Head of Business Development, Avant
$195-245k
+ Annual bonus
M, T, Th in-office
3 days a week in office (Merchandise Mart, IL)
Personal credit FinTech
Job no longer available
Personal credit FinTech
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
$195-245k
+ Annual bonus
M, T, Th in-office
3 days a week in office (Merchandise Mart, IL)
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To move financial lives forward.
Role
Who you are
- 8–12+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, fintech strategy, or B2B sales—preferably in credit cards, personal lending, or embedded finance
- Deep understanding of the fintech ecosystem and consumer credit products, including second-look lending and co-brand partnership structures
- Proven ability to source, negotiate, and close complex commercial deals
- Comfortable with ambiguity and able to drive strategy while executing tactically
- Strong cross-functional collaborator with experience influencing senior stakeholders across product, tech, credit, and legal
- Passion for innovation, financial inclusion, and building from zero to one
What the job involves
- Avant is seeking a strategic and driven Head of Business Development to lead our efforts in unlocking new originations growth through partnerships
- This senior leader will be responsible for building and executing a business development strategy across all of our products to support our growth targets
- The position will be heavily focused on working with external strategic partners and collaborating with internal stakeholders to cultivate, maintain and grow our business and existing partner relationships
- This is a unique opportunity to shape a critical new growth channel at Avant, working cross-functionally with Product, Credit, Operations, Legal, and our Executive team
- Develop and Own the Partnership Strategy: Define the partnership categories that align with Avant’s credit card and loan business strategies, including direct and channel partnerships and spanning various integration types
- Build and Execute Pipeline: Identify and prioritize top targets, drive outreach, relationship management, and deal structuring
- Drive Deal Execution: Lead negotiations, diligence, and contract execution. Manage term sheets, coordinate internal stakeholders, and ensure legal and technical alignment for each deal
- Validate and Iterate on Strategy: Test economic assumptions and unit economics for each deal type. Partner with Finance, Credit, and Analytics to pressure-test and refine models
- Guide Technical Readiness: Partner with Product and Engineering to define requirements for integration and servicing infrastructure needed to support each partnership type
- Align Executives and Teams: Facilitate executive alignment on target partners, go-to-market sequencing, and technical investment strategy. Provide regular updates to leadership on BD progress and impact
- Hire and Build the BD Function: As the function matures, help shape and grow the team needed to scale our partnership strategy into 2026 and beyond
Our take
Many Americans with below average credit scores are caught in a bind: they're unable to improve their score, and simultaneously cannot access traditional loans. Avant's alternative is to offer credit options that are powered by machine learning and based upon a large database that helps to manage risk.
For its users, the company offers a quick credit decision and speedy access to any allotted funds. It has issued over $8 billion in loans to date, and has also expanded its business through the acquisitions of ReadyForZero in 2015 and Zero Financial in 2021.
This expansion has enabled Avant to reach towards its goal of offering a whole suite of products in a single platform, such as loans, credit cards, and deposits. Although there are many FinTechs looking at ways to remove the barriers that people with low credit scores face when trying to take out loans, this expansion to banking products should help Avant to stand out.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-3% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Dec 2022
$125m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Sep 2015
$325m
SERIES E
Total funding: $779m
Company benefits
- Choice of great medical, dental, and vision insurance plan options
- 401(k) Match
- Unlimited paid time off
- Flexible work environment
- Generous paid parental leave
- Lunch allowance (Fooda) and in-office snacks
- WFH stipends for our remote employees
- Access to LinkedIn Learning for professional development
- No meeting wednesdays - (a.k.a. planned time to Get Sh!t Done)
- Summer fridays
- Fun in-office and virtual social events
- (And who doesn’t love the swag)
Company HQ
River North, Chicago, IL
Leadership
Al Goldstein
(Co-Founder, Chair & CEO)They worked for a year at Deutsche Bank before founding Pangea Properties in 2008, and Avant in 2013. They have been Chair since, alongside founding Amount, Spring Labs, and StoicLane.
Paul Zhang
(Co-Founder & CIO)Having studied at the University of Illinois, they spent a year as a Software Engineer at CashNetUSA and Enova Financial. They founded Debteye in 2011, before starting Avant in 2013, serving first as CTO then Chief Architect, CTO again and finally CIO.
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