Business Development Associate

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated Business Development Associate to join Vay's B2B and partnership team. This role is designed to directly support the Director of Business Development on Vay's most strategic and high-stakes partnerships. This role sits at the intersection of deep technology, commercial strategy, and complex negotiations. You will play a critical role in helping scale Vay's partnerships with mobility platform companies, OEM integrations, technology partners and public sector stakeholders.

What you'll do

• Own and prioritize the early-stage partnership pipeline across mobility platforms, OEMs, autonomy players, and public-sector stakeholders
• Structure new opportunities: define use cases, economics, regulatory feasibility, and technical requirements
• Support and co-drive high-profile negotiations (MoUs, term sheets, pilots, contracts), including drafting redlines and counterproposals
• Coordinate feasibility assessments and translate deep-tech constraints into commercially viable deal structures
• Build and maintain partnership business models to evaluate opportunities and support negotiations
• Conduct structured market research and competitor analysis in autonomous driving, teleoperations, ride-hailing, and OEM ecosystems
• Support city and country expansion projects, including preparation of tenders, regulatory applications, and C-level materials
• Prepare executive-level decks, briefing notes, negotiation summaries, and decision proposals
• Act as interface between BD, Engineering, Legal, Finance and external stakeholders

What you'll need

• At least 3-5 years shaping growth and strategy in business development, top-tier consulting, corporate strategy, investment banking, or a high-growth deep-tech / mobility startup
• Academic grounding in Business Administration, Business Engineering & Management (Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen), Economics, Finance, or related field (Master's degree is a plus)
• Structured Strategic Thinker: able to decompose ambiguous problems into clear frameworks and strategic scenarios
• Strong project management and communication skills
• Ability to maintain discretion and confidentiality when handling sensitive negotiations and regulatory matters

Nice to have

• Exposure to autonomous driving, mobility, automotive, or tech industries