SVB- Director Startup Banking- Life Sciences

First Citizens Bank; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 157,000 - 205,000; Full time

Job summary

First Citizens Bank and SVB Startup Banking seek a Director of Business Development to scale client acquisition on the East Coast, with a focus on the Life Science Healthcare ecosystem. Based in Boston, you will act as a market ambassador, nurturing investors and founders while cross-selling SVB services.

The role demands deep industry connections, strategic insight, and the ability to drive cross-functional initiatives across relationships, partnerships, and data-driven sales strategies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 6 years of Relationship Management / Business Development experience in the Life Science Healthcare ecosystem OR High School or GED and 10 years of experience.
• Expertise: Active in Life Science Healthcare and committed to VC/startup community involvement.
• Goal Oriented: able to meet targets and measure ROI; data driven.

Responsibilities

• Drive client acquisition and growth by presenting SVB’s value proposition to clients and prospects.
• Directly manage and develop key channel partnerships while serving as SVB Startup Banking ambassador in the market.
• Collaborate with Startup Banking Relationship Managers to convert prospects into clients and provide market insights.
• Coordinate data elements (leads, CRM, post-event data) to power the sales process and pipeline growth.
• Engage founders and investors, building long-term, revenue-generating relationships across markets.
• Provide strategic input to internal stakeholders to strengthen market share and cross-sell SVB services.

Skills

Relationship Management

Business Development

Investor Relations

Sales & Partnerships

Education

Bachelor’s degree

High School or GED

Job description

Overview

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

Together, Silicon Valley Bank and First Citizens offer you the strength and stability of a diversified financial institution with a 125-year tradition of service and the personalized approach of a nimble financial partner.

First Citizens Bank helps personal, business, commercial and wealth clients build financial strength that lasts. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., First Citizens has built a unique legacy of strength, stability and long-term thinking that has spanned generations. First Citizens offers an array of general banking services including a network of more than 550 branches in 23 states and commercial finance expertise delivering best-in-class lending, leasing and other financial services coast to coast. Other specialty groups include syndications, TMT, Commercial Real Estate, Energy, Healthcare, Equipment Finance, and Sponsor Finance. Parent company First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA) is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First-Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. Learn more at svb.com.

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 Boston, but covering the East 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

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

Preferred Qualifications:

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 generally between $156,675 – $204,900 annually. Actual starting base pay will be determined based on skills, experience, location, and other non-discriminatory factors permitted by law. For some roles, total compensation may also include variable incentives, bonuses, benefits, and/or other awards as outlined in the offer of employment.

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

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