Director of Business Development & Strategy

Position Summary

As our Director of Business Development & Strategy, you’ll own Limelight Steel's commercial pipeline from the ground up. You'll prospect, negotiate, and close the partnerships with mining companies, steelmakers, and offtake customers that underpin our first commercial plants. This is an executive-level role for a deal-closer who thrives in complex, technical, high-stakes environments.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end business development funnel: prospecting, relationship development, term negotiation, and deal close.

• Lead outreach and relationship management with mining companies (iron ore, copper, nickel, etc), tailings site operators, steelmakers, and industrial steel buyers.

• Build and maintain a structured pipeline of suppliers, partners, and offtake customers.

• Collaborate with the engineering team to ensure proposed partnerships are technically feasible and economically attractive.

• Work with the leadership team to develop and stress-test commercial models, techno-economic analyses, and deal structures.

• Represent Limelight Steel at industry conferences, site visits, and executive meetings with potential partners.

• Support grant and funding applications with market intelligence, LOIs, and letters of support.

• Provide strategic input into product roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market decisions based on market feedback.

• Participate in the executive leadership team, informing company-wide strategy, owning go-to-market OKRs, and supporting alignment across functions to enable commercial outcomes.

Key Qualifications

• 5+ years in business development, commercial strategy, or partnerships — ideally in mining, metals, materials, or industrial commodities.

• Demonstrated track record of originating and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals (LOIs, offtake agreements, joint ventures, or similar).

• Comfortable engaging at the C-suite and VP level with large industrial companies; strong executive presence.

• Ability to read and contribute to techno-economic models, feasibility studies, and commercial term sheets — you do not need to be an engineer, but you must be able to speak credibly with engineers.

• Self-directed and comfortable with ambiguity; you can set your own work plan and manage a deal pipeline from end-to-end.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Additional Qualifications Desired

• Existing relationships within mining or steel industries.

• Experience with tailings reprocessing, mine waste, or critical minerals supply chains.

• Background in climate tech, green steel, or decarbonization of heavy industry.

• Experience at an early-stage startup or in a similarly fast-paced, resource-constrained environment.

• Familiarity with government grant processes (DOE, ARPA-E, state programs, or international equivalents).

Compensation

Salary range for this role is $165k–$190k plus meaningful equity, depending on experience and level.

Benefits

• Competitive stock option package

• Comprehensive health benefits that include:

  • Full premium coverage for PPO Gold for employees with 80% coverage for dependents

  • Full premium coverage for Vision and Dental for employees

• Generous time-off schedule

  • 20 days paid time off (accrued according to number of hours worked)

  • 10 holidays (personalized to the holidays you observe)

• Sustainable 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match

• 2x weekly catered team lunches

• A team of curious, passionate, kind, and courageous people committed to eliminating industrial emissions that contribute to climate change

• Unparalleled opportunities for growth, leadership, and project ownership in a dynamic and rapidly-growing startup company