Director of Business Development

Cardless; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries & equity

Top‑of‑the‑line healthcare

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Team trips & offsites

Lunch for in-office days

Commuter assistance $250/mo

Remote setup stipend $500

Job summary

Cardless is seeking a Director of Business Development to own the top of the commercial funnel in a hands-on, individual contributor role. You will identify prospects, build executive relationships, and drive deals from first conversation through signed terms.

This position reports to the Chief Business Officer and requires navigating complex RFP processes and enterprise negotiations. You will craft high-quality pipelines, work with Marketing and Product to align narratives, and partner with

Qualifications

• 7-10 years in business development, partnerships, or a sales role with financial services exposure.
• Experience navigating formal RFP processes for technology or infrastructure is a strong plus.
• Demonstrated track record closing complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals.
• Existing network in card/payments spaces with decision-makers is a genuine advantage.
• Ability to articulate Cardless value in executive rooms and through written materials.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain New Partner Relationships with brands, banks, and loyalty programs.
• Identify and prioritize target brands likely to benefit from Cardless card programs.
• Develop senior-level relationships and guide opportunities from first contact to signature.
• Represent Cardless credibly to executives and partners; align marketing/product materials accordingly.
• Own the BD process: pipeline, forecasting, and deal progression with cross-functional teams.
• Navigate RFP channels with consulting firms and networks to win opportunities.
• Maintain systems (CRM) and provide regular pipeline reporting.
• Develop a compelling point of view on consulting activity and market dynamics.

Skills

Relationship building

Enterprise sales

RFP navigation

Communication & presence

Pipeline management

Networking

Strategic thinking

Tools

Job description

• Cardless grows by landing new brand partners — and landing brand partners requires someone who can build relationships before there is a deal to discuss, navigate the processes that larger organizations use to make significant strategic decisions, and persuade companies that already have a card program that there is a better way to run one. This role is that person
• As Director of Business Development, you will own the top of the Cardless commercial funnel. You will identify the right prospects, build the relationships required to get in the room, and drive the process from first conversation through a signed term sheet. This role reports to the Chief Business Officer of Cardless
• This is a hands‑on, individual contributor role with a clear mandate: Build an organized pipeline, bring brands closer to conversion, and negotiate durable and lucrative deals. You will be evaluated on the quality and velocity of the opportunities you generate and move forward
• Build New Partner Relationships
• Identify and prioritize the brands most likely to benefit from a Cardless card program — drawing on market data, competitive intelligence, and your own network to build a high-quality prospect list
• Develop relationships with senior decision‑makers at target companies over the time horizon that enterprise deals require — not just the inbound conversations that happen to come in
• Represent Cardless credibly and compellingly to executives at major consumer brands, financial institutions, and loyalty programs — most of whom will already have opinions about the card space
• Work with Marketing and Product to ensure the materials, demos, and narratives you bring to market reflect what Cardless actually does and where it is going
• Work the Consulting and RFP Channel
• Build and maintain relationships with the consulting firms and networks that run RFP and vendor selection processes for large card program decisions
• Ensure Cardless is known, understood, and credibly represented in the processes these firms run — which requires ongoing relationship maintenance, not just responding to RFPs as they arrive
• Develop a point of view on which consulting firms are most active in the card space, which relationships matter most, and where Cardless should invest relationship‑building resources
• Respond to formal RFP processes with materials that are accurate, compelling, and differentiated — working with the product, finance, and partnerships teams to pull together the right inputs
• Target Companies with Existing Card Programs
• Identify companies that currently have card programs through incumbent issuers — and build the case for why Cardless represents a materially better partner
• Develop deep familiarity with the competitive landscape: what the major incumbent issuers offer, where they fall short, and what a company that has lived through a card program launch actually cares about
• Build relationships at these companies in a way that is respectful of existing contracts and focused on what comes next — not adversarial to their current partners
• Work with the product and partnerships teams to ensure the Cardless pitch is grounded in real product capabilities and backed by the performance of existing programs
• Own the Business Development Process
• Manage a pipeline of prospects from first contact through signed agreement, with the discipline and rigor that enterprise sales requires — accurate forecasting, clear next steps, and no deals falling through the cracks
• Work with the leadership team to prioritize which opportunities to pursue and at what pace, given the constraints of the partnerships team that will need to execute what BD signs
• Diligently maintain the systems — CRM, contact databases, outreach cadences — that make BD operations repeatable and scalable as the team grows
• Provide regular, honest reporting on pipeline health, deal velocity, and the competitive dynamics you observe in the market

Benefits

• Competitive salaries, equity, and a 401(k) plan
• Top‑of‑the‑line healthcare (medical, vision, and dental), with 100% primary coverage and 75% dependent coverage for medical
• Unlimited paid time off, with a minimum of 15 days off per year
• Parental leave for birthing and non‑birthing parents
• Team trips & offsites
• For in‑office employees:
• Catered lunch at the office every day, plus plenty of snacks & drinks
• $250/month commuter assistance for public transit or our parking garage
• For remote employees:
• $500 remote setup stipend to help you do your best work

Requirements

• 7-10 years in business development, partnerships, or a sales role with meaningful exposure to financial services — ideally including time at a bank, card issuer, or payment network
• Experience navigating formal RFP processes for financial services technology or infrastructure is a strong plus
• A demonstrated track record of closing complex, multi‑stakeholder enterprise deals — not just sourcing conversations, but owning the process from prospecting through signature
• Existing network in the card and payments space — relationships with decision‑makers at consumer brands, financial institutions, loyalty programs, or the consulting firms that advise them
• Communication & Presence: You are effective in a room with senior executives. You can explain what Cardless does in two minutes and make it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. You can also write
• Sales Process and Discipline: You run a clean pipeline. You know where every deal is, what the next step is, and what it will take to close it. You do not lose deals because something fell through the cracks
• Financial Services Fluency: You understand how card programs work — the economics, the players, the contract structures, the regulatory context — well enough to have a credible commercial conversation with a bank executive or a CFONetwork and Relationship Building: You have spent years building relationships in the right places, and you know how to open a door that is not obviously open. Your network is a genuine competitive advantage, not a LinkedIn followingJudgment and Autonomy: You can prioritize your own time across a large number of potential opportunities and make good calls about where to invest without needing to be managed at the activity levelCompetitive Intelligence: You stay current on what incumbents are doing, what new entrants are building, and how the market is evolving — and you use that knowledge to sharpen how Cardless is positioned