Director, Hardware Partnerships

United States Digital Space LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 236,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

Equity/Stock options

Paid time off & holidays

Oura Ring employee discount

Job summary

Oura is seeking a senior leader to own and scale the Hardware Partnerships portfolio. You will source, structure, and manage hardware integrations from end-to-end, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Marketing to deliver compelling, revenue-driving collaborations.

The role requires a 10+ year track record in consumer hardware partnerships, with strong negotiation and cross-functional leadership.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in BD or partnerships roles at consumer hardware, IoT, automotive, or adjacent businesses, ideally with deep, hands-on experience inside hardware-first companies.
• Proven track record negotiating and scaling complex hardware partnerships across technical, commercial, and GTM dimensions.
• Strong ability to operate as a builder and connector across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Legal, Finance, and Marketing.
• Strategic thinker who can also drive execution in ambiguous, 0→1 environments.
• Comfortable influencing senior leaders without direct authority, and operating at the pace of a fast-moving consumer hardware company.
• Genuine passion for building products that blend hardware, software, and member value into something better than the sum of its parts.

Responsibilities

• Owns Hardware BD and Partnerships Strategy.
• Define a multi-year vision for hardware partnerships across current and future devices.
• Identify opportunities to deepen member engagement and drive distribution of Oura’s hardware portfolio through better-together integrations.
• Coordinate with product and engineering to ensure seamless integrations and architecture.
• Lead deal strategy, negotiations, and integration planning with hardware ecosystem partners across sleep, activity, movement, and lifestyle surfaces.
• Build and scale Oura’s hardware partner portfolio from a small foundation into a defined program.
• Source, scope, and manage partnerships end-to-end, from evaluation through launch and post-launch performance.
• Improve partner experience and ensure each integration meaningfully enhances member value.
• Co-own GTM strategy for hardware-enabled experiences with Commercial and Marketing leadership.
• Shape hardware-led differentiation and strengthen Oura’s moat.
• Lead the Hardware Partnerships team from 0→1 and scale as the portfolio grows.
• Navigate regulated and health-adjacent categories with legal, clinical, and regulatory partners.

Skills

Hardware partnerships

Business development

Strategic negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Program management

Job description

Our mission at Oura is to empower every person to own their inner potential. Our award-winning products help our global community gain a deeper knowledge of their readiness, activity, and sleep quality by using their Oura Ring and its connected app. We've helped millions of people understand and improve their health by providing daily insights and practical steps to inspire healthy lifestyles.

Empowering the world starts with living our values and empowering our team. As a quickly growing company focused on helping people live healthier and happier lives, we ensure that our team members have what they need to do their best work — both in and out of the office.

We have offices in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles for those who prefer hybrid or office settings. Oura employees in other major cities (like Boston and New York) occasionally gather informally at local co-working locations.

You will be a senior deal-maker, relationship-builder and strategist who turns our Hardware Ecosystem Partnership vision into reality. You’ll own the full partnership life-cycle, from sourcing and structuring deals to orchestrating flawless cross-functional execution with product, engineering, legal, and other relevant teams.

What you’ll do:Owns Hardware BD and Partnerships Strategy

• Device-to-device integrations, sensing partnerships, OEMs, and hardware-anchored ecosystem plays (NFC, BLE, automotive, travel hardware surfaces). Software/API and data-layer partnerships are owned by the Ecosystem Partnerships team, this role partners closely with them on overlapping surfaces.
• Define a multi-year vision for hardware partnerships across Oura’s current and future devices.
• Identify opportunities to:

• Deepen member engagement and retention
• Drive distribution of Oura’s hardware portfolio through “better-together” integrations
• Unlock new revenue streams for Oura

• Continuously evaluating and sourcing external hardware opportunities how Oura can extend the value of the Oura experience inside and outside the ring.

Build and Scale Oura’s Hardware Partner Portfolio

• Serve as the DRI for Oura's hardware partnerships portfolio, building it from the early existing foundation into a defined, scalable program that expands Oura's sensing and hardware capabilities.
• Source, scope, and manage partnerships end-to-end, from initial evaluation through launch and post-launch performance.
• Build the strategy and execution plan for each partnership, integrating a deep understanding of our hardware architecture, our partner ecosystem, and GTM motion into a coherent plan.
• Ensure every integration is intuitive, trusted, and meaningfully improves the member experience.

