Director of Business Development & Partnerships

Job Description

Job Description

Role Overview

Piston Pay is seeking an energetic Director of Business Development & Partnerships to spearhead our expansion across the U.S. retail fuel market. In this high-impact, startup-savvy role, you will drive strategic partnerships with major oil companies and fuel retailers, closing enterprise deals that fuel Piston Pay's growth. You'll own the entire enterprise sales cycle – from prospecting and relationship building through negotiation and closing – with a focus on landing large-scale deals with national fuel brands. As a key leader in our team, you will also collaborate cross-functionally to align product and engineering efforts with partner needs, ensuring seamless integrations and mutual success. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape our go-to-market strategy and will be instrumental in establishing Piston Pay's presence and partnerships in the $250B+ fleet fuel industry .

• Drive Strategic Partnerships: Identify, target, and forge partnerships with fuel retailers and major oil brands. Develop joint value propositions that align Piston Pay's cardless payment solutions with partners' business goals, accelerating market penetration.

• Lead Enterprise Sales Cycles: Own and lead enterprise sales engagements end-to-end – from initial outreach, pitching, and solution scoping, to negotiating contracts and closing deals with large fuel retail networks. Maintain a robust pipeline and consistently close high-value deals that contribute to revenue growth.

• Channel & Relationship Development: Build and nurture long-term channel relationships that expand Piston Pay's reach. This includes managing alliances with technology providers, fuel card networks, and other strategic partners, ensuring mutual success and ongoing collaboration.

• Industry Representation: Serve as the face of Piston Pay at key industry conferences, trade shows, and partner meetings. Represent Piston Pay with credibility and passion – delivering presentations, product demos, and thought leadership that elevate our profile in the fuel/payments space.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Work closely with Product, Engineering, and Operations teams to guide partner integration requirements and timelines. Provide market and partner feedback to inform product roadmaps, ensuring Piston Pay's offering remains aligned with industry needs and partner expectations.

• Experience in Fuel/Payments Industry: 7+ years of success in business development or enterprise sales roles within the fuel retail or payments technology sector .

• Proven Enterprise Deal Closer: Demonstrated track record of closing large-scale deals with retail fuel networks or major oil brands. You have navigated complex sales cycles and can point to significant partnerships or contracts you've secured in the industry.

• Domain Knowledge: Deep understanding of the retail fuel industry's tech stack and economics. This includes familiarity with fuel POS systems, fleet payment solutions, loyalty programs, and the financial drivers of gas station operations (pricing, margins, etc.).

• Strategic & Analytical Mindset: Strong strategic thinking and business acumen, with the ability to identify win-win partnership structures. Comfortable analyzing data and market trends to inform decisions, and creative in structuring deals that maximize long-term value.

• Communication & Negotiation: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. Adept at negotiation and relationship-building , with the credibility to engage C-suite executives at major oil companies and the savvy to influence stakeholders both internally and externally.

• Entrepreneurial Drive: Self-starter attitude with a bias for action . Thrives in a fast-paced startup environment – able to wear many hats, adapt quickly, and drive initiatives forward with limited resources. Passion for transforming legacy industries with innovative tech solutions.

• Enterprise Deals Closed: Number of new enterprise-level partnership deals closed with fuel retailers or oil brands (e.g. annual volume commitments, network partnerships signed). Success in this role is first and foremost measured by closing high-impact deals that drive revenue and adoption.

• Strategic Partnerships Launched: Count of new strategic partnership initiatives launched (e.g. co-branded programs, channel partner agreements) and their outcomes. This includes establishing long-term partnerships that contribute to transaction volume, user growth, or market expansion for Piston Pay.

• Pipeline Growth & Velocity: Growth of qualified pipeline opportunities and reduction of sales cycle time for enterprise deals. Ensuring a healthy, progressing pipeline of major accounts is critical.

• Partner Integration Success: Successful rollout of partner integrations and joint solutions (in coordination with Product/Engineering) within planned timelines. Measured by the number of partner launches and the performance of those partnerships (transaction volumes, user uptake).

• Market Expansion Impact: Contribution to Piston Pay's geographic and market expansion goals. This can include metrics like fuel volume processed via Piston Pay in new regions or increases in fleet user adoption through partnership channels, reflecting the director's role in shaping Piston's market footprint.

Piston Pay is a cardless, closed-loop payments network revolutionizing how fleets pay for fuel . We are tackling the massive $250B+ fleet fuel market by providing a secure, flexible alternative to legacy fuel cards and credit networks. Founded by logistics industry veterans, Piston Pay enables trucking fleets and fuel retailers to connect directly through a purpose-built payment platform – unlocking substantial fuel discounts for fleets and driving higher, more predictable sales for fuel merchants. Our mission is to bring modern fintech innovation to the fuel pump, delivering seamless, fraud-resistant transactions and empowering fleet operators with greater control over fuel spend. Join us as we scale across the U.S., backed by industry expertise and a passion for transforming fleet payments!