Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Partnerships

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Partnerships is a senior commercial leader who defines and executes a strategic partner program to accelerate growth, open new markets, and deepen customer value. This person builds and manages a portfolio of strategic alliances, channel partners, technology partners, resellers, and referral networks; negotiates commercial agreements and joint go-to-market (GTM) plans; and coordinates cross-functional teams (sales, marketing, product, legal, customer success) to ensure partner success and measurable contribution to pipeline and revenue. The ideal candidate combines strong commercial acumen, data-driven decision making, negotiation skills, and the ability to scale partner programs from pilot to global operations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Manager / Head of Partnerships
Head of Business Development or Alliances
Director of Channel Sales or Strategic Accounts

Advancement To:

VP of Partnerships / Head of Global Alliances
Chief Business Officer / Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)
SVP, Global Go-To-Market or Chief Strategy Officer

Lateral Moves:

Director of Business Development
Director of Channel Sales
Director of Strategic Accounts

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and execute a comprehensive partner strategy and roadmap that aligns with company revenue goals, customer acquisition targets, and product strategy; define partner segments (technology, channel, referral, systems integrators) and prioritization criteria to drive scalable growth.
Own end-to-end partner lifecycle management: recruitment, onboarding, enablement, performance management, and renewal; build standardized playbooks, KPIs and SLAs to measure partner contribution to pipeline and revenue.
Identify, qualify, and negotiate strategic alliances with technology partners, resellers, system integrators, and enterprise partners; structure commercial models (revenue share, referral fees, co-sell, OEM) and draft term sheets in collaboration with legal and finance.
Design and lead co-selling and joint GTM initiatives with sales leadership: create account mapping processes, joint opportunity plans, co-branded campaigns, and quota/incentive alignment to maximize partner-influenced revenue.
Build and manage a high-performing partnerships team including managers, partner success leads and operations specialists; hire, coach and create career paths, performance objectives and compensation programs tied to partner outcomes.
Establish partner enablement programs including certification tracks, playbooks, technical onboarding, demo environments, sales training, and marketing kits to reduce time-to-first-deal and improve win rates.
Implement and manage partner technology stack (PRM, CRM integrations, deal registration) and data pipelines to ensure accurate partner tracking, pipeline attribution, forecasting and visibility for revenue operations and finance teams.
Create and manage partner marketing and demand generation programs: co-branded webinars, joint content, events, field marketing, channel incentives and MDF programs that drive qualified leads and accelerate pipeline conversion.
Set and own partner KPIs (partner-sourced pipeline, partner-influenced revenue, deal velocity, win rate, customer retention) and report performance regularly to executive leadership with actionable insights and recommendations.
Lead cross-functional coordination with product, engineering and customer success to influence product roadmap, ensure partner enablement for integrations/APIs, and remove technical or operational blockers to partner success.
Develop pricing, packaging and discounting guidelines for partner-sold transactions in alignment with sales and finance; manage approval workflows for special pricing and channel promotions.
Architect and scale a globally consistent partner program including tiering, benefits, partner portals and governance to support international expansion and local market channel dynamics.
Negotiate complex commercial contracts and partnership agreements including MSAs, SOWs, reseller distribution agreements and OEM contracts while ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Drive partner onboarding and customer handoff processes that guarantee a seamless experience and ensure partners are enabled to deliver initial deployments and deliver adoption outcomes.
Monitor competitive partner landscapes and identify strategic white-space opportunities to recruit new partners, expand co-sell motions, and differentiate through unique joint offerings or integrations.
Lead executive-level partner relationships, including regular business reviews, joint planning sessions, escalation management, and development of multi-year strategic partnership roadmaps.
Design partner incentive and rewards programs (rebates, accelerators, MDF, SPIFFs) to drive desired partner behaviors and improve partner satisfaction and retention.
Execute channel conflict mitigation strategies and territory/account assignment rules in partnership with sales leadership to protect direct revenue while maximizing partner engagement.
Manage partner operations and enablement budgets, forecasting partner program ROI, controlling MDF spend, and reporting on CAC and partner acquisition costs to finance and executive teams.
Champion partner-driven product integrations and joint solutions; work with product management and engineering on APIs, SDKs, and technical certifications that unlock new use cases and markets.
Build and publish partner-facing dashboards and analytics (via PRM/BI tools) to provide partners transparency into deal status, commissions, lead distribution and performance benchmarks.
