Director, Business Development

ABOUT CARDLESS

Cardless is building the infrastructure for the world's best companies to design, build, and launch financial products. Companies like Coinbase and Bilt use Cardless to create credit cards that feel entirely their own. In an industry where branded financial products usually mean shared logos and shared control, Cardless is built to disappear. Our APIs and components shape the journey from the first application to every purchase, reward, and moment of support that follows, while we handle lending, compliance, and operations behind the scenes.

In September 2025, we raised a $60 million Series C led by Spark Capital, bringing our total funding to $170 million. The team is over 70 people and scaling toward profitability by year-end 2026.

We're looking for kind, humble people with high standards and low egos. We take the work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. We see what could be improved, make it so, and leave every product, system, and team better than we found it.

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 fol