Corporate Development Manager Jobs in San Francisco, CA

About Us

AfterShip, a Great Place to Work Certified company, is transforming the global eCommerce landscape. Founded in 2012, AfterShip is a post-purchase SaaS company on a mission to build the world's leading automation platform for ecommerce merchants.

AfterShip unifies shipping & labels, order tracking, AI predictive delivery, and returns management into one system—giving merchants a single place to manage and automate everything that happens after checkout. By centralizing these workflows, AfterShip enables merchants to reduce customer support inquiries, deliver a more reliable and engaging customer experiences, and unlock incremental revenue at every post-purchase touchpoint.

AfterShip integrates seamlessly with eCommerce platforms including Shopify and TikTok Shop, and connects with more than 1,200 carriers worldwide. Today, over 20,000 businesses—including Samsung, Gymshark, Mejuri, Dr. Squatch and Alo Yoga—rely on AfterShip to turn every post-purchase moment into an opportunity to build trust, reduce costs, and drive repeat purchases.

Built for a global market from day one, AfterShip operates with an engineering-driven, internationally distributed team. The company employs more than 450 people across 8 offices, spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, and representing over 20 cities worldwide.

A note from the hiring team

We are hiring a corporate development leader who can help us shape how AfterShip grows.

This role sits at the intersection of strategy, product, revenue, and ecosystem. You will work on the questions that don't have clear answers: which partnerships are worth pursuing, where we can unlock step-function growth, and which deals actually change our trajectory versus distract us.

If you're looking to manage a broad portfolio of partners, run co-marketing programs, or scale an existing playbook, this is not it.

If you want to identify, structure, and execute the few strategic moves that matter — and build the function that makes that possible — keep reading.

The mission

Help AfterShip make smarter strategic bets — and turn them into reality.

You will partner closely with the Chief Strategy Officer and leadership team to identify high-impact opportunities across platforms, marketplaces, logistics, and technology ecosystems.

Your job is not just to close deals. It is to define where we should play, how we win, and ensure we follow through.

What success looks like

You are doing well in this role if the company is consistently focused on the few partnerships and initiatives that materially impact growth, and if you help navigate complex opportunities that don't have a clear playbook.

Deals move forward because you create clarity, alignment, and momentum. Leadership trusts your judgment on where to invest, where to push, and where to walk away. Partnerships translate into real outcomes — revenue, distribution, or ecosystem advantage — not just announcements.

We develop a clear, repeatable way of evaluating and executing strategic opportunities, and corporate development becomes a trusted, high-leverage function, not a reactive one.

What you will own

• You will define where we should focus our efforts across partnerships, strategic deals, and adjacent opportunities. This includes identifying where we can unlock disproportionate impact and where we should not spend time.
• You will build and manage a focused pipeline of high-impact opportunities across platforms, marketplaces, logistics, and technology ecosystems, turning ambiguous ideas into clear opportunities with defined upside, risks, and execution paths.
• You will own the full deal lifecycle from origination through negotiation, closing, and launch. This includes leading complex, high-stakes discussions with senior external stakeholders and structuring deals that create meaningful leverage for the business.
• You will work across Product, Revenue, Operations, Finance, Legal, and leadership teams to align priorities and drive execution, ensuring initiatives move forward even when the path is not linear.
• You will define how opportunities are evaluated, prioritized, and tracked, establishing simple and effective ways to drive accountability and measure impact.
• You will also lay the foundation for corporate development at AfterShip, and over time take on and develop a small team as the function scales.

Who you are

• You are a strategic operator who thinks in outcomes, not steps. You are comfortable navigating from A to F rather than following a linear path.
• You are a strong decision framer who can take ambiguous, complex situations and turn them into clear options, trade-offs, and a point of view.
• You are commercially sharp and understand how deals create value, whether through revenue, distribution, or strategic positioning.
• You operate with calm and composure in high-stakes, multi-stakeholder environments, exercising sound judgment and discretion.
• You are a player-coach — hands-on when needed, but able to step back and define direction and build systems.
• You are a trusted partner who builds credibility with leadership and cross-functional teams, and knows when to push, when to listen, and how to move things forward.

What we are looking for

• You bring 10 - 15+ years of experience in corporate development, strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, or related fields, with a proven track record of leading and closing complex, high-value deals with large US enterprises.
• You have experience operating at both strategic and execution levels, from shaping opportunities to closing them, and are comfortable managing multi-stakeholder, high-stakes environments.
• You have strong negotiation skills, experience in fast-moving, technology-driven environments, and ideally familiarity with platforms, marketplaces, logistics, or broader technology ecosystems.
• You are comfortable working across global teams and time zones.

This role is not for you if

• You prefer structured environments with clear playbooks and defined processes.
• You are primarily motivated by managing a large portfolio of partners rather than driving a small number of high-impact initiatives.
• You focus more on launching partnerships than on their long-term impact.
• You need perfect information before making decisions, or are uncomfortable navigating ambiguity and pushing on strategic trade-offs.
• You tend to overcomplicate simple questions rather than driving clarity and action.

At AfterShip, we know great talent doesn't always fit every requirement. If you're passionate about our mission and believe you can make an impact, we encourage you to apply.

Why You Should Join Us:

• Great Place to Work Certified: We've been recognized for our inclusive, values-driven culture that celebrates diversity and collaboration.
• Innovative & Inclusive Culture: Started by our software engineer-turned-CEO, AfterShip is built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. We're a passionate, global team of problem solvers who put egos aside to innovate together. We take immense pride in fostering a culture that's inclusive, which has allowed us to surround ourselves with the industry's most talented professionals.
• Ambitious Mission with Real Impact: Join us in transforming eCommerce by making buying and selling easier for everyone. It's one of the most dynamic spaces in tech, with limitless opportunities to innovate and grow.
• Thrive & Grow: There's no ceiling to what you can achieve or learn here. We're committed to empowering your career while advancing together as a company.
• Flexible Work Setup: We're a remote-first team, meaning by default that employees work from home or on a hybrid-flexible basis in our hub locations (i.e., Toronto, Austin, Barcelona). You're empowered to choose a work setup that works best for you and your team. With flexible hours depending on your time zone, you'll be able to have a schedule that fits your working style and the requirements of your role.

Perks:

• Competitive compensation
• Remote-first/hybrid-flexible work setups
• Healthcare coverage offered from day 1
• Retirement plans including company match
• Unlimited PTO
• Annual learning & wellness benefit
• Monthly book perk
• Career progression & professional development
• In-office lunch and commuter benefits for those located in our hub locations

We are an equal opportunity employer and provide accommodations upon request throughout the recruitment process, in accordance with local legislation. Please let us know if you require any support, and we'll work with you to meet your needs.
We believe in hiring right over hiring fast. While timelines may vary, we're looking to fill this role as soon as possible.
Our hiring process uses AI to help with initial resume screening and to support interview note-taking. These tools help our team stay organized and fair, but all hiring decisions are made by people.