Represent the company at industry events, partner summits, and conferences; deliver keynote presentations and lead partner workshops to recruit strategic partners and build brand credibility.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory partner program analysis to identify trends, enablement gaps, and expansion opportunities.
Maintain up-to-date partner documentation and knowledge base to streamline onboarding, technical enablement, and marketing co-creation.
Run quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with strategic partners; synthesize learnings into GTM adjustments, joint account plans, and product requests.
Participate in cross-functional sprint planning when partner integrations or enablement features require engineering and product deliverables.
Coordinate with legal and compliance teams to maintain partner onboarding checklists, export controls, data processing agreements and privacy compliance.
Assist finance with partner invoicing, commission reconciliation and partner payout schedules to ensure timely and accurate payments.
Facilitate pilot programs, beta partnerships and proof-of-concepts with strategic technology partners to validate joint solutions and accelerate product-market fit.
Support customer success in joint customer escalations where partner integrations or partner-delivered services impact customer outcomes.
Curate partner reference customers and case studies to amplify joint success stories and support partner marketing efforts.
Provide regular enablement sessions and office hours for partners to surface product updates, roadmap changes, and new GTM opportunities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Partner lifecycle management: proven ability to design and scale partner programs, PRM implementation and workflow automation for recruitment, enablement and performance tracking.
Contract negotiation and commercial structuring: expertise in drafting and negotiating MSAs, reseller/OEM agreements, revenue share and referral models.
CRM and PRM proficiency: hands-on experience with Salesforce (or comparable CRM), Partner Relationship Management platforms (Allbound, Impartner, PartnerStack), and integrations.
Data-driven analytics and reporting: strong Excel, BI (Looker, Tableau, Power BI) and SQL capability to analyze partner-sourced pipeline, attribution models and ROI.
GTM planning and co-sell enablement: ability to build joint account plans, territory mapping, quota alignment and incentive compensation models.
Technical fluency for integrations: understanding of APIs, SDKs, SSO/OAuth, cloud platforms and third-party integrations to coordinate partner engineering efforts.
Marketing and demand gen tools: experience with marketing automation (Marketo, HubSpot), campaign management, MDF allocation and partner co-marketing operations.
P&L and budget management: experience owning partner program budgets, forecasting partner-driven revenue and analyzing CAC for partnerships.
Project management and process design: ability to build scalable onboarding flows, enablement curricula, and SLA-driven partner support models.
Legal/compliance awareness: familiarity with contract terms, data privacy (GDPR/CCPA), export control and partner due diligence.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with commercial orientation: sets long-term partner vision and translates into executable GTM plans that deliver measurable revenue and adoption.
Executive presence and stakeholder management: comfortable leading C-level conversations, building trust with strategic partners, and presenting to boards or executives.
Strong negotiation and influencing skills: able to close complex multi-party deals and align internal stakeholders to partner priorities.
Cross-functional leadership and collaboration: proven ability to work seamlessly with sales, product, marketing, legal and finance on joint initiatives.
Results-driven and metrics-obsessed: prioritizes high-impact projects, sets clear KPIs, and iterates quickly based on performance data.
Excellent written and verbal communication: crafts compelling partner value propositions, co-marketing assets and business review presentations.
Coaching and team development: mentors direct reports, creates growth frameworks and fosters a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
Problem solving and critical thinking: navigates ambiguity, mitigates channel conflicts, and finds scalable solutions to operational friction.
Customer-centric mindset: prioritizes partner activities that improve end-customer outcomes, adoption and retention.
Cultural sensitivity and global mindset: experience managing partners across regions, understanding local market dynamics and regulatory differences.

(Note: combined above lists include 18+ skills; ensure coverage of at least 10 distinct skills required by real job postings: negotiation, partner lifecycle, PRM/CRM, analytics/BI, GTM planning, API/integration understanding, contract management, marketing automation, budget/P&L, cross-functional leadership, executive presence, communication.)

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA, Master’s in Business Strategy, or advanced degree in a relevant field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Marketing
Computer Science / Information Systems
Engineering
Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

7+ years in partnerships, business development, or channel sales with at least 3–5 years in a leadership role (manager/director) managing partner programs.

Preferred:

10+ years of progressive experience building and scaling partner ecosystems at mid-market or enterprise SaaS, cloud, platform, or technology companies; experience managing global partner networks and driving partner-influenced revenue in excess of $10M+ annually.