[Hiring] Founding Partnerships Lead @Infilla

Role Description

Infilla is looking for a Founding Partnerships Lead to build the network of allies, funders, and distribution partners that brings Infilla warm introductions, funded deployments, and deals that direct sales couldn't reach alone. As our first partnerships hire, you'll build Infilla's relationships with the industry associations, consultants, and philanthropies that shape how cities and counties approve housing.

Infilla's mission is to make more housing happen faster by making permitting unremarkable. The U.S. is short 4-7 million homes, and local permitting is one of the top bottlenecks with approvals taking months to years. Infilla is building the modern permitting platform that helps local governments review projects faster, more consistently, and more transparently.

Customers include San Francisco, New York City, and the State of Delaware, among others. We're backed by Basis Set Ventures, Base10 Partners, Urban Innovation Fund, SHAKTI VC, 20Growth, Bloomberg Beta, and 20+ founders/operators who've built products at scale.

Qualifications

• Built partnerships that produced results you can name in deals, dollars, and dates, not just MOUs signed or events attended.
• Run complex projects and many stakeholder relationships at once, in consulting, chief of staff, policy, or startup roles.
• Ended or turned down partnerships that weren't working, and can explain why the partners you kept said yes and stayed engaged.
• Earned past partners or funders who would happily work with you again.
• Made AI a core part of how you work, not an occasional assist.

Requirements

• Relationship building is where you must be great; commercial judgment is a close second.
• Relationship building: You earn trust fast and keep it. You're equally comfortable with homebuilders, planners, funders, and elected officials, across red and blue states.
• Commercial judgment: You know which relationships lead to deals and money.
• Project management and follow-through: You run dozens of relationships at once without dropping anything.
• Clear writing: Your intro emails, partner one-pagers, and grant applications lead with the point, use real numbers, and stay calm and nonpartisan.
• Scrappy, AI-leveraged execution: You're a team of one who ships the good-enough draft now and improves it later.

Benefits

• This is a remote US-based role, with a preference for candidates in Washington, D.C.
• Open to a contract-to-hire or full-time arrangement.
• Travel is on an as-needed basis for conferences and networking events.
• You will join the GTM team and report to the CEO.
• Full-time benefits: meaningful equity, healthcare / vision / dental insurance, 401K, and 26 days of PTO including federal holidays.
• We cannot sponsor visas at this time.

The Process

• Initial call with Jenny, our CEO, to assess mutual fit (20 min).
• Past work deep dive with Jenny to assess relationship building and commercial judgment (60 min).
• Network-building session with Jenny on how you'd grow Infilla's relationships in one priority state (60 min).
• 3 reference checks, including at least one partner or funder you've worked with.

How We Work

• Ideas > Hierarchy: Best idea wins regardless of source. Be intellectually honest.
• Kind > Nice: Share clear, helpful feedback often. Voice your concerns and listen.
• Courage > Comfort: We do the right thing, even when hard or uncomfortable.
• Hours > Weeks: Solve it in hours, not "eventually." Speed is our biggest edge as a startup.
• Fix > Flag: See a problem, own it, and fix it — don't wait for someone else to.

Legal

Infilla is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you need an accommodation at any point in the interview process, let us know and we'll make it work.