Start-Up Commercial Partnerships Lead - Korea (1 year initial contract)
Rainmaking, South Korea
Job Description
Do you want to work with a company that helps international startups find their perfect corporate partners on their journey to international scale? Do you want to help solve corporate problems in Korea through innovative solutions? Are you inspired by moving the needle and creating impact? Are you genuine, honest and capable of building strong working relationships within your team? If yes, then read on - you could be exactly who we’re looking for.
**Please note, we are looking for someone already in Korea, ideally Seoul, and you must be fluent in Korean**
The Job:
As the Commercial Partnerships Lead, you will be a key player on a high impact startup expansion program to support international startups enter the South Korean market. We are looking for a great leader, passionate about innovation, who gets their energy from being part of a startup's growth journey. You will be an accomplished Business Development expert, utilising your strong corporate networks in Seoul and South Korea more broadly to unlock access for the startups with corporate opportunities and support them on this journey with empathy. You will be core to the success of this program, and the participating start-ups.
Requirements
Who:
- You have experience working at the intersection of the corporate and startup world managing accelerator and expansion programs previously
- You bring solid knowledge of the S.Korean startup amp; investment ecosystem and have experience in market expansion. This means already having close-knit relationships across corporates and government agencies within the S.Korean region bringing unparalleled stakeholder management expertise and credibility
- Business Development is in your DNA. You open doors by being consultative, diving into problem statements with stakeholders and being creative with solutions. You take a proactive, future-focused approach to BD and are resourceful with your tactics to kick off and maintain relationships sustainably
- You will be embedded in the start-up ecosystem and have experience running business development for start-ups previously. If you have new market entry experience, this would be ideal
- You bring deep empathy for startups and founders on an expansion journey and can truly speak their language
- You are highly attuned to ongoing industry and economic developments which may influence and impact current and potential partnerships
- You're the go-to for best practices such as the lean startup methodology, design thinking, etc. and are able to bring your knowledge to startups in an engaging manner
- You are able to work effectively within diverse teams from different backgrounds and culture
- You align with our values: kindness, entrepreneurship and impact
How:
- You will develop partner networks and strategic relationships in S.Korea, and Seoul specifically, to increase the reach and impact of startups expanding globally
- You will build long term relationships with corporate partners and government entities in S.Korea and be the point of contact for all matters relating to the strategic partners including the setup of initial MOUs and creation of PoCs / pilots
- You will work closely with internal stakeholders to ensure that partnerships are aligned to their business needs
- You will lead in the conceptualising, structuring and defining of the terms of commercial partnerships aligned to the business strategy of corporate partners ,using information gathered from research conducted and internal and external meetings
- You will develop new strategic initiatives that could be built around or benefit from corporates, NGOs, government, bilateral organizations or other partnerships to drive high impact
Benefits
Our Promise:
Working with us will be energising. It will be challenging, entrepreneurial, sometimes scrappy, and deeply fulfilling. You will work with passionate, ambitious, action-oriented people, enthused by building businesses and having a positive impact on the world. You will be tasked with significant responsibilities. You will be valued, appreciated and believed in.
Values amp; Culture:
We strive to build and grow businesses that break new ground and unlock human potential through entrepreneurship. We want to deliver significant positive impact both for ourselves and to the world in which we live.
We have built a strong ethical codex. It encompasses not just what we do, but how we do it. Our values can be summarised as: be entrepreneurial, be impactful, be kind. We believe that how you engage with people makes all the difference. Please read the Rainmaking Culture Book here to see how you align and can make the difference too.
We're committed to be