Role description
Strategy & Ventures Lead
NewsBreakAbout NewsBreak
Local life runs on local information. What happened down the street? Who can fix this? Where should we go tonight? NewsBreak started in 2015 to answer these questions, and today more than 40 million people a month rely on us to follow what’s going on in their zip code.
Three platforms with one vision: powering local life. Led by founder and CEO Jeff Zheng, NewsBreak is our local life and news platform; Nearby AI connects people with local businesses; and NDot AI helps publishers and creators grow and earn.
Building for the long term. A $115 million Series C made us a unicorn in 2021, and we keep investing in our people. We’re Great Place to Work® certified and named to Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators (2025) and Fortune’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ (2026).
Everyone makes an impact. Whether you write code, shape products, tell our story, or run the business, we want people who own projects end to end, stay curious, and speak up. Join us.
Learn more at: NewsBreak, Nearby AI, NDot AI
The Role
We're looking for a Strategy & Ventures Lead to bring operating and investment discipline to NewsBreak's core business, our two new AI initiatives, and NexBreak Ventures. The initiatives are NDot AI, an AI growth platform for publishers, short-drama producers and other content creators, and Nearby AI, a local-intent marketplace. NexBreak Ventures is our new corporate venture arm: it invests in startups and helps them grow with NewsBreak's distribution, data, AI and monetization expertise.
What You'll Do
Strategy, BizOps & Analytics
- Evaluate NDot AI and Nearby AI on strategy, product-market fit, progress, team, resourcing and unit economics
- Analyze growth, funnels, retention and monetization directly in our data systems (SQL / Hive / Spark) to guide strategy and operating decisions
- Build business cases and financial models that inform resource allocation and accelerate / continue / pivot / stop decisions
- Set KPIs, milestones and stage gates, and track performance against the original investment case
- Run regular business reviews with initiative leaders and help them find execution gaps and resourcing needs
NexBreak Ventures
- Help build an active corporate venture platform from the ground up
- Develop investment theses, source opportunities, lead diligence, model valuation and returns, and make investment recommendations
- Define how NewsBreak adds value beyond capital: distribution, AI/technology, monetization, data, operating expertise and partnerships
- Support and monitor portfolio companies after investment, including building a portfolio-support playbook
Corporate Development (Build / Partner / Buy)
- Assess build, partner, invest and acquire options, and strategic transactions as they come up
What You'll Bring
- 3–5 years in top-tier investment banking, management consulting, corporate development, or strategy/BizOps, with meaningful exposure to technology
- Strong financial modeling skills: business cases, market sizing, unit economics and valuation
- Hands-on data skills: comfortable writing SQL and working with large datasets to test assumptions yourself
- Structured problem solving and clear executive communication; you turn ambiguous questions into clear recommendations
- Commercial judgment and a willingness to challenge constructively, plus the ability to influence across functions
- Curious, proactive and low-ego; equally comfortable discussing strategy with leadership and digging into customer cohorts
Nice to Have
- Experience with Hive, Spark or Python; cohort analysis and experimentation
- Corporate venture, VC or growth equity experience, including sourcing and diligence
- M&A modeling or tech corporate development experience
- Background in marketplaces, consumer internet, media/adtech or AI
- Empathy for founders and a strong network for sourcing deals
The US base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job-related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.
Annual Base Pay Range
$180,000—$240,000 USD