Director, Business Development (Payments)

Carry1st is building the dominant commerce platform for Africa and the Middle East. Operating at the intersection of video games, publishing, and fintech, we scale awesome content in frontier markets by solving hard problems. Carry1st distributes and monetizes games effectively with Pay1st, a proprietary payments solution and the Carry1st Shop, their online marketplace. We are partnered with top global game companies like Riot Games, Activision, and Tencent and we are backed by top investors like a16z, Bitkraft, Google, Konvoy, Riot Games, Sony, and Nas.

The Role

As a Director of Business Development, you will play a pivotal role in expanding our core payment technology beyond gaming and into high growth consumer digital and direct-to-consumer verticals by owning the full deal cycle from building pipeline and opening senior relationships through negotiation and close with a focus on minimizing time-to-signed (TTS). You will take an initial industry-expansion strategy and playbook to market, validate it through customer conversations, and help turn it into a repeatable go-to-market motion.

You will be responsible for building and nurturing high-profile client relationships, presenting tailored solutions and orchestrating efficient closes that contribute to client success and Carry1st’s growth.

You will...

• Own the entire deal process, from building pipeline and opening relationships through negotiation and closing deals that unlock new global markets
• Translate the initial industry-expansion strategy into a prioritized target-account and outreach plan targeting high-volume, consumer facing enterprises looking to expand their footprint
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior decision-makers across target industries, including VPs of Product, Heads of Strategy, and Commercial Executives understanding their needs and offering tailored solutions
• Communicate and demonstrate the value of Carry1st's products and services, addressing questions or concerns and adapting the story to different customer needs
• Validate buyer needs, use cases, messaging, and commercial assumptions focused on unlocking emerging market consumer demand in Africa and the Middle East through active customer conversations
• Negotiate terms, overcome objections, and close deals to meet or exceed revenue targets
• Maintain a robust deal pipeline, using CRM tools to track progress and forecast outcomes
• Successfully transition clients post-close to the Implementation team, maintaining a high-level commercial relationship for renewals and expansion while freeing your capacity to hunt the next opportunity
• Work closely with the Product and Implementation teams to share market insights and ensure that we’re building effective, easily deployable solutions for prospective and current clients
• Bring learnings from the field back into the commercial playbook, helping Carry1st understand what is repeatable, rapid-close model and where to invest next across new industries

Requirements

What makes you a world class candidate?

• Proven Commercial Track Record: 5+ years in enterprise software, cross-border infrastructure, or strategic FinTech commercial roles, with a consistent history of meeting targets, building net-new pipelines as a true hunter, and rapidly driving high-priority, high-value deals to a signed contract.
• Bilingual Communication: Professional fluency in both English and Mandarin, with the cross-cultural agility to present complex technical and commercial information clearly and persuasively.
• Agile Builder Mindset & Adaptability: Experience in growth-stage environments where the commercial motion is evolving, independently taking early strategy to market, compressing deal timelines, and refining the playbook based on learnings.
• Industry & Market Fluency: A network of relationships within Product and Corporate Strategy teams at consumer tech giants and a grasp of how global brands navigate infrastructure constraints in emerging regions.
• Decisive Executive Presence: Excellent negotiation skills and the ability to build immediate credibility with senior external stakeholders to clear friction and fast-track commercial agreements.
• Track Record of Excellence: Demonstrated high performance at a top-tier educational institution or through impressive alternative professional pursuits.

Benefits

What will it be like working at Carry1st?

As a Director of Business Development, alongside your base salary, you will earn performance-based compensation through immediate closing bonuses and an annual revenue share over the near-term.

Carry1st is a fast-growing, dynamic place to work. And while we are laser-focused on building the flagship consumer platform in Africa and the Middle East, our team is fully remote and 100% global - with people in 15+ countries!

We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. Join us!

Learn more about Carry1st…

• Andreessen Horowitz shared why they invested in Carry1st
• Forbes shares top payments companies that made the Fintech 50 in 2025