Business Development

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 team page to meet some of us!

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
  
  

Benefits

🏥 Premium Healthcare

100% contribution to top-tier health, dental, and vision

🏖️ Unlimited PTO

Flexibility to take the time off, recharge, and perform

🥗 Daily lunches, dinners, and snacks

We work together, and enjoy meals together too

🖥️ SF, NYC, or Dallas-Fort Worth Offices

Premium office spaces on both coasts with daily lunches provided

📚 Professional Development

Access to premium coaching, including leadership development

🏦 401(k) Plan

Competitive 401(k) plan offered

🐶 Dog-friendly office

Plenty of dogs to play with and make friends with in the SF office

Compensation Range: $100K - $160K