vp of business development (vice president of business development)

Most days tend to involve a blend of partner conversations, deal-level work, and executive leadership coordination — early-stage prospect discussions, structuring conversations with finance and legal, and pipeline reviews with the leadership team. You'll often spend part of the time on strategic priorities — what kinds of deals to pursue, which markets to enter — and part on active negotiations.

The hardest part is often the cross-functional reality of business development — deals need product, legal, finance, and sales to all say yes, and any one can stop a transaction. You'll typically influence across functions you don't own, while being accountable for outcomes that depend on the whole organization.

People who tend to thrive here are commercially instinctive, relationally skilled, and patient with deal cycles that often take longer than they should. The trade-off is the discontinuous nature of BD outcomes — quarters can be quiet and then concentrated. If you find satisfaction in shaping the deals that change the company's shape, this role offers one of the most consequential commercial seats below the C-suite.