Business Development Specialist

About Bocoup

Bocoup is a justice-focused consulting firm that partners with tech companies and nonprofits to increase accessibility and inclusion on the web. We started in 2009 with a focus on JavaScript and open source ethics. Over the past four years, we have shifted to focus more explicitly on increasing access and equity with web technology by working with partners on engineering, design, and product and organizational strategy. Our recent projects include design and engineering for the Algorithmic Justice League, engineering for Scratch (the beginner-friendly programming language), web standards for assistive technologies like screen-readers, and eviction defense tools for tenants in Los Angeles County.

About this Position

As a Business Development Specialist at Bocoup, you’ll work closely with Bocoup leadership and operations team members to identify and engage prospective partners. You’ll co-develop and implement a business development strategy based on Bocoup’s technical expertise, mission, and values.

Typically Bocoup is actively working on 2-5 projects at a time. This position will help maintain a healthy pipeline of potential work, aiming to maintain consistent work for Bocoup’s 18 staff members.We value long-term partnerships that provide consistent and continued work and project-based engagements that have a finite start and end. The Business Development Specialist will help drive new partnerships as well as facilitate additional business through existing clients.

We are looking for a diverse pool of applicants who are committed to justice and equity, including those from historically marginalized groups — women, people of color, people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated people, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, first and second generation immigrants, and people from low-income backgrounds.

You’ll love this role if

• You are excited about developing and driving a business development strategy for engaging values-aligned organizations.

• You enjoy developing relationships with potential partners at nonprofits, activist organizations, and mission-oriented for-profit companies. You enjoy developing, pitching, and negotiating mutually beneficial deals.

• You care about inclusion in tech, assistive technology, and centering the priorities of marginalized communities in technology.

• You are curious. You value the expertise of and enjoy learning from people with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, including product strategy, accessibility, engineering, and community organizing.

• You are comfortable working with a distributed team, remote partners, and communicating with both via text- and video-based channels—across multiple timezones. Despite these timezone differences, we ensure all team members maintain a locally-based schedule that works for them.

• You love to write, and know how to produce excellent documentation, marketing collateral, and partner communications in a collaborative way.

• You are results-driven and strive to solve problems in efforts to meet well defined sales targets and goals.

Location

Remote. U.S.-based preferred, for timezone alignment. We will consider other locations case-by-case. For reference, roughly half of our team is in US EST.

Reporting and Team Structure

This role reports to the Principal, and works closely with a sales committee that includes the Principal and Founding Principal, Engineering Manager, Operations Manager, and Product and Project Managers. Our small team cares about individual mentorship, close collaboration, and opportunities to pursue stretch projects. We are committed to maintaining a safe and inclusive work environment, and expect all team members to uphold our company values and adhere to our Code of Conduct.

Day to Day Responsibilities

• Partner with the Founding Principal to develop a business development strategy that aligns Bocoup’s expertise, mission, and values.

• Develop and maintain relationships with prospective partners through video calls and asynchronous communication.

• Networking by helping define our client pool and developing targeted communications and platforms where those prospective clients will be.

• Leverage Bocoup’s existing client relationships by asking for referrals, and utilizing your own network and experience to drive new leads.

• Lead perspective client communications and identify moments to pitch ideas and potential workstreams.

• Negotiate contracts with potential partners based on a clear understanding of Bocoup’s service areas and the partner’s needs.

• Conduct research to identify and understand potential markets and focus areas.

• Help develop collateral for business development and marketing.

• Advocate for and embody Bocoup’s code of conduct and values.

Skills & Expectations

The ideal candidate will have:

• Commitment to our mission and values, including Transparency, Quality, Service, Learning, Inclusion, Respect, and Social Justice.
  You developed this commitment through your own lived experience,
  education and/or activism.

• Experience in technical sales, including building and implementing a business strategy and corresponding sales pipeline, and developing technical sales collateral.

• Experience building and maintaining robust relationships with nonprofit, activist, and mission-oriented organizations.

• Market knowledge and a track record of closing 5-7 figure contracts.

• Strong interpersonal skills, including empathetic and persuasive communication, stakeholder mapping & communication, and negotiation.

• Ability to simultaneously operate at a broad and strategic level, while also driving progress on specific, individual tasks.

• Technical background or understanding of web development.

Compensation and Expectations

• This is a part-time contract position requiring a commitment of roughly 2 days (16 hours) per week
• Starting salary of $5K per month.

Interview process for this role

• After you submit your application, it will be reviewed by the hiring manager and select members of the team.

• If it seems like we’re a good fit for each other, we will follow up and schedule a 30 minute phone call with one of our leaders to get to know you.

• If we jointly decide to move forward, you can plan to (virtually) attend a video interview with two team members.

• The final stage would be to meet (2-3) other members of the team via video conference for additional conversations about your approach to collaboration, your relevant experience to current projects, and alignment with our values. All in, you can expect the time commitment for this stage to be 3-4 hours of synchronous interaction, scheduled to fit your needs.

• If you complete interviews, we will provide a decision or clear next step within five business days.

• We are ready to hire as soon as we find the right candidate. We can’t wait to meet you!

Where can I learn more about working at Bocoup?

Check out our Careers page at https://bocoup.com/careers for FAQs and bit more about our culture and approach to work.