Head of Business Development

Job Overview

The Head of Business Development will lead VRChat’s business development strategy and execution, with a focus on partnerships that help grow the VRChat ecosystem. This includes partnerships that bring well-known intellectual property and new content to VRChat, grow VRChat’s creator economy and marketplaces, develop strategic opportunities with platform and hardware partners, and test new ways for people to engage with VRChat.

This is a senior, hands-on role for an experienced business development leader who has successfully built or scaled partnerships programs. As an individual contributor, the Head of Business Development will personally originate, evaluate, structure, negotiate, launch, and manage partnerships while building the processes and playbooks needed to grow the function over time.

The role reports to VRChat’s VP of Operations & Legal and will work in close partnership with them on strategy, major transactions, and key partner relationships. The Head of Business Development will also collaborate closely with VRChat’s Japan Growth team, which leads partnerships and growth initiatives within the Japanese market.

Job & Team Impact

Partnerships can help VRChat grow by expanding the content and experiences available on the platform, supporting its creator economy, and creating new ways for people to access and engage with VRChat.

Your work will help VRChat identify and execute the opportunities with the greatest potential, bring internal teams together around them, and develop successful partnership models that support VRChat’s content flywheel and broader business goals.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Partner closely with VRChat’s VP of Operations & Legal and executive leadership to set business development strategy and priorities, leading efforts outside Japan while collaborating with the Japan Growth team

• Build and manage a focused pipeline of opportunities across intellectual property, entertainment, gaming, creators, platforms, hardware providers, and other strategic categories

• Originate, evaluate, structure, negotiate, and execute a range of commercial and strategic partnerships, including emerging partnership and business models

• Develop clear business cases for prospective partnerships, considering their potential impact on growth, revenue, and other strategic value

• Lead cross-functional alignment and execution across Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and other teams, ensuring commitments are both strategically sound and operationally achievable

• Manage partnerships after contract signing, including launch, ongoing relationship management, performance evaluation, and renewal

• Establish the processes, commercial frameworks, metrics, and repeatable partnership models needed to scale VRChat’s business development function and, over time, help define and build the team

Experience, Skills & Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience in business development or strategic partnerships, ideally within gaming, consumer technology, entertainment, media, marketplaces, or creator platforms

• A track record of building or scaling business development efforts that delivered meaningful growth, commercial, or strategic results

• Experience working with major brands, intellectual property owners, developers, creators, platforms, hardware providers, or other strategic partners

• Strong commercial judgment and experience evaluating the potential value, economics, resource needs, and risks of partnership opportunities

• Experience originating, structuring, negotiating, and completing complex partnerships, including working closely with Legal and other internal teams

• Experience leading cross-functional deals and building alignment across Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and operational teams

• Strong communication and relationship-management skills, including experience working with senior executives and external partners

• Creative, resourceful, organized, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced and highly ambiguous startup environment

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with VRChat and a demonstrated interest in VR, online communities, and user-generated content

• Experience working with creator ecosystems, marketplaces, digital goods, intellectual property licensing, or live events

• Experience working on a live platform or service that ships frequently and responds to user and community feedback

• Existing relationships across gaming, entertainment, media, creator, platform, or hardware ecosystems

Benefits

• Work from anywhere! VRChat is a 100% remote company

• Health Benefits

• 401K for US & RRSP for Canadian Employees

• Stock Options

• Generous paid holiday schedule

• Unlimited/Flexible vacation time

• Paid parental leave benefits