Director, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development

Welcome to Planet. We believe in using space to help life on Earth.

Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest constellation of imaging satellites in history. This constellation delivers an unprecedented dataset of empirical information via a revolutionary cloud-based platform to authoritative figures in commercial, environmental, and humanitarian sectors. We are both a space company and data company all rolled into one.

Customers and users across the globe use Planet's data to develop new technologies, drive revenue, power research, and solve our world’s toughest obstacles.

As we control every component of hardware design, manufacturing, data processing, and software engineering, our office is a truly inspiring mix of experts from a variety of domains.

We have a people-centric approach toward culture and community and we strive to iterate in a way that puts our team members first and prepares our company for growth. Join Planet and be a part of our mission to change the way people see the world.

Planet is a global company with employees working remotely world wide and joining us from offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.

About the Role:

Planet is looking for an experienced strategic partnerships and business development leader to join the Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy team at Planet. This high-impact role will be responsible for driving partnerships and deals aligned with Planet’s overall corporate strategy. The role will report to the Vice President of GTM Strategy and Investor Relations.

In this senior and high visibility role, you will be expected to create and drive key elements of Planet’s corporate strategy and plans. For example, you will support the AI research team in identifying impactful product and technology opportunities with Cloud and generative AI companies and develop plans that create differentiation for Planet’s data and accelerate customer adoption. You’ll build these strategic partner relationships to help unlock broader market potential for Planet’s data.

You will conduct build, buy, partner evaluations and execute deals with the goal of driving growth and shareholder value. In addition, you will support Planet’s Space Business Group as the deal lead driving late stage Constellation Services partnership and deal activities, including deal structuring, negotiations and closure. 

This requires strengths in strategic thinking, business development, deal structuring, negotiations, project management, financial modeling, analytical & problem-solving skills, cross group collaboration and executive communication skills. Prior experience at a Cloud or generative AI company is a plus. This is a tremendous opportunity to drive meaningful impact on the company's growth.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to be in our San Francisco, HQ 3 days per week.

Impact You'll Own:

• Identify how strategic partnerships and transactions can help accelerate company strategy, including with Cloud / AI partners 
• Support the entirety of the deal process including sourcing, diligence, negotiation, and execution with support from large cross functional teams
• Conduct thorough financial analysis to assess company valuation and synergy opportunities
• Prepare and give business reviews to executive leadership team regarding progress and roadblocks
• Develop best practices for diligence, valuation, negotiation and integration
• Shape strategy by identifying key industry trends, maintaining relationships with relevant external partners
• Instill a customer-first culture centered around placing Planet customers at the forefront of every business decision

What You Bring:

• 12+ years of work experience within or across corporate strategy, strategy consulting, GTM strategy, corporate development, and/or business development for technology companies
• 7+ years of experience developing, leading, or executing commercial partnerships
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills including financial and company valuation analyses and pricing strategy
• Ability to excel across a wide variety of work including strategy, sourcing, analysis, negotiation, and integration
• Experience successfully negotiating to close deals
• Proven track record of sophisticated problem solving, attention to detail, and delivering results cross-functionally including evaluating, executing and integrating acquisitions
• Experience effectively communicating strategic objectives and action plans to executives and multiple teams across a variety of functions
• Excellent leadership experience and ability to work with colleagues across multiple disciplines and in geographi