Director of Business Development
Nothing · San Francisco, California, United States · Posted Jul 7, 2026
Apply on company site Track it in JobSkout
About Nothing
Nothing exists to make tech feel exciting again.
We’re building a different kind of technology company, one that puts design, emotion, and human creativity at the heart of everything we do. From the way our products look and feel to how we communicate and show up in culture, we believe technology should make you feel something.
Founded in London in 2020, we’ve grown from idea to global challenger in just a few years. Backed by GV (Google Ventures), EQT Ventures, and C Ventures, and investors like Tony Fadell (iPod), Casey Neistat, and Kevin Lin (Twitch), we’re now sold in 40+ markets with millions of users worldwide.
About the role
Nothing is building the next generation of consumer technology — AI-native devices with a design-led, challenger brand. As we scale in North America, our most important growth lever is a small number of high-leverage strategic technology partnerships that shape our product, our economics, and our position in the AI-device ecosystem.
You will own and originate Nothing's most strategic technology partnerships across three fronts:
AI labs — model access, on-device AI integrations, exclusive or first-of-kind agreements with frontier and challenger labs
Android / Google ecosystem — platform-level relationships, OS and services agreements, distribution and integration terms
Silicon / Qualcomm — chipset roadmap alignment, commercial terms, co-engineering and co-marketing structures that materially move our COGS and product capability
These are few-in-number, high-stakes deals negotiated at C-suite level with some of the largest technology companies in the world — from the position of a challenger brand without incumbent leverage. You'll be the architect and the closer.
What you'll do
Define Nothing's technology partnership strategy with the executive team; identify where partnerships beat build-or-buy
Originate relationships outbound with AI labs, Google/Android, and Qualcomm
Structure multi-year, platform-level agreements: model access, integration, exclusivity, warrants/equity where relevant, silicon pricing and roadmap commitments
Negotiate and close with C-suite counterparts, owning commercial, legal, and finance terms end-to-end
Land deals that change product economics — chipset cost structures, AI inference costs, revenue-share and services agreements
Work as a player-coach across product, engineering, marketing, and finance so partnerships are built into roadmaps, not bolted on
Make your own materials; operate with no playbook in a fast-scaling, ambiguous environment
What we're looking for
Must have
8+ years of enterprise / platform business development with named, multi-year strategic deals — not distribution, licensing, reseller, or co-marketing arrangements
Direct experience negotiating with at least one of: frontier/major AI labs, Google/Android platform teams, or major silicon vendors (Qualcomm, MediaTek, or similar)
Proven outbound origination — you've created partnerships from cold, ideally from a challenger or lesser-known company where the brand didn't open the door for you
C-suite deal-making at scale: demonstrated large-deal history, with ownership of commercial and legal terms
Current, active focus on the North American market
Deep fluency in the consumer-electronics / device landscape: silicon, OS, AI stack, and how they connect to device economics
Strong plus
Deals with warrant/equity or non-standard commercial structures
On-device AI or model-integration deal experience
0-to-1 builder: founder, early-team, or built a BD function from scratch
Genuine affinity for Nothing's brand and design-led, culture-forward mission
Salary Range: $220-300K