Director Start Up Banking Life Sciences

First Citizens Bank; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 214,000 - 278,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Job summary

SVB Startup Banking is seeking a Director – Business Development to lead client acquisition and growth on the West Coast, with a strong Life Science Healthcare investor network. The role balances in-market activity with strategic partnerships, data-driven insights, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver value beyond banking.

The position is hybrid, based in San Francisco with regional West Coast coverage, requiring a deep local ecosystem network and a proven track record in relationship

Qualifications

• Experience building and managing strategic investor relationships in Life Science Healthcare.
• Proven ability to drive client acquisition and growth in startup banking or fintech of high-growth zones.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration across Sales Ops, Marketing and Relationship Managers.

Responsibilities

• Drive client acquisition and growth by presenting SVB’s value proposition to clients and prospects.
• Manage key channel partnerships and serve as an in-market ambassador for SVB Startup Banking.
• Support Relationship Managers by delivering market insights and value-added services.
• Coordinate data and CRM activities to convert leads into clients and optimize market share.
• Engage with founders and investors to build lasting, productive relationships.

Skills

Relationship management

Business development

Life Science Healthcare

Investor relations

Education

High School diploma or GED + 10 years experience

Bachelor’s degree + 6 years

Job description

Overview

This is a hybrid role, with the expectation that time working will regularly take place inside and outside of our Northern California office

SVB Startup Banking is focused on engaging and building deep and authentic relationships with pre-Series A founders, investors (emerging managers), clients, prospects, and partners including accelerators/incubators, law firms, universities, industry groups, and more.

Seeking a relationship management and business development professional with experience in the Life Science Healthcare industry to join our team. Primary responsibilities of the Director are to build, maintain, and engage strategic relationships within the LSHC investor community to help scale and grow SVB’s businesses; be an SVB ambassador; cross-sell the SVB platform by winning and retaining the best opportunities; provide strategic insight and advice to critical investor relationships and internal bank stakeholders. Based in San Francisco, but covering the West Coast, the ideal candidate is already active in the local ecosystem, with an existing and growing network of investors, influencers, and relevant stakeholder relationships.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of the Director – Business Development, is to drive client acquisition and growth by positioning and delivering SVB’s value proposition to clients and prospects. They will directly manage and develop key channel partnerships while being a highly visible ambassador for SVB Startup Banking in the market(s) being covered. The Director – Business Development works closely with Startup Banking Relationship Managers to collectively convert prospects into clients, as well as support Relationship Managers by delivering market insights and Value Beyond Banking to their clients and collaborate to provide a best in class client experience.

The Director position is designed to primarily deal directly with founders and future founders. While this role has a significant amount of in-market activity, there also exists administrative and analytical activities to help guide the actions and strategies of the overall Startup Banking business, particularly with respect to optimizing channel partner relationships and overall market share.

• Deliver founder success through lead conversion, customer connections, and value-add for top-tier clients and partners.
• Create and deliver founder- and partner-specific events in market.
• Host founder office hours and other 1:1 engagement programming at key channel partners
• Support activities with Sales Ops and Marketing to bring value to the market.
• Analyze and coordinate various data elements of the business that support direct evangelism (e.g. post-event data, leads, CRM management, etc.) to power the process of converting prospects to clients.
• Interacts directly with prospective clients to articulate SVB’s value proposition, products, and other services.

Qualifications

High School or GED plus 10 years of Relationship Management / Business Development experience in the Life Science Healthcare ecosystem OR Bachelor’s degree plus 6 years of experience

Preferred

Expertise: Active in Life Science Healthcare and committed to active participation in the VC and startup community. Comfortable building long-term, sales-oriented relationships, and managing partnerships. Individual can build and maintain investor relationships, devise strategies for developing new business, and collaborate well across groups

Goal Oriented

Able to meet targets and measure return on investment. Data driven. Capable of using both data and intuition to deliver results. Likes to optimize

Execution

Can develop authentic relationships with the most influential and impactful venture firms in the startup ecosystem. Actively shares viewpoints and information with colleagues and peers to form recommendations. Ensures cohesion across SVB’s broad businesses and delivers timely business reviews to show progress to goals

Collaborative

Influences. Has gravitas and charisma. Partners extremely well with internal colleagues and can skillfully engage in difficult external discussions with critical relationships when needed. Views SVB and the broader Business Development team as extensions of their network and uses full set of SVB resources to deliver exception results

Investor Focus

Has an innate curiosity and the ability to uncover the needs and interests of strategic investors. Is personally active and respected in the marketplace with an existing and growing network of relevant stakeholders

New Business

Persistent and resourceful. Able to ideate and devise new ways to engage clients and prospects. Comfortable with pipeline development and execution accountability. Can learn to cross sell SVB platform. Able to deal with difficult or dissatisfied clients. Motivated to solve issues and thinks about solutions – not problems.

Brand Builder

Can represent SVB with confidence in the marketplace with a unique and informed POV. Able to converse with serial entrepreneurs, first-time founders, early stage investors, late-stage investors, and stakeholders as needed.

The base pay for this position is relative to your experience but the range is generally $213,800 – $277,940 annually.

Benefits are an integral part of total rewards and First Citizens Bank is committed to providing a competitive, thoughtfully designed and quality benefits program to meet the needs of our associates. More information can be found at https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/benefits.