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Director of Product and Business Development

CA - Century City

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Your mission is to lead our technology based business development initiatives. Towards that end, you will leverage your expertise in mobile digital media platforms and assess leading-edge technologies for commercial potential in the US market. Specifically, you will work closely with our HQ's in Korea, identifying customer-centric Korean technologies that are ripe for adoption by US consumers, and develop joint ventures with commercial development partners in a wide range of business sectors. We'll look to you as our technology subject matter expert (SME), who can define our technology business strategy and develop a powerful consumer value proposition that will allow SKTI to establish a leadership position in this market.

Your Opportunity

This role is a rich career opportunity with a global communications leader and innovator. SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) is Korea's leading mobile communications company and one of the largest wireless Internet service providers in the world. The company is now regarded as one of the leading mobile operators that successfully ventured into media entertainment industry, seamlessly integrating the entire value chain of both mobile and online content distribution.

SK Telecom International (SKTI) is the gateway between SK Telecom and the American market. To give you an idea of the diverse and innovative company you will join, consider SKTI's mission:

To be in the vanguard and put yourself "in the technology development mix" to explore new services and advanced applications that have great market potential, providing advanced product development acumen and services that appeal to the diverse needs of end-users; and
To work with SK Telecom as a liaison, introducing and managing relationships with various types of industries associated with major technology models; and
To expose the U.S. market to SK Telecom's successful mobile platform and its advanced wireless Internet applications and solutions.

You'll enjoy the entrepreneurial spirit in our division which equates to a sense of a small company environment, and the structured work processes and stability of our large parent company, SK Telecom.

Our Requirements

To be a good fit for this opportunity you'll understand mobile technologies and services, and come up with innovative "lifestyle" applications that are easy-to-use and sure to be embraced by US consumers. In addition, we require:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering; MBA preferred.
Minimum of 5-7 years of business development experience or leading corporate strategy division of a technology firm. Must be familiar with:

Wireless protocol standards.
Mobile service platforms.

Client/server.
Application Service Provider (ASP and MVNE).

Mobile device hardware and software.
New product development life-cycle management from concept through initial sales in a relevant mobile technology industry.

Deep knowledge of mobile digital media business model and competitive landscape.
A strong presence and local economy participant, of being part of the networking functions on the west coast of the USA.
Bilingual in English & Korean (a plus) to interact with cross-functional groups.
Ability to think creatively and strategically with a proven track record in aligning and driving innovative deals to successful completion.
Outstanding communication skills to present to a variety of audiences.
Flexible mind set to adapt to a constantly changing environment.
Superior proficiency in Microsoft office suite including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Sales engineer, or field sales background supporting technology products is desirable.
Ability to travel (national & international) about 30% of the time.

More About the Company

SK Telecom International was established in 1995 by SK Telecom to develop global business opportunities with a focus on investing in wireless network operations. More than simply a technology or communications company, SK Telecom International (SKTI) are international strategists and investors in telecommunications, communications and digital media. One of our most recent ventures is called HELIO (www.helio.com), a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), new mobile brand custom-built for young, connected consumers. HELIO is a $440 million joint venture which brings together the innovation from SK Telecom and the service and support synonymous with locally based ISP EarthLink - to deliver a breakthrough mobile communications experience through unique social networking, gaming, entertainment applications and beyond.

Our association with our parent company, SK Telecom, enables us to capitalize on opportunities like HELIO. SK Telecom has a history of innovation: it was the first company to launch a commercial CDMA mobile network technology in 1995, and it has been pushing the boundaries ever since. The company launched its 2.5G services in January of 2001, and continues to lead the era of digital and mobile communications by offering value-added premium services to mobile subscribers and strengthening wireless Internet services with a robust, flexible, commerce-enabled mobile platform.

For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com and www.skti.com

More About Your Role

Much of your role will be defined once you are on board and we can assess the unique skill set and experiences you possess. You will join our 10-person Los Angeles office, conveniently located in the heart of the entertainment capital.

Initially, your core areas of focus will include:

Establishing the tools and processes and bringing your industry contacts to research and analyze the development trends in wireless communication technologies and screen potential business opportunities.
Leveraging those tools and processes to conceptualize the "next movement" in Internet protocol communications.
Making recommendations for specific partnerships and/or investment opportunities for SK Telecom that will allow us to reach our strategic global goals.
Executing recommendations to close tangible deals for SK Telecom.

Since ours is similar to a start-up environment, you'll face a varied stream of challenges including defining our overall business development strategy in an undefined, evolving environment. Your short-term challenges revolve around gaining an understanding of our technical assets in Korea, and overcoming cultural and communication differences to successfully bring our technical leadership to the US market.

At a high level, you'll spend about 50% of your time assessing viable technologies and ensuring product development ingenuity, integration, and collaboration; 30% developing strategic partnerships to commercialize technologies; and the remainder 20% on market research initiatives.

Keys to Success

Success in our dynamic environment requires both passion for technology and deal-making savvy. You will be promoting world-class partnerships with a vision for the short and long term goals of both the partner and the business. In addition, you will rely on the following personality attributes to succeed in this role:

Thirst for knowledge to stay abreast of the latest developments in wireless communications to ensure that we stay ahead of the curve.
Team-building skills with a willingness to mentor others, and motivate your team to achieve SKTI's challenging goals.
Excellent communication and negotiation skills in managing strategic relationships and partnerships; internally you'll also use your communications savvy to navigate effectively through layers of decision-making at our HQ and push priorities through.
Analytical horsepower with a solid understanding of key metrics that drive top and bottom line revenues.
Self-assessment to understand what makes you good at what you do, and constantly taking steps to build on strengths and improve on weaknesses.
Interpersonal finesse to build relations with diverse stakeholders, including working "in the trenches" to meet and greet field representatives, both locally and nationally, and identify "the next movement" in the mobile and internet protocol converged communications industry.

If this sounds like the appropriate combination of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the required qualifications, we look forward to hearing from you.