Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.

Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.

Upwork’s growth partnership team sits within Upwork’s BD & Partnerships team and is on a massive mission to connect customers looking for freelancer expertise, professional services, and flexible staffing with top Upwork talent through integrated partnerships. We are focused on launching new partnerships that will drive customer starts and revenue, and our journey is just beginning! We are looking for a business development manager to help us create and manage new partnership pipeline in a highly strategic area.

As a Sr. Business Development Manager, you will be responsible for negotiating, launching, and managing new partnerships with Upwork. The Sr. Business Development Manager is a person who has a deep sense of ownership and can contribute to building the partner acquisition funnel from the ground up. As the Sr. Business Development Manager, you’ll team work internally with leadership, partner operations, and our BDR team to line up the ideal partners that fit with our strategy. Outside of Upwork, you’ll spend most of your time interfacing, selling, and problem solving with partners. The Sr. Business Development Manager has a keen eye for identifying and developing complex opportunities and gets our partners excited to be doing business with Upwork. Our partnerships team is the friendliest group in the business and our business development manager will help us to elaborate on that brand.

Your Responsibilities:

• Identify, research, and recommend industries, companies, and technologies for Upwork to evaluate from the perspective of growth and distribution partnerships.
• Lead and manage the end-to-end partnership process, pipeline building, due diligence, and negotiating the business terms with partners while working with Upwork’s legal team to execute necessary contracts
• Contribute to a key initiative to expand on Upwork’s partner ecosystem strategy - manage a partner pipeline - primarily focused on distribution.
• Collaborate closely with Product to ideate new partner product solutions that can streamline the program
• Regular pipeline management and pipeline reporting to the leadership team
• Meet and exceed deal goals through prospecting, qualifying, managing, closing new partnerships opportunities, and leading contract negotiations.
• Build relationships with leaders at emerging and established companies
• Effectively partner and coordinate partnerships across teams, including product, design, engineering, marketing, sales, legal, and finance.
• Monitor the competitive landscape, analyze company objectives, and identify, recommend, and pursue technologies that can accelerate Upwork’s growth goals.

What it Takes to Catch our Eye:

• You have 7+ years of work experience in investment banking, private equity, sales, or business development
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and senior executives in a fast-paced environment
• You are strategic, driven, goal oriented, and analytical with a passion for marketplace businesses and a thorough understanding of the competitive landscape
• You have a hunter mentality, proficient in pipeline building, management, and deal completion
• Are proficient in partner sales motions, technical, and able to navigate through integration points such as APIs and/or embedded products
• A sharp eye for opportunity and an obsession with closing new strategic partners
• Strong ownership and industriousness traits
• A deep curiosity for integration entry points between partner technologies
• A consultative and trustworthy presence with partners
• An “anything can be done” type of attitude

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $130,000 - $208,000. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 19 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees.

At the core of our vibrant culture are shared values that form the foundation of our organization. These values revolve around trust, risk-taking, customer focus, and excellence. Our overarching mission is to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster an environment where individuals are encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work, nurturing personal and professional growth through development opportunities, mentorship programs, and participation in Upwork Belonging Communities.

We take pride in providing exceptional benefits to our employees. These include comprehensive medical insurance coverage for both you and your family, unlimited paid time off, a 401(k) plan with matching contributions, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. To explore these benefits in detail, as well as gain insights into our company values, working principles, and the overall employee experience, we invite you to visit our Life at Upwork page.

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

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