Director, Business Development

Shift Transit; United States; Remote; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive wages

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401k savings accounts

Paid time off

Job summary

A leading bike-share company is seeking a Director of Business Development to lead market expansion and city program acquisition. The successful candidate will cultivate relationships with city officials and partners, negotiate contracts, and create strategic growth plans for new bike-share programs. A minimum of 8 years in business development within the mobility sector is required, along with a Bachelor's degree. This role entails significant travel and a proactive approach in securing new partnerships and expanding market presence.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of business development experience in mobility or transport sectors.
• Proven track record of securing new city programs or deals.
• Experience with city governments or transit agencies preferred.
• Ability to build relationships globally and navigate regulatory environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop strategic growth plans for new city markets.
• Identify and cultivate relationships with city governments.
• Create value propositions for new bike-share programs.
• Lead negotiations and structuring for city programs.
• Maintain a robust pipeline of prospective city engagements.
• Represent Shift Transit at industry events and forums.

Skills

Business development

Sales

Negotiation

Interpersonal skills

Strategic thinking

Relationship building

Understanding of municipal procurement

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA or advanced degree

Job description

Director of Business Development – Shift Transit

Remote (with significant travel expected — domestic (North America) and international).

Reports to: CEO

About Shift Transit

Shift Transit operates next-generation bike-share systems designed to serve municipalities and public-private partnerships. As we expand into new markets, we are focused on building deep relationships with city governments, transit agencies, and external partners to bring turnkey bike-share programs to new cities. The Director of Business Development will be our primary external interface, ambassador and deal-maker for new city programs.

Role Summary

About The Role

We are seeking a strategic, proactive leader to drive market expansion and new city program acquisition. This person will be responsible for identifying, cultivating, and closing new city engagements for Shift Transit, working with cities and external partners (developers, mobility consultancies, transit agencies, economic development authorities) to bring on new bike-share programs. This is not primarily a reactive RFP‐response role; rather, a proactive outreach, relationship creation, market development, and deal-making.

Key responsibilities include:

• Develop and execute a strategic growth plan for new city markets (U.S. and international) – including market research, target list of cities, opportunity pipeline, competitive intelligence.
• Identify city governments, transit agencies, public/private mobility partners, and external stakeholders as prospects for bike-share programs; initiate and build meaningful relationships at senior levels (city managers, transportation directors, mayor’s offices, economic development, transit authorities, etc.).
• Create, in partnership with internal teams (product, operations, finance, human resources), compelling value propositions for Shift Transit’s solutions to new cities: operations model, cost/benefit, funding strategies, partner models.
• Lead negotiations and deal-structuring for new city programs: business models, contract terms, partnership models, financing/government subsidy structures, pilot programs, roll-out plans.
• Collaborate with internal leadership (CEO, operations, finance, human resources) to ensure that proposals align with Shift Transit’s ability to deliver and scale; provide market feedback into product/offering design based on city needs.
• Develop and maintain a robust pipeline of prospective city engagements: track status, milestones, next steps, risk factors. Report regularly on progress, forecast new program sign-ups, and contribute to company growth targets.
• Attend and lead industry conferences, city mobility forums, trade shows internationally; present Shift Transit’s story and build brand / market awareness.
• Serve as the public-face of Shift Transit for city-mobility program development: deliver presentations to city councils, transit boards, partner forums; represent Shift Transit in high-stakes stakeholder meetings.
• Act as cross-functional liaison internally to ensure smooth hand-off from business development to implementation teams once a program is secured.
• Metrics of success: number of new city signed engagements, value of program contracts secured (or committed), pipeline size, time to close, market expansion into new geographies.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 8+ years of business development, sales or partner‑development experience, ideally in mobility, transport infrastructure, smart-city / shared-mobility fields or with asset-based vendors working with cities/governments.
• Proven track record of proactively securing new programs/contracts by cultivating relationships (not just responding to inbound opportunities). Specifically: the candidate should have been primarily responsible for bringing on new city (or large governmental agency) programs, deals or contracts in their previous employer(s).
• Experience working with city governments, transit agencies, or municipalities (or large public‑sector procurement / partnership models) is highly preferred.
• Comfortable working internationally — building relationships in different geographies, understanding municipal procurement models abroad, navigating different regulatory environments.
• Strong network of contacts or ability to build network in city/transport/mobility ecosystem.
• Excellent strategic thinking, interpersonal, negotiation and influence skills. Able to present at senior levels of government, build consensus among multiple stakeholders, and steer complex deals to close.
• Self‑starter, highly proactive, comfortable operating in a fast‑growing company where you will define the role and shape the market.
• Willingness to travel extensively (domestic + international).
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree is a plus.

Preferred Attributes

• Prior experience in bike‑share, micromobility, urban mobility, transit systems or smart city infrastructure.
• Experience working with public‑private partnerships (PPP) or concession models for city transport programs.
• Multilingual or cross‑cultural experience (for international markets).
• Track record of exceeding growth targets and delivering deals in ambiguous/green‑field markets.
• Ability to work collaboratively across internal teams (product, operations, finance) and translate market insights into actionable business plans.

Benefits

Shift Transit is proud to offer our team members a competitive benefits package, including competitive wages, medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k savings accounts, and paid time off. Eligibility for benefits may vary based on your employment status.

Seniority level: Director

Employment type: Full‑time

Job function: Business Development and Sales