Business Development Lead
Content + Source + Freshness • 12 Dec 2025 • 95% confidence
Offer value
The role offers considerable potential for impact through relationship building in the AI sector, strong company leadership, and attractive benefits.
- Significant role within a rapidly growing AI company.
- Unlimited PTO and competitive benefits.
- Lead strategy in a dynamic tech environment.
- Requires solid experience and networking skills.
Pros
- Opportunity to work with influential leaders in AI and tech.
- Robust benefits package, including unlimited PTO and equity participation.
- Potential to shape the partner ecosystem and market strategy.
Cons
- High expectation for experience and network in strategic partnerships.
- Fast-paced startup culture may require adaptability and extensive travel.
- Requires significant prior knowledge of AI and enterprise SaaS.
Who it's for
Senior / Lead • In-person with potential travel
Good fit
- Experienced business development professionals in tech.
- Those with strong networks in AI and investments.
- Leaders interested in strategic partnership roles.
Not recommended for
- New professionals or those without relevant industry experience.
- Candidates preferring less intensive interaction or collaboration.
- Those looking for purely remote positions.
Motivation fit
Key skills
About the job
About us
At Sierra, we’re building a platform to enable every company in the world to build their own autonomous AI agents for everything from customer service to commerce. We are primarily an in-person company based in San Francisco, with growing offices in Atlanta and London.
We are guided by a set of values that are at the core of our actions and define our culture: Trust, Customer Obsession, Craftsmanship, Intensity, and Family. These values are the foundation of our work, and we are committed to upholding them in everything we do.
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Our co-founders are Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor. Bret was most recently co-CEO of Salesforce, which had previously acquired the company he founded, Quip. Before founding Quip, Bret was the CTO of Facebook. Bret was one of Google's earliest product managers and one of the co-creators of Google Maps. Bret currently serves as Board Chair of OpenAI. Before founding Sierra, Clay spent 18 years at Google, where he most recently led Google Labs. Earlier, he started and led Google’s AR/VR effort, Project Starline, and Google Lens. Before that, Clay led the product and design teams for Google Workspace.
What you'll do
As a Business Development Lead, you’ll play a critical role in building and nurturing a robust ecosystem of partners and stakeholders around Sierra, amplifying our reach and market impact.
Industry Partnerships: Develop and grow partnerships with key industry players and technology platforms
Strategic Customer Channels: Explore and cultivate alternative customer acquisition channels beyond traditional sales, leveraging Sierra’s ecosystem of investors, partners, and industry influencers to drive inbound interest and adoption
GTM Strategy & Collaboration: Align partnership efforts with Sierra’s broader GTM approach, collaborating closely with Sales and Marketing
Investor & VC/PE Engagement: Build and deepen relationships with VCs and PE firms to position Sierra as a strategic AI partner across their portfolios. Proactively identify opportunities to introduce Sierra to portfolio companies that would benefit from our agents
Industry & Market Expansion: Gather market intelligence, share insights to inform product development, and explore opportunities for potential growth across new market segments and geographies
What you'll bring
8+ years in business development, strategic partnerships, or related roles in tech
Strong understanding of the VC/PE landscape and experience working with investors
Proven track record of structuring and closing high-value partnerships with senior stakeholders
Ability to engage and maintain relationships with C-level executives, investors, and key decision-makers
Analytical mindset to evaluate partnership opportunities and align them with Sierra’s long-term vision
Ability to navigate ambiguity in a fast-moving startup environment
Even better...
Prior experience at a high-growth AI or enterprise SaaS startup
Deep expertise in a few of our key industries: financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, media, travel, transportation and hospitality, retain and consumer goods, and/or technology
Experience structuring and managing ecosystem partnerships
Our values
Trust: We build trust with our customers with our accountability, empathy, quality, and responsiveness. We build trust in AI by making it more accessible, safe, and useful. We build trust with each other by showing up for each other professionally and personally, creating an environment that enables all of us to do our best work.
Customer Obsession: We deeply understand our customers’ business goals and relentlessly focus on driving outcomes, not just technical milestones. Everyone at the company knows and spends time with our customers. When our customer is having an issue, we drop everything and fix it.
Craftsmanship: We get the details right, from the words on the page to the system architecture. We have good taste. When we notice something isn’t right, we take the time to fix it. We are proud of the products we produce. We continuously self-reflect to continuously self-improve.
Intensity: We know we don’t have the luxury of patience. We play to win. We care about our product being the best, and when it isn’t, we fix it. When we fail, we talk about it openly and without blame so we succeed the next time.
Family: We know that balance and intensity are compatible, and we model it in our actions and processes. We are the best technology company for parents. We support and respect each other and celebrate each other’s personal and professional achievements.
What we offer
We want our benefits to reflect our values and offer the following to full-time employees in the United States:
Flexible (Unlimited) Paid Time Off
Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits for you and your family
Life Insurance and Disability Benefits
401(k) Plan with Sierra match
Parental Leave
Fertility and Family Building Benefits through Carrot
Lunch, as well as delicious snacks and coffee to keep you energized
Discretionary Benefit Stipend giving people the ability to spend where it matters most
Free alphorn lessons
These benefits are further detailed in Sierra's policies and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans. Eligible full-time employees can participate in Sierra's equity plans subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies.
Be you, with us
We're working to bring the transformative power of AI to every organization in the world. To do so, it is important to us that the diversity of our employees represents the diversity of our customers. We believe that our work and culture are better when we encourage, support, and respect different skills and experiences represented within our team. We encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. We strive to evaluate all applicants consistently without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.
