Strategic Partner Associate

Mission Summary:

As a Strategic Partner Associate, you will serve as the hands-on bridge between Motional, key local stakeholders, and commercial partners. We are transitioning from development to deployment, launching our commercial driverless service in Las Vegas in 2026 alongside a major ride-hail partner.

In this role, you will ground our expansion in the local community: engaging regional venues (hotels, casinos, resorts, and airport authorities), navigating local municipal frameworks, supporting early business development, and acting as the customer success advocate on the ground. You will ensure our day-to-day operations deliver exceptional rider experiences while opening doors to new local commercial opportunities.

What you’ll be doing:

• Drive Local Community & Venue Engagement: Identify, build, and maintain operational relationships with critical local destinations-including hotel/resort operators, event venues, and airport transportation authorities-to secure designated pickup/drop-off (PUDO) zones, property access, and brand visibility to support Motional and our partners.
• Support Business Development: Source and qualify local partnership opportunities (e.g., hospitality perks, local event activations, co-marketing with venue operators) to increase ride volume and partner network footprint. Assist Senior BD leadership with partnership collateral, site surveys, and commercial agreements.
• Deliver Partner & Customer Success: Serve as the on-the-ground point of contact for regional account stakeholders. Track customer feedback, monitor rider sentiment at key destinations, address partner concerns promptly, and ensure partner operational commitments are met consistently.
• Bridge Field Reality with Internal Teams: Gather frontline feedback on operational friction (e.g., operational hurdles, engagement needs, staging access) and collaborate directly with Operations, Business Development and Product teams to turn real-world observations into technical and workflow improvements.
• Navigate Local Regulations & Public Policy: Monitor local municipal ordinances, transportation board requirements, and airport authority guidelines. Collaborate with Motional’s Government Relations and Legal teams to ensure local partner initiatives adhere strictly to city, regional, and state compliance frameworks.
• Coordinate Market Launch Logistics: Support on-the-ground readiness for new zones, coordinating logistics between field support teams, venue security, facilities managers, and external partner staff to ensure smooth rollouts and demo events.

What we’re looking for: 

• 2-4 years of professional experience in local business development, partner operations, community relations, customer success, or field operations (ideally within mobility, ride-hail, hospitality, or urban transit).
• Proven ability to build new relationships with property managers, local venue operators, municipal staff, or regional authorities.
• Comfortable reviewing local ordinances, municipal codes, and airport or commercial property permitting procedures.
• Strong customer success mindset with a focus on resolving operational bottlenecks, driving partner retention, and advocating for rider satisfaction.
• Excellent verbal, written, and in-person presentation skills; confident representing Motional to external partners, hotel directors, and city staff.
• Ability to work smoothly across non-technical and technical teams (Operations, Legal, Product, Strategy).

Bonus points:

• Prior experience working within the Las Vegas or Pittsburgh markets, hospitality/gaming sector, venues and partnerships or municipal ecosystems.
• Familiarity with airport transportation authorities (e.g., ground transportation permits, staging lot regulations, testing and reporting).
• Hands-on experience coordinating physical site logistics, driverless vehicle demo’s, or real-estate partnership.

Location: Las Vegas Only, travel up to 25% 3+ days in the office

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process. 

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range

$84,000—$109,500 USD

Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.

Our journey is always people first.

We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.

Higher purpose, greater impact.

We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.  

Scale up, not starting up.

Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.

Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit  www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.