Partnerships: New Verticals Associate

THE PROBLEM

Harper is an AI-native commercial insurance company in San Francisco. We're not bolting AI onto insurance — we're rebuilding the entire business as software, on a simple bet: turning expert human judgment into compute is one of the largest transitions left to make, and a trillion-dollar industry still run 90% by hand is the place to prove it. We've grown ~100x in the last year and we move at that speed — on-site, in person, long days, very high standards. Almost no one joins Harper for insurance; they join to build the company that replaces how it works.

THE ROLE

This role reports into Head of Partnerships and owns opening new markets and partner channels from zero. The partnerships motion already exists in early form — the job is not to invent company strategy from scratch. It's to take unproven markets and channels, get in the field, build the relationships, and turn first signal into a real motion. Early does not mean there is revenue yet. Early means the play is being built, and you are the person building it on the ground.

There is no inherent pipeline waiting for you. That's not a warning — it's the design. You will not inherit a book of partners or a warmed-up funnel. You report into someone who already set the direction; your job is to execute in market, run a clear distribution scoreboard, and make progress visible week to week. What you do here meaningfully moves whether a new market becomes real — or stays a thesis.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Open new markets and partner channels from zero. First meetings, first relationships, first referrals — before there is money to point at.

- Travel is a core part of this job, not an occasional add-on. You will be on the road regularly; San Francisco is home base.

- Run the distribution scoreboard. Outreach, meetings, referrals, conversion — make the motion measurable even when revenue is still early or zero.

- Build 0→1 channel motions. Turn a cold market into a working partner or cha...