Close High-Leverage Partnerships Opportunities

• Lead deal strategy, negotiations, and integration planning with hardware ecosystem partners across sleep, activity, movement, and lifestyle surfaces (e.g., travel, automotive, and other adjacencies).

• Optimize each partnership for:

• Ease and speed of technical integration
• Economics that drive both member adoption and long-term business value
• Strategic alignment with Oura’s brand, mission, and roadmap

• Build durable, high-leverage partnerships that compound in value as Oura’s hardware portfolio grows.

Closely Collaborate with Product & Engineering Teams

• Partner closely with Product and Engineering to define:

• Sensing and integration architecture for new partner categories
• Security, compliance, and reliability requirements
• Future-proofing for additional use cases across the hardware roadmap

• Translate partner requirements into clear product direction and prioritization.

Go-to-Market & Awareness

• Co-own the GTM strategy for hardware-enabled experiences with Commercial and Marketing leadership, accountable for partner launch outcomes, attach rates, and joint awareness metrics.
• Drive awareness with partners and members so each integration is recognized and valued, not just available.
• Position Oura’s hardware partnerships as a differentiated extension of our mission and member experience.

Shape Hardware-Led Differentiation

• Partner with product, engineering, science, and market leaders on hardware-anchored propositions, movement, powering broader lifestyle capabilities (OEMs, NFC, BLE)
• Identify where partnerships deepen differentiation and reinforce Oura’s moat
• Strengthen Oura’s position as the health-sensing platform of choice

Lead, Grow, and Own Outcomes

• Build and lead the Hardware Partnerships team from the ground up and scale the team as the portfolio matures.
• Navigate regulated and health-adjacent categories with legal, clinical, and regulatory partners.
• Own targets for device-anchored partner launches, attach rates, and ecosystem revenue across priority ICPs.

Leadership Accountability

• Be accountable to Oura’s leadership team, including Product and Commercial leaders, for:
• Adoption and usage metrics
• Launch outcomes and overall experience quality
• Partner success
• Define and track KPIs that measure both near‑term launch success and long‑term portfolio value.

We’d love to have you on the team if you have

• 10+ years in BD or partnerships roles at consumer hardware, IoT, automotive, or adjacent businesses, ideally with deep, hands‑on experience inside hardware‑first companies.
• Proven track record negotiating and scaling complex hardware partnerships across technical, commercial, and GTM dimensions.
• Strong ability to operate as a builder and connector across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Legal, Finance, and Marketing.
• Strategic thinker who can also drive execution in ambiguous, 0→1 environments.
• Comfortable influencing senior leaders without direct authority, and operating at the pace of a fast‑moving consumer hardware company.
• Genuine passion for building products that blend hardware, software, and member value into something better than the sum of its parts.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience launching hardware integrations with major OEMs
• Background in regulated health/medical device categories
• Track record of building partnerships orgs from 0→1 inside fast‑scaling consumer hardware companies

BenefitsAt Oura, we care about you and your well-being. Everyone here at Oura has a ring of their own and we are continually looking to improve employee health.

What we offer:

• Competitive salary and equity packages
• Health, dental, vision insurance, and mental health resources
• An Oura Ring of your own plus employee discounts for friends & family
• 20 days of paid time off plus 13 paid holidays plus 8 days of flexible wellness time off
• Paid sick leave and parental leave

Oura takes a market-based approach to pay, which may vary depending on your location. US locations are categorized into tiers based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. While most offers will be closer to the starting range, successful candidates' pay will be determined based on job‑related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, internal peer equity, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

• Region 1: $200,600 - $236,000
• Region 2: $182,750 - $215,000
• Region 3: $164,900 - $194,000

A recruiter can determine your zones/tiers based on your US location.

We are not considering candidates residing in the following states: Alaska (AK), Delaware (DE), Iowa (IA), Mississippi (MS), Missouri (MO), Nebraska (NE), Rhode Island (RI), South Dakota (SD), Vermont (VT), West Virginia (WV), and Wisconsin (WI).

Oura is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Individuals seeking employment at Oura are considered without regard to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.