Head of Business Development
About this role
Join the VRChat Team!
VRChat offers a first-of-its-kind, game-changing platform that provides an endless collection of social VR experiences and gives the power of creation to its robust community.
With over 250,000 worlds and growing, VRChat’s vision is to allow users to bring their imaginations to life and help shape the metaverse anywhere in the world on any device.
VRChat has raised around $100M to date with the support of our investors, which include: Makers Fund, Anthos Capital and HTC.
We have a great team which includes people from: Netflix, Twitter, Meta, Microsoft, Roblox, Google, Amazon, Unity, Spotify, Discord, Uber, eBay, Robinhood, Twitch, Zynga and TikTok.
Come and join the mission!
Job Overview
The Head of Business Development will lead VRChat’s business development strategy and execution, with a focus on partnerships that help grow the VRChat ecosystem. This includes partnerships that bring well-known intellectual property and new content to VRChat, grow VRChat’s creator economy and marketplaces, develop strategic opportunities with platform and hardware partners, and test new ways for people to engage with VRChat.
This is a senior, hands-on role for an experienced business development leader who has successfully built or scaled partnerships programs. As an individual contributor, the Head of Business Development will personally originate, evaluate, structure, negotiate, launch, and manage partnerships while building the processes and playbooks needed to grow the function over time.
The role reports to VRChat’s VP of Operations & Legal and will work in close partnership with them on strategy, major transactions, and key partner relationships. The Head of Business Development will also collaborate closely with VRChat’s Japan Growth team, which leads partnerships and growth initiatives within the Japanese market.
Job & Team Impact
Partnerships can help VRChat grow by expanding the content and experiences available on the platform, supporting its creator economy, and creating new ways for people to access and engage with VRChat.
Your work will help VRChat identify and execute the opportunities with the greatest potential, bring internal teams together around them, and develop successful partnership models that support VRChat’s content flywheel and broader business goals.
Duties & Responsibilities
Partner closely with VRChat’s VP of Operations & Legal and executive leadership to set business development strategy and priorities, leading efforts outside Japan while collaborating with the Japan Growth team
Build and manage a focused pipeline of opportunities across intellectual property, entertainment, gaming, creators, platforms, hardware providers, and other strategic categories
Originate, evaluate, structure, negotiate, and execute a range of commercial and strategic partnerships, including emerging partnership and business models
Develop clear business cases for prospective partnerships, considering their potential impact on growth, revenue, and other strategic value
Lead cross-functional alignment and execution across Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and other teams, ensuring commitments are both strategically sound and operationally achievable
Manage partnerships after contract signing, including launch, ongoing relationship management, performance evaluation, and renewal
Establish the processes, commercial frameworks, metrics, and repeatable partnership models needed to scale VRChat’s business development function and, over time, help define and build the team
Experience, Skills & Qualifications
8+ years of relevant experience in business development or strategic partnerships, ideally within gaming, consumer technology, entertainment, media, marketplaces, or creator platforms
A track record of building or scaling business development efforts that delivered meaningful growth, commercial, or strategic results
Experience working with major brands, intellectual property owners, developers, creators, platforms, hardware providers, or other strategic partners
Strong commercial judgment and experience evaluating the potential value, economics, resource needs, and risks of partnership opportunities
Experience originating, structuring, negotiating, and completing complex partnerships, including working closely with Legal and other internal teams
Experience leading cross-functional deals and building alignment across Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and operational teams
Strong communication and relationship-management skills, including experience working with senior executives and external partners
Creative, resourceful, organized, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced and highly ambiguous startup environment
Bonus Points
Familiarity with VRChat and a demonstrated interest in VR, online communities, and user-generated content
Experience working with creator ecosystems, marketplaces, digital goods, intellectual property licensing, or live events
Experience working on a live platform or service that ships frequently and responds to user and community feedback
Existing relationships across gaming, entertainment, media, creator, platform, or hardware ecosystems
Benefits
Work from anywhere! VRChat is a 100% remote company
Health Benefits
401K for US & RRSP for Canadian Employees
Stock Options
Generous paid holiday schedule
Unlimited/Flexible vacation time
Paid parental leave benefits
VRChat is an equal-opportunity employer, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. VRChat fosters a diverse, creative, and collaborative environment where anyone can contribute to any of the ongoing projects or direction of the roadmap at any time. If you’re a passionate team player who wants to have an impact on a dynamic team, we’d love to hear from you!
All job offers are subject to early stage ID checks, satisfactory referencing and background checks.
Originally posted on Himalayas
