Business Development
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Overview
Job Description
What We Do
Shepherd is a technology-driven Managing General Underwriter (MGU) transforming commercial Property & Casualty insurance for high-hazard industries. Our mission is to make risk frictionless for the builders and operators shaping the physical world — protecting progress from concept through construction and into decades of operation.
We’re building the fastest, smartest commercial risk platform, where underwriting expertise, data, and automation work together to deliver:
Faster decisions
Smarter, more accurate pricing
Better risk outcomes
With Shepherd, safety, speed, and quality no longer trade off against one another — they compound. We’re not just modernizing insurance products. We’re building the risk infrastructure for the next generation of financial services, where technology, underwriting, and partnerships operate in harmony to support the world’s most important industries — and the progress they make possible.
Our Investors
To date, Shepherd has raised over $20M from leading investors, including:
Spark Capital
Costanoa Ventures
Y Combinator
Susa Ventures
Intact Ventures
And several others
Our Team
We're a team of technologists and insurance enthusiasts, bridging the two worlds together. Check out our About page to learn more.
The Role
About You
Business Development at Shepherd is about building deep, lasting relationships with our broker partners. We’re looking for experienced sales professionals to help us grow by aligning Shepherd’s products, technology, and underwriting expertise with the goals of leading construction-focused brokerages. Your mission: drive broker success and unlock growth by bringing Shepherd’s most compelling ideas to market.
This is a unique and exciting opportunity to join a dynamic early stage startup experiencing rapid growth across a diverse set of product offerings.
You would be our dream candidate if…
5+ years experience in selling insurance or in a wholesale brokerage capacity
Comfort with Casualty, Builder’s Risk, and construction-related coverages
Active P&C / Surplus Lines license
Existing relationships with retail brokers
Self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset
Thrives in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Excellent presentation and storytelling ability
Quick to learn technical insurance and software concepts
Highly organized; able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
About the Role
Shepherd is building a better and faster way to underwrite commercial insurance for high-hazard businesses, including using novel data sources and applying AI to reduce administrative inefficiencies for underwriting and servicing teams. Our products are supported by a full-stack platform purpose built to launch and support everything from submission intake to policy issuance. Shepherd leverages its technology to make quick, informed, underwriting decisions.
Develop new broker relationships through a mix of inbound leads and targeted outbound outreach
Identify high-potential targets for strategic outbound campaigns
Consistently meet goals for qualified opportunities, pipeline value, and closed business
Track, report, and manage all sales activity in coordination with the broader BD team
Own post-sale engagement and success for Shepherd’s broker partners through strong relationships, planning, and product expertise
Serve as the primary point of contact for broker satisfaction and long-term growth
Maintain deep fluency in Shepherd’s insurance products and technology platform; tailor positioning to broker needs
Proactively identify risks to broker success and work cross-functionally to resolve
Travel up to 30% based on territory and broker footprint
#LI-Onsite
Benefits
🏥 Premium Healthcare100% contribution to top-tier health, dental, and vision
🏖️ Unlimited PTOFlexibility to take the time off, recharge, and perform
🥗 Daily lunches, dinners, and snacksWe work together, and enjoy meals together too
🖥️ SF, NYC, or Dallas-Fort Worth OfficesPremium office spaces on both coasts with daily lunches provided
📚 Professional DevelopmentAccess to premium coaching, including leadership development
🏦 401(k) PlanCompetitive 401(k) plan offered
🐶 Dog-friendly officePlenty of dogs to play with and make friends with in the SF office
Automate your job search with Sonara.
Submit 10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application.