Job Overview: We are seeking a results-driven Venture Head of Business & Growth with deep experience in the airline and aviation sectors to spearhead business development efforts, establish strategic partnerships, and drive growth. This leader will play a pivotal role in building foundational partnerships, setting up initial contracts, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure ventures align with partner needs and market opportunities. The ideal candidate will have a strong ability to identify and secure opportunities, build relationships across the industry, and translate these efforts into impactful ventures.
Key Responsibilities: Business Development and Partnerships: Build and cultivate strong relationships with airline industry stakeholders, including business unit owners, operational leaders, and regulatory authorities.Lead efforts to establish initial contracts for new ventures, defining key terms, mutual goals, and partnership structures.Partner with corporate clients to identify their critical needs and align those with venture opportunities.Work closely with product teams to validate the value and feasibility of proposed solutions, ensuring they address the specific pain points of airline partners.Develop tailored engagement plans to onboard partners, set success criteria, and outline clear roles and responsibilities.Identify high-potential opportunities within the airline sector, crafting compelling business cases to secure buy-in from leadership and partners.Build inroads with corporate business units, fostering trust and collaboration to ensure alignment and long-term success.Incubation and Commercialization: Partner with product, engineering, and design teams to shape and launch new ventures in the aviation sector. Mobilize the initial build of new products/services, establishing roles, partnership structures, and success criteria.Drive lean, agile processes to test and iterate minimum viable business models for high-impact solutions.Implement feedback loops, managing both customer and business performance metrics to refine and scale successful ventures.Operational Excellence and Performance Tracking: Define and monitor key performance indicators, reporting frameworks, and service-level outcomes to optimize product-market fit and growth.Lead post-launch operational planning, ensuring efficient scaling, continuous improvement, and achievement of customer success metrics.Qualifications: 8+ years of experience in strategy development, business planning, and/or partnerships within aviation, airlines, or adjacent industries.Proven success in business development, partnership-building, and commercial strategy in a complex, highly regulated environment.Strong analytical abilities to quantify venture potential and growth opportunities.Master's degree or equivalent experience preferred; consulting or startup experience in a high-growth, multidisciplinary setting a plus.UP.Labs Summary: We build high-growth technology startups that enable faster, cleaner, and safer movement of people and goods. Our vision is to transform the moving world by pairing leading corporations and entrepreneurs with a proven methodology for launching and scaling software and hardware companies.
Our platform is unique in three ways:
Risk: We reward our entire team and ecosystem of partners with meaningful equity.Technology: We build and launch scalable technology products that form the basis for each venture.Industry Focus: We stay focused on the underlying fabric of society mobility and transportation.We work with corporate investors over a multi-year period to launch a portfolio of mobility-focused ventures. Our team is dedicated to the first year of a new venture's life cycle: from ideation to minimum viable product build (and beyond) to recruiting and hiring the full-time team who will scale the business. We rapidly ideate concepts from scratch and vet them for early indicators of product-market fit.
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Hybrid Work Environment: onsite Monday-Thursday, remote Friday
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