Director, Business Development

Job description

ABOUT CARDLESS Cardless is a Series C consumer fintech that uses AI to make it easy for the world's largest brands to build credit cards into their ecosystems. Think Shopify, but for credit cards. Brands use Cardless to configure, launch, and grow credit card programs that delight their customers and strengthen their core business. Customers include Coinbase, Bilt Rewards, Alibaba, Qatar Airways, and LATAM Airlines. Cardless powers cards on all three major networks (Visa, Mastercard, and American Express) and uses agentic servicing to operate at a fraction of the headcount and cost that traditional card issuers require. The company has scaled from $10 million to $150 million in run rate revenue in the past 12 months. Cardless raised a $60 million Series C led by Spark Capital in September 2025, bringing total funding past $170 million. The team is past 70 people and scaling toward profitability by year-end 2026. ABOUT THE ROLE Cardless grows by landing new brand partners — and landing brand partners requires someone who can build relationships before there is a deal to discuss, navigate the processes that larger organizations use to make significant strategic decisions, and persuade companies that already have a card program that there is a better way to run one. This role is that person. As Director of Business Development, you will own the top of the Cardless commercial funnel. You will identify the right prospects, build the relationships required to get in the room, and drive the process from first conversation through a signed term sheet. This role reports to the Chief Business Officer of Cardless. This is a hands-on, individual contributor role with a clear mandate: Build an organized pipeline, bring brands closer to conversion, and negotiate durable and lucrative deals. You will be evaluated on the quality and velocity of the opportunities you generate and move forward. WHAT YOU WILL DO Build New Partner Relationships - Identify and prioritize the brands most likely to benefit from a Cardless card program — drawing on market data, competitive intelligence, and your own network to build a high-quality prospect list. - Develop relationships with senior decision-makers at target companies over the time horizon that enterprise deals require — not just the inbound conversations that happen to come in. - Represent Cardless credibly and compellingly to executives at major consumer brands, financial institutions, and loyalty programs — most of whom will already have opinions about the card space. - Work with Marketing and Product to ensure the materials, demos, and narratives you bring to market reflect what Cardless actually does and where it is going. Work the Consulting and RFP Channel - Build and maintain relationships with the consulting firms and networks that run RFP and vendor selection processes for large card program decisions. - Ensure Cardless is known, understood, and credibly represented in the processes these firms run — which requires ongoing relationship maintenance, not just responding to RFPs as they arrive. - Develop a point of view on which consulting firms are most active in the card space, which relationships matter most, and where Cardless should invest relationship-building resources. - Respond to formal RFP processes with materials that are accurate, compelling, and differentiated — working with the product, finance, and partnerships teams to pull together the right inputs. Target Companies with Existing Card Programs - Identify companies that currently have card programs through incumbent issuers — and build the case for why Cardless represents a materially better partner. - Develop deep familiarity with the competitive landscape: what the major incumbent issuers offer, where they fall short, and what a company that has lived through a card program launch actually cares about. - Build relationships at these companies in a way that is respectful of existing contracts and focused on what comes next — not adversarial to their current partners. - Work with the product and partnerships teams to ensure the Cardless pitch is grounded in real product capabilities and backed by the performance of existing programs. Own the Business Development Process - Manage a pipeline of prospects from first contact through signed agreement, with the discipline and rigor that enterprise sales requires — accurate forecasting, clear next steps, and no deals falling through the cracks. - Work with the leadership team to prioritize which opportunities to pursue and at what pace, given the constraints of the partnerships team that will need to execute what BD signs. - Diligently maintain the systems — CRM, contact databases, outreach cadences — that make BD operations repeatable and scalable as the team grows. - Provide regular, honest reporting on pipeline health, deal velocity, and the competitive dynamics you observe in the market. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Experience - 7-10 years in business development, partnerships, or a sales role with meaningful exposure to financial services — ideally including time at a bank, card issuer, or payment network. - A demonstrated track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals — not just sourcing conversations, but owning the process from prospecting through signature. - Existing network in the card and payments space — relationships with decision-makers at consumer brands, financial institutions, loyalty programs, or the consulting firms that advise them. - Experience navigating formal RFP processes for financial services technology or infrastructure is a strong plus. Skills and Competencies - Network and Relationship Building: You have spent years building relationships in the right places, and you know how to open a door that is not obviously open. Your network is a genuine competitive advantage, not a LinkedIn following. - Financial Services Fluency: You understand how card programs work — the economics, the players, the contract structures, the regulatory context — well enough to have a credible commercial conversation with a bank executive or a CFO. - Sales Process and Discipline: You run a clean pipeline. You know where every deal is, what the next step is, and what it will take to close it. You do not lose deals because something fell through the cracks. - Communication and Presence: You are effective in a room with senior executives. You can explain what Cardless does in two minutes and make it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. You can also write. - Competitive Intelligence: You stay current on what incumbents are doing, what new entrants are building, and how the market is evolving — and you use that knowledge to sharpen how Cardless is positioned. - Judgment and Autonomy: You can prioritize your own time across a large number of potential opportunities and make good calls about where to invest without needing to be managed at the activity level. THIS ROLE IS NOT A FIT IF - Your background is primarily inbound sales or account management — this role requires the ability to generate cold pipeline through network and outbound effort, not manage relationships that someone else originated. - You do not have meaningful experience in financial services — a general enterprise sales background without exposure to banking, cards, or payments will not be sufficient for the conversations this role requires. - You are looking for a management role with a team to build — this is an individual contributor position, and the expectation is that you carry your own number before you hire under you. - You require remote or hybrid work arrangements. WHY THIS ROLE Cardless has found product-market fit, has live programs with major brands, and is growing fast. What it does not yet have is a dedicated business development function — the top of the commercial funnel has been driven by the founders and the CBO. This role is the first dedicated BD hire, which means the person who joins now will set the template for how Cardless does business development. The strongest salespeople in financial services are typically selling products with a 30-year track record and a brand that opens doors for them. Cardless is asking for something harder: to sell a better version of a product that most of its prospects already have. If that challenge sounds more interesting than intimidating, this is the right role. COMPENSATION This role has an annual starting salary range of $175,000–$220,000 + equity + benefits. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skills, experience, and specific work location. BENEFITS We're proud to offer our team excellent benefits: 💸 Meaningful Start-up equity 🏥 100% health, vision & dental primary coverage ➕ 75% health, vision & dental dependent coverage 🍱 Catered lunches 🚎 $250/month Commuter benefit 👶 Parental leave ✈️ Team building events & happy hours 🌴 Flexible PTO with a minimum of 15 days off per year 🖥️ Apple equipment 💸 401k plan LOCATION We're headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with a beautiful office in Jackson Square. This role is in-office 5 days a week.