Business Development Associate

About Pursuit

Our mission is to create economic transformation. By training low-income adults to launch & advance careers as software engineers, we help our Fellows go from earning $18,000 to over $90,000 starting salary on average, adding an estimated $2M in lifetime earnings. Pursuit partners with leading companies like Blackstone, USV, Citi, Peloton, & Uber to employ Fellows in career-defining engineering roles & supports them with on-the-job training to ensure potential translates to performance. Since 2013, Pursuit has created ~$1B in total lifetime wage gains, creating lasting economic mobility that spans generations. 

Pursuits proven solution is built on two interconnected components: training (which includes community development, Core pre-job training, & Commit on-the-job training) & a financial product (known as Bond). However, growing training alone will not meet the magnitude of need nor solve new societal challenges ahead. The typical expectation is to expand our training to other cities, but this will not come anywhere close to creating good jobs for millions of low-income Americans. Instead, our strategy for scaled impact is to evolve our financial product & create tools for other organizations, jobs, & places. We believe that this will not only create good jobs for millions of low-income Americans but will also generate a new trillion-dollar market directly tied to results in the long term.

We are One Big Team

The passionate & collaborative team at Pursuit gives its all to achieve our mission. And its not just staff. We work with employer partners that love hiring our Fellows because they are so well prepared, ranging from big financial firms to scrappy startups, & everything in between. We also activate & engage hundreds of volunteers that come from all areas of the tech industry. These experts & professionals help keep our curriculum fresh & our standards for achievement high by participating in our admissions process, as well as program-specific activities such as interview training, DemoDays, Hackathons, & Capstone projects. 

About the Role

We are in search of a driven & focused Business Development Associate who will support the research, promotion, & execution of new Pursuit partnerships across multiple revenue streams. Distinct from most Business Development positions, this role will aid in identifying & securing new partners, customers, & investors to further scale Pursuits entire business, through multiple revenue models. The right candidate must be comfortable identifying & engaging new potential business partners, supporting sales & investor campaigns with thoroughly researched & well articulated, compelling financial data & analysis, & working across a variety of potential partnership infrastructures. This experience will enable someone to develop deep & broad expertise in the end-to-end process of securing multi-million dollar deals with customers, investors, & donors. The candidate will work closely with the VP of Employer Partnerships, VP of Impact Investment, & VP of Philanthropy & be part of a high-performance team that will scale Pursuits fundraising & sales capabilities to meet our revenue goals over the next 3 years. 

As a Business Development Associate you will:

• Develop a deep industry expertise & understanding of Pursuits market, business model, mission, value proposition, & goals
• Support mission-critical campaigns across a spectrum of capital such as a +$10 million venture philanthropy campaign, Bond 3.0 impact investment campaign, & enterprise sales to industry-specific verticals such as cybersecurity & web3. 
• Promote & describe Pursuits long-term vision & strategy, core mission, & value proposition to all stakeholders & potential customers
• Create & manage detailed financial analysis to support investment opportunities & close transactions 
• Create & leverage visually engaging & compelling presentations, bespoke to multiple audiences, clearly articulating Pursuits unique value propositions
• Work closely with the partnership teams to formulate & execute enterprise sales, marketing, & product marketing strategies
• Conduct in-depth landscape analysis, customer segmentation, & develop meaningful insights for existing & new partners 
• Work effectively across cross-functional teams & with key partners to assess overall satisfaction & align business requirements & objectives
• Research market dynamics & players & identify new strategic partners & attractive new business ventures
• Assist the business development managers in driving opportunities through the sales cycle & successfully closing & finalizing deals  
• Build & maintain client databases, ensuring a high level of data integrity, using CRM (Salesforce) tools

What you need to be considered for the Business Development Associate role:

• 5-8+ years of professional experience in the fields of investment banking, business strategy/development, management consulting, sales enablement, etc. 
• A sincere interest in venture philanthropy, impact investment, economic mobility, & technology innovation
• Bachelors degree, MBA, JD, or related advanced degrees are welcomed but not required 
• A Commitment to Pursuits mission to help underserved & underrepresented communities achieve financial independence 
• Familiar with CRM tools including Salesforce
• Interest in venture philanthropy, impact investment, economic mobility, & technology innovation
• Highly organized, strong project management skills
• Excellent oral & written communication skills
• A demonstrated, comfort, poise, & efficiency in developing new relationships
• Relentlessly meticulous, driven & outcomes-driven
• Data-driven & results-focused
• An exhibited history of identifying unique or creative solutions to difficult business challenges. 
• A comfort & ease with ambiguity, displaying the ability to seamlessly navigate between competing priorities.

Where you'll work:

• Hybrid/Long Island City, NY
• Staff will be working on site in our Long Island City Office 2 days/week

Pursuit offers: 

• Great culture where transparency, respect, teamwork, & kindness are valued
• Competitive compensation in base, plus bonus & a full benefits package
• Unlimited PTO & a week-long Summer break & holiday during the summer & the last week of December

Salary & Benefits: 

The salary for this role is $150,000-$180,000 annually with additional performance-based incentive compensation. 

The compensation range above is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles & recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.  If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated to you as a candidate.

Pursuit values diversity: 

Our team has a wide range of backgrounds & experiences, & we value the richness that diversity brings to our organization. We welcome new perspectives & affirm that all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, familial or marital status, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuit is an equal opportunity employer.