Director, Business Development

About the role

The Director, Business Development at Duck Duck Go will own the identification and execution of the company's most complex AI partnerships from end to end. This role is responsible for sourcing, structuring, and negotiating high-impact deals with model providers, AI infrastructure partners, and emerging players in the agentic ecosystem. You will operate on projects that currently lack a playbook and will define the product, economic, and strategic parameters in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. You will ensure that every deal advances the capabilities of Duck.ai and our AI-powered products while reinforcing our privacy-first mission. The position requires navigating shifting competitive dynamics and aligning diverse teams to turn strategic intent into operational reality. You will be accountable for managing a portfolio of complementary and competing provider relationships that directly influence our market position. Ultimately, your work will determine how DuckDuckGo competes and differentiates itself in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Key facts

What you'll do

Drive the identification and prioritization of strategic AI partnership opportunities that align with DuckDuckGo's long-term vision and product roadmap.

Lead the end-to-end negotiation and structuring of complex deals involving model providers, AI infrastructure partners, and agentic ecosystem players.

Own the development of business cases, financial models, and commercial terms without reliance on internal support for core deal mechanics.

Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, and Finance to translate strategic hypotheses into executable partnership agreements.

Balance and manage a portfolio of competing and complementary AI provider relationships to optimize strategic outcomes.

Define and own the success metrics for each partnership, ensuring alignment with product milestones and user impact goals.

Architect new distribution channels and go-to-market motions for AI-related services, expanding reach into new user segments.

Evaluate emerging technologies and capabilities, determining how they can be integrated into Duck.ai and Search Assist offerings.

Represent DuckDuckGo in high-stakes discussions, building credibility and trust with external partners and internal stakeholders.

Navigate ambiguous problem spaces where no precedent exists, creating frameworks to assess risk and opportunity.

Ensure all partnership structures respect the company's privacy-first principles and long-term brand positioning.

Continuously monitor the AI market landscape, including pricing, capabilities, and competitive moves, to inform strategic decisions.

Partner with leadership to forecast revenue, adoption, and competitive implications of new AI collaborations.

Champion cross-functional alignment, ensuring engineering, legal, and product teams move efficiently toward shared objectives.

Requirements

You must bring 10-plus years of experience in Business Development, Partnerships, or Strategic Partnerships roles.

You must have 5-plus years of demonstrated experience leading cross-functional partnership projects that involve legal and engineering teams.

You need a track record in consumer internet or user-facing software businesses with an understanding of the AI and LLM ecosystem.

You must have significant experience leading complex product partnerships from discovery through close and ongoing management.

These should be partnerships where you created new solutions together and handled real product and technical complexity, not sales or API licensing arrangements.

You are expected to be self-sufficient with commercial details, drafting terms and building financial models independently.

You must have experience managing a portfolio of strategic partner relationships and balancing competing and complementary providers.

You should be able to build trust quickly with internal teams and external partners you have never worked with before.

You are located in the US or Canada and are able to work fully remotely while maintaining consistent collaboration.

You operate with a bias for action, making timely decisions when ambiguity is high and clarity is emerging.

You communicate with precision and clarity, tailoring your style for executives, technical teams, and external partners.

You demonstrate strong judgment in evaluating strategic tradeoffs and prioritizing initiatives under uncertainty.

You are comfortable working with incomplete information and iteratively refining approaches as new data emerges.

You show resilience and ownership in seeing complex initiatives through to meaningful outcomes.