Business Development Manager, Local Partnerships

Wanderboat AI; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Wanderboat is seeking a hands-on Senior Associate, Local Partnerships & Activation to own and grow local business partnerships and real-world activations starting in the SF Bay Area.

You will independently identify, engage, and build relationships with restaurants, cafés, bars, local venues, lifestyle businesses, creators, and community partners, then support co-marketing campaigns and local growth initiatives.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in local partnerships, business development, merchant partnerships, account management, field marketing, or local growth.
• Experience working with restaurants, local businesses, merchants, venues, creators, or community-based partners.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with comfort talking directly to business owners, operators, and local decision-makers.
• Experience leading local events, offline activations, co-marketing campaigns, merchant campaigns, or community-based growth initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage partnership pipelines, negotiate collaboration terms, and drive projects from initial outreach through execution and post-campaign evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Own Local Business Partnerships: identify, outreach, negotiate, and manage partner relationships across SF Bay Area.
• Drive Co-Marketing and Local Campaigns: develop and execute restaurant features, local guides, check-ins, events.
• Execute Local Activations: plan and run dining experiences, neighbourhood crawls, tasting events, creator meetups.
• Connect Partners, Users, and Creators: identify tastemakers and community nodes to amplify Wanderboat's local presence.
• Gather Local Insights: collect feedback and document learnings to inform product, content, and growth decisions.

Skills

Local partnerships

Business development

Field marketing

Relationship building

Merchant partnerships

Event coordination

Communication skills

Pipeline management

CRM tools

Tools

Salesforce

HubSpot

Airtable

Google Sheets

Job description

Wanderboat is an AI-powered local discovery platform that helps people explore cities and find great places effortlessly.

By combining conversational AI, interactive maps, and community-driven content, Wanderboat enables users to discover restaurants, attractions, and unique local experiences through simple, natural interactions.

We are building the next generation of AI-powered discovery, reimagining how people explore the world around them.

Our mission is to create immersive and personalized AI experiences that seamlessly integrate into users' real-world activities.

About the Role

We're looking for a hands-on Senior Associate, Local Partnerships & Activation to own and grow Wanderboat's local business partnerships and real-world activation efforts, starting from the SF Bay Area.

This role combines local partnerships, restaurant partnerships, field marketing, and local activation. You will independently identify, engage, and build relationships with restaurants, cafés, bars, local venues, lifestyle businesses, creators, and community partners, then support co-marketing campaigns, dining experiences, check-in activities, UGC opportunities, and local growth initiatives.

This is a field-facing execution role for someone who enjoys talking to local businesses, spending time in the local market, coordinating offline activities, and helping a consumer product grow through real-world local partnerships.

What You'll Do

1. Own Local Business Partnerships

• Independently identify and prioritize high-quality restaurants, cafés, bars, local attractions, lifestyle venues, and other local businesses across the SF Bay Area.
• Own outreach and relationship development with business owners, operators, managers, and local decision-makers, and negotiate mutually beneficial collaboration opportunities.
• Maintain partner lists, outreach records, follow-up notes, and partnership status updates.

2. Drive Co-Marketing and Local Campaigns

• Develop and execute co-marketing opportunities such as restaurant features, local guides, check-in campaigns, tasting experiences, special offers, neighbourhood lists, and event collaborations.
• Help local partners understand how Wanderboat can support visibility, discovery, customer engagement, and brand exposure.
• Coordinate with internal product, content, growth, and marketing teams to help turn partner opportunities into user-facing experiences.

3. Execute Local Activations

• Own the planning and execution of local activation campaigns across the SF Bay Area, including dining experiences, restaurant check-ins, neighbourhood crawls, tasting events, creator meetups, and local discovery activities.
• Coordinate event details such as partner communication, scheduling, logistics, content capture, and post-activity follow-up.
• Stay connected to local food scenes, lifestyle trends, neighbourhood culture, and emerging city communities.

4. Connect Partners, Users, and Creators

• Identify local tastemakers, foodies, creators, community organizers, and city explorers who can help amplify Wanderboat's local presence.
• Support collaborations between local businesses, creators, ambassadors, contributors, and early users.
• Help create simple participation mechanisms that encourage users to discover, visit, check-in, share content, and engage with local businesses.

5. Gather Local Insights and Document Learnings

• Collect feedback from local partners, users, and creators to support product, content, growth, and marketing decisions.
• Track local trends, restaurant activity, creator content, competitive platforms, and consumer behaviour across the Bay Area.
• Document outreach processes, activation learnings, partner feedback, and repeatable playbooks for future city expansion.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of experience in local partnerships, business development, merchant partnerships, account management, field marketing, community activation, or local growth.
• Experience working with restaurants, local businesses, merchants, venues, creators, or community-based partners.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with comfort talking directly to business owners, operators, and local decision-makers.
• Experience leading local events, offline activations, co-marking campaigns, merchant campaigns, or community-based growth initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage partnership pipelines, negotiate collaboration terms, and drive projects from initial outreach through execution and post-campaign evaluation.
• Strong execution and organisational skills, with the ability to manage outreach lists, follow-ups, calendars, and activity summaries.
• Comfortable being field-facing and spending time in the local market across the SF Bay Area.
• Strong interest in food, restaurants, local discovery, travel, lifestyle experiences, city exploration, and consumer products.
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving early-stage startup environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience at or working with platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Yelp, OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Toast, Square, Tripadvisor, Google Maps, or other local commerce / local discovery platforms.
• Existing relationships with restaurants, cafés, bars, local venues, creators, food communities, neighbourhood organizations, or lifestyle businesses in the SF Bay Area.
• Experience supporting merchant partnership programs, local business campaigns, creator collaborations, or UGC-driven campaigns.
• Experience using CRM, pipeline management, or partner tracking tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Airtable, Notion, or Google Sheets.
• Familiarity with local food trends, dining culture, neighbourhood discovery, and consumer behaviour in the Bay Area.

Why Join Us

• Backed by top investors, with a team including former builders from Microsoft AI, Meta, and Google.
• Opportunity to help shape how people discover restaurants, local businesses, and city experiences in the AI era.
• High ownership and direct impact on local growth, business partnerships, and real-world activation.
• Work on a product that connects AI-powered discovery with real-world dining, lifestyle, and local exploration.
• Help build the foundation for a scalable local partnership and activation model from the ground up.