Director, Business Development

About Carry1st

Carry1st is a leading commerce platform focused on Africa and the Middle East, specializing in the convergence of video games, publishing, and financial technology. The company excels by distributing and monetizing games through their proprietary payment solution Pay1st and the Carry1st Shop online marketplace. Carry1st partners with major global gaming companies like Riot Games, Activision, and Tencent, and is backed by renowned investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Bitkraft, Google, Konvoy, Riot Games, Sony, and Nas.

Role Overview

The Director of Business Development will be instrumental in advancing Carry1st's core payment technologies beyond the gaming sector into high-growth consumer digital and direct-to-consumer markets. This role demands full ownership of the deal cycle from lead generation to closing, focusing on minimizing the time-to-signature. The candidate will operationalize an initial industry expansion strategy, validate it with customer engagement, and evolve it into a recurring market approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the complete deal lifecycle, including pipeline development, establishing senior-level relationships, negotiating, and closing deals that open new international markets.
• Implement and prioritize a target account list and outreach plan for consumer-facing companies aiming to increase their market presence.
• Develop strong relationships with senior decision-makers such as VPs of Product, Heads of Strategy, and Commercial Executives to understand their business needs and offer customized solutions.
• Effectively communicate and demonstrate the benefits of Carry1st's products and services, addressing customer inquiries and adapting messaging accordingly.
• Assess buyer requirements, use cases, messaging, and commercial hypotheses to capitalize on emerging consumer demand in Africa and the Middle East through active dialogues.
• Negotiate contract terms, resolve objections, and close deals to meet or exceed revenue goals.
• Maintain an active sales pipeline using CRM tools to monitor progress and forecast revenue.
• Hand off signed clients to the Implementation team while preserving strategic commercial relations for renewals and expansions, enabling continued prospecting.
• Collaborate with Product and Implementation teams to relay market insights ensuring product alignment with client needs.
• Incorporate field learnings back into the sales playbook to enhance repeatability and facilitate rapid deal closure across new verticals.

Candidate Profile

• Demonstrated commercial success with over five years in enterprise software, cross-border infrastructure, or strategic FinTech roles, showing a strong track record of pipeline building and closing high-value deals swiftly.
• Fluent in English and Mandarin with the ability to communicate complex technical and business concepts clearly to diverse audiences.
• Experience working in agile, growth-stage companies, taking new market strategies to execution, and iterating the commercial playbook based on client feedback.
• Well-connected within Product and Corporate Strategy sectors of consumer technology companies and knowledgeable about navigating infrastructure challenges in emerging markets.
• Strong executive presence with proven negotiation skills and the aptitude to build immediate trust with senior stakeholders to expedite deal closures.
• Exceptional academic or professional background highlighting consistent high achievement.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary complemented by performance incentives including immediate closing bonuses and ongoing revenue sharing for two years.
• Opportunities to work remotely within a vibrant and fast-growing global team spanning over 15 countries.
• A diverse workplace culture embracing a wide variety of backgrounds to strengthen the company.