Business Development Manager, Retail Channel (Starlink Growth)

About the role

Starlink is a revolutionary satellite constellation, delivering low-latency broadband internet around the world - bringing an unprecedented opportunity to significantly impact communities, businesses, and governments worldwide. The North America Business Development team is seeking a Business Development Manager, Retail Channel to own and scale the Starlink retail channel across United States and Canada markets.

This role is responsible for day-to-day management of relationships with big box and specialty retailers, leading distributor partnerships, and driving the operational and commercial excellence required to grow retail distribution, activations, and sell-through at scale.

It requires strong channel management expertise, comfort working with both people and data, and fluency in forecasting, inventory, promotions, and the day-to-day mechanics that make a high-growth retail channel run.

The ideal candidate combines proven retail channel and business development capabilities with analytical rigor and execution discipline. This is a unique opportunity to work at the cutting edge of connectivity technologies with a world-class team focused on connecting every household and traveler.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day communication and commercial relationships with big box and specialty retailers, serving as the primary point of contact for retail partners and ensuring strong alignment on assortment, pricing, promotions, and performance goals
• Lead distributor relationships, including account planning, performance management, and coordination of logistics, inventory flow, and go-to-market execution across the retail channel
• Assist with inventory allocation decisions across retailers and distributors, balancing demand signals, sell-through velocity, and supply constraints to optimize product availability and minimize stockouts or excess
• Drive promotions development and execution for the retail channel, partnering with marketing, pricing, and retail partners to design, launch, and measure promotional programs that accelerate activations and sell-through
• Support quarterly and annual forecasting for the retail channel, building bottom-up demand forecasts, tracking performance against plan, and surfacing risks and opportunities to leadership
• Streamline sales and distribution data processes and reporting to enable the organization to make informed decisions on channel strategy, assortment, inventory, and growth investments
• Lead store expansion and optimization efforts, identifying high-potential retail locations and partners, supporting new door openings, and driving in-store merchandising and activation
• Lead efforts focused on Starlink service activations of new kits sold through retail, partnering with operations, customer support, and retail partners to maximize activation rates and customer success
• Partner closely with product, marketing, engineering, finance, supply chain, and legal to ensure clear ownership, timely execution, and clean handoffs from opportunity through launch
• Report on progress of retail channel initiatives, presenting insights, risks, and recommendations directly to Starlink leadership
• Drive continuous improvement of team processes, tools, and operating rhythms to increase throughput, clarity, and accountability across the retail channel

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree
• 5+ years of experience in business development, channel management, retail sales, account management, or complex commercial partnerships
• 3+ years of experience managing retail or distribution channels, including forecasting, inventory, promotions, and performance tracking for revenue or growth-oriented programs

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, economics, marketing, engineering, or a related field
• Proven background in retail channel management, business development, or partnerships supporting high-growth or commercial teams in technology, telecommunications, consumer electronics, or subscription-based services
• Direct experience working with big box retailers, specialty retailers, and/or distributors, including account management, negotiations, and joint business planning
• Strong analytical, forecasting, and data fluency; comfort with inventory allocation, KPI design, sell-through analysis, and building clear reporting for leadership
• Demonstrated success driving retail channel growth, activations, or distribution expansion from concept through execution and scale
• Independently motivated with a track record of project ownership, prioritization under ambiguity, and delivering measurable results
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills; able to work effectively with both technical and commercial stakeholders as well as external retail partners
• MBA or master's degree with a business or technical focus preferred

Additional Requirements

• Must be available to work extended hours and weekends as needed
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time to retail partner locations, distributor sites, and other SpaceX locations as required

Itar Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.