Director, Oem & Strategic Partnerships

Waabi Waabi · Robotics · San Francisco, CA +1 · Remote · Business Development & Strategy

This role is for a Director of OEM & Strategic Partnerships at Waabi, a company focused on Physical AI for autonomous transportation. The role involves developing and executing partnership strategies, negotiating deals, and managing relationships with OEM partners. It requires significant experience in business development, strategic partnerships, and the automotive industry, with a strong understanding of product strategy and financial modeling. The role is product-focused but not directly building AI models.

What you'd actually do

  1. Develop and execute a detailed automotive and partnership strategy aligned with Waabi’s goals.
  2. Be a key business interface between Waabi and OEM partners and drive negotiations.
  3. Work cross-functionally with Waabi’s engineering, product, finance, and legal teams to negotiate new deals and execute upon existing contracts.
  4. Build, manage and evolve strong partnerships to support Waabi’s business objectives.
  5. Structure and negotiate partnership agreements with win-win incentives and balanced terms.

Skills

Required

  • MS/MBA or Bachelors degree in management, technical, or engineering field
  • 10+ years of work experience in business development or strategic partnerships
  • Automotive experiences and expertise leading and/or partnering with OEM’s
  • Solid understanding of business processes and best practices in product strategy and positioning
  • Experience developing new product strategy
  • Proven track record of developing strategic partnerships and negotiating agreement terms
  • Excellent verbal and writing skills
  • Ability to communicate directly with senior executives
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Experience with financial models, negotiations, and creating strategic partnerships
  • Strong analytical skills

Nice to have

  • Passion for self-driving technologies

What the JD emphasized

  • minimum 10+ years of work experience in business development or strategic partnerships or a similar partner-facing role in the automotive or relevant fields
  • Automotive experiences and expertise leading and/or partnering with OEM’s
  • Proven track record of developing strategic partnerships and negotiating agreement terms