing

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic insight

Job description

We ensure cross-functional coordination and increase efficiency across Plaid to help us achieve our Company goals.

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam.

The BizOps team is focused on solving some of Plaid's most pressing business issues. They are a small team of individuals with complementary skill sets. This role is highly cross-functional, and will have the opportunity to drive impact across the business including within GTM, Product, and Finance.

As a founding member of the Competitive Intelligence & Strategy function at Plaid, you will design and scale our competitive insights system from the ground up. You’ll be responsible for building a scalable motion for: aggregating, analyzing, and enacting insights into action on competitive intelligence that influences product, pricing & packaging, and sales execution. This is a rare opportunity to build a critical function that sits at the intersection of GTM, Product, and corporate strategy.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage Plaid’s Competitive Intelligence system and workflows.
• Own the creation and maintenance of Competitive Intelligence assets (battlecards, competitor briefs, internal alerts).
• Scale win/loss analyses in partnership with SalesOps and PMM.
• Design structured feedback loops to collect and analyze GTM input.
• Synthesize competitive trends into clear, executive-ready guidance.
• Partner across Product, BizOps, and PMM to connect Competitive Intelligence to our product roadmap and strategy.

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years total experience, with experience in: Competitive Intelligence/Strategy, Corporate Development, BizOps, PMM or Sales/Solution Engineering.
• Previous experience owning Competitive Intelligence in a cross-functional environment.
• Cross-functional collaborator.
• Demonstrated ability to gain buy-in from across the organization to drive action from insights.
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• High comfort with ambiguity, and an entrepreneurial-mindset to build systems and processes from the ground up.

$150,000.00 - $224,400.00 per year

The target base salary for this position ranges from $150,000/year to $224,400/year Zone 1. The target base salary will vary based on the job's location.

Our geographic zones are as follows:

Zone 1 - New York City and San Francisco Bay Area

Zone 3 - Austin, Boston, Denver, Houston, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego

Zone 4 - Raleigh-Durham and all other US cities

Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid!

Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].

Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here .

Our headquarters is in sunny SOMA and includes a beautiful sun-filled atrium, a private outdoor deck and even a (semi-hidden) climbing wall.

With a degree in economics and a stint on the 2016 presidential campaign under his belt, Jake Stern joined the Plaid sales team in 2017.