Head of Strategy & Corporate Development

At Lyft, our mission is to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation. To do this, we start with our own community by creating an open, inclusive, and diverse organization.

The Head of Strategy and Corporate Development will play a crucial role in incubating new strategic initiatives and spearheading plans for new market growth. This high-impact role requires a strategic thinker and a hands-on leader who can identify global opportunities and partnerships, develop new ventures, and execute with excellence and collaboration across the business. This person can envision and proactively create future opportunities through their deep understanding of the current business landscape and forward-thinking insights.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned professional with a proven track record of successfully identifying attractive areas for business / market expansion and developing successful Corporate and Commercial partnerships, closing complex deals, and taking projects from idea / launch / scale phase while working collaboratively with senior leaders and business operators to define and drive customer-focused, scalable and commercially accretive businesses. 

This person is a highly motivated and results-oriented individual, willing to travel frequently for projects to be an on-the-ground presence to conduct due diligence, build relationships, and oversee implementation. They are an effective communicator with exceptional interpersonal and negotiation skills, with the ability to drive favorable outcomes, gain consensus, and build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside of Lyft. This person is highly adaptable and comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and extremely adept at developing and evaluating business cases, operational plans, and financial models.

This senior leadership role presents an opportunity to have a profound impact on an organization going through exciting, transformational times. You’ll report directly to the Chief Financial Officer and work closely with key members of the wider executive leadership team. 

Responsibilities:

• Identify attractive opportunities for Lyft to expand its business and drive future growth
• Develop and execute expansion strategies in alignment with the company's overall growth objectives.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including CEO and CFO and potential partners, regulatory bodies, and industry leaders.
• Work closely with internal teams (e.g., legal, finance, operations, product) to ensure seamless execution of new initiatives.
• Identify, incubate, and launch net-new strategic initiatives that align with the company's long-term vision and goals in conjunction with key stakeholders and product leaders
• Develop business cases and go-to-market strategies for new initiatives and ensure successful execution and scaling.
• Identify, evaluate, and negotiate strategic partnerships, joint ventures, acquisitions, and other growth opportunities.
• Lead end-to-end deal execution, including due diligence, financial modeling, negotiations, closing and integration planning.
• Set and track KPIs to measure the success of market expansion efforts and new initiatives, making data-driven adjustments as needed.
• Complement the product and operations teams by acting as the central hub for all strategies, ensuring legal, systems, finance, banking, and treasury requirements are met. 
• Articulate clear rationale and risks associated with proposed transactions with deal sponsors and the executive team, taking into account Lyft’s overall strategic objectives. 
• Develop presentation materials to provide recommendations to the executive team and the Board.

Experience:

• 15+ years of experience in corporate development, strategy leadership, international partnerships and investments or a top tier consulting firm. Strong preference for candidates who have worked on $1B+ deals along with operational experience.
• Experience in consumer technology, especially the sharing economy or marketplace platforms as well as in the Automotive / Mobility or Autonomous Vehicle industry preferred
• MBA from a top academic institution a plus
• Excellent relationship building, communication, and financial acumen 
• Ability to thrive in a fast paced environment and execute effectively while thinking creatively and managing multiple projects simultaneously
• Strong executive presence with a proven track record of presenting to C-suite executives and Boards
• Experience building and managing teams, with a demonstrated dedication to growth & development
• Proactive self-starter that works collaboratively in a team-first, low-ego environment

Benefits: