Head of Ecosystem & Partnerships — SF Growth

Dover; San Francisco (CA); Sur place; USD 140 000 - 160 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Shepherd is seeking its first Head of Ecosystem & Partnerships to join our founding team in San Francisco. You will own the strategy, budget, relationships, and pipeline for a high-growth channel and have a path to building and leading a team as it scales.

This role focuses on creating a venture-backed ecosystem, partnering with funds, accelerators, studios, and university programs to drive founder-centric offerings, content, and events.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience across venture, startups, or the startup ecosystem.
• 3+ years as Head of Community, Head of Partnerships, Head of Platform, or equivalent, with ownership of strategy, budget, and outcomes.
• 2+ years in venture capital or VC-facing roles, whether as an investor (including corporate VC), on a platform or community team, or running venture partnerships at a startup that sells through the VC ecosystem.
• Experience selling a service to startups through the VC and accelerator ecosystem, ideally at a company whose customers are founders.
• Proven track record of turning community and partnerships into measurable pipeline, customers, and revenue.
• Proven event, field marketing, and experiential leadership, with attendance, retention, and outcomes to show for it.
• An established network across seed and Series A investors, platform teams, accelerators, and founders, with depth in SF.
• Fluency in startup finance and fundraising, including SAFEs, priced rounds, cap tables, and diligence.
• Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate before starting.

Responsabilités

• Build and manage relationships with Heads of Platform, talent and community leads, and partners at pre-seed, seed, and Series A funds, starting in SF and the Bay Area.
• Secure placement in portfolio perk programs, preferred-vendor lists, and platform resource libraries, and create fund-specific offerings such as portfolio pricing, fundraise-readiness reviews, and diligence prep.
• Partner with venture studios, accelerators, fellowships, and university programs through cohort offers, incorporation packages, legal office hours, and curriculum workshops on formation, equity, SAFEs, and fundraising.
• Build co-selling and referral partnerships with companies that serve the same founders, including startup banks, payroll and HR platforms, cap-table tools, insurance, and recruiting platforms.
• Design and launch a recurring Shepherd founder event series in SF, and co-host programming with partner funds, ecosystem partners, and founder communities.
• Build Shepherd's own founder community into an asset partners want access to, including owned formats such as founder office hours and a Shepherd founder circle.
• Own field marketing, including conference strategy, sponsorships, demo days, and ecosystem activations, with clear ROI tracking.
• Work with Shepherd's attorneys to produce founder-facing content, such as term-sheet explainers, fundraising checklists, and legal playbooks, that partners distribute to their networks.
• Serve as a visible voice for Shepherd on LinkedIn, at events, and on panels.
• Design partner structures, perks, and co-marketing terms with our CLO to ensure compliance with legal-industry referral and advertising rules.
• Own the partnership CRM and reporting, covering partner-sourced pipeline, conversion, CAC, and revenue contribution, and report monthly to the CEO.
• Bring founder and investor feedback back to shape product, pricing, and service packaging.
• Within 90 days, sign 5+ partnerships across funds, accelerators or studios, and ecosystem or community partners, and launch Shepherd's first SF founder event. Within 12 months, make partnerships a top-two acquisition channel.

Connaissances

Relationship building

Strategic partnerships

Business development

Public speaking

Networking

Outils

CRM tools

Salesforce

Description du poste

Shepherd is seeking its first Head of Ecosystem & Partnerships to join our founding team in San Francisco. You will own the strategy, budget, relationships, and pipeline for a high-growth channel and have a path to building and leading a team as it scales.

This role focuses on creating a venture-backed ecosystem, partnering with funds, accelerators, studios, and university programs to drive founder-centric offerings, content, and events.