Business Development Manager, Merchant Partnerships

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Business Development Manager, Merchant Partnerships based in United States.** This role offers the opportunity to build and scale strategic merchant partnerships within a fast-growing AI-powered commerce environment. You will be responsible for identifying high-value opportunities, developing relationships with brands and retailers, and driving partnerships from initial outreach through launch. The position combines business development, commercial strategy, and cross-functional collaboration with product, engineering, operations, and success teams. You will play a key role in expanding a shopping ecosystem by creating new revenue opportunities and improving merchant experiences. This is an ideal opportunity for a proactive partnership professional who enjoys building processes, managing complex negotiations, and operating in an early-stage environment. The successful candidate will help establish scalable acquisition strategies while contributing directly to growth and long-term market expansion. ### Accountabilities: The Business Development Manager, Merchant Partnerships will own the merchant acquisition lifecycle, from sourcing and qualification through negotiation, agreement, and launch readiness. This role requires strong relationship-building skills, commercial judgment, and the ability to coordinate across multiple teams to create successful partnerships. - Identify and prioritize strategic merchant opportunities aligned with customer demand, category priorities, and business growth objectives. - Build and manage a strong partnership pipeline through outbound prospecting, referrals, industry connections, and strategic channels. - Lead discovery conversations, present partnership value propositions, and manage opportunities through the full sales and negotiation cycle. - Negotiate commercial agreements, including partnership terms, product feed requirements, reporting expectations, and onboarding scope. - Collaborate with product, engineering, operations, legal, and partner success teams to ensure smooth integrations and launch execution. - Develop repeatable merchant acquisition processes, including qualification frameworks, outreach strategies, pipeline reporting, and performance tracking. - Maintain accurate pipeline visibility and provide insights on acquisition performance, conversion trends, and growth opportunities. - Support relationships with onboarding partners and external stakeholders to accelerate merchant activation and improve operational efficiency. ## Requirements: The ideal candidate is an experienced business development professional with a background in partnerships, commerce technology, or SaaS environments. They should be comfortable managing complex negotiations, building new relationships, and creating structure in a fast-moving organization. - 5–8+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, strategic sales, or related roles. - Experience selling to retailers, brands, marketplaces, commerce platforms, or merchant-focused technology companies. - Proven ability to negotiate commercial partnerships and manage opportunities from prospecting to signed agreements. - Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams, including product, engineering, operations, legal, and customer-facing teams. - Familiarity with eCommerce ecosystems, product feeds, affiliate programs, payment or checkout solutions, marketplaces, or merchant SaaS platforms. - Strong pipeline management skills with the ability to balance outbound prospecting, relationship development, and execution. - Comfortable operating in an early-stage or high-growth environment with changing priorities and limited structure. - Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and stakeholder management abilities. - Ability to independently build processes while consistently delivering measurable b…