Partner Development Manager

Job description

We're hiring a Partner Development Manager to recruit, onboard, and activate channel partners and drive partner-sourced pipeline across our target markets. This is a hands-on commercial role. You'll own the full partner lifecycle from sourcing through to revenue contribution, working closely with the CRO and the direct sales team. Early partner relationships are already generating pipeline. This role will scale that motion across a broader portfolio of partners and build the operational rhythm to sustain it. You will report directly to the CRO, with a defined path to Head of Channels and Alliances as the programme scales. What you'll do You'll recruit partners from a curated target list, prioritising cloud hyperscaler ecosystem partners, regional and multi-regional systems integrators with embedded relationships inside enterprise financial services and technology accounts, AI governance and software engineering advisory firms, and complementary SaaS vendors serving the same engineering and finance buyers with adjacent, non-competing products. You'll run the full partner recruitment cycle from initial outreach through commercial agreement to activation. You'll enable signed partners so thoroughly that they can position BlueOptima confidently and independently. You'll build co-sell motions in lockstep with BlueOptima AEs, including cloud marketplace transactions. You'll manage marketplace listing optimisation and activation mechanics in partnership with our product and finance teams. You'll own the partner pipeline in HubSpot with full transparency and forecast accountability to the CRO every week and every quarter. You'll build and maintain the operational scaffolding of the programme: onboarding processes, enablement materials, deal registration workflows, and partner scorecards. What we're looking for Three to five years in B2B channel sales, alliances, or partner management, with demonstrable experience recruiting and onboarding new partners rather than simply managing inherited relationships. You've owned a partner-sourced pipeline number before and you're comfortable being held to one. You know the difference between a signed partner agreement and an active revenue relationship, and everything you build is oriented around the latter. Comfort with cloud marketplace mechanics. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to understand how co-sell and marketplace transactions work. Commercial instinct and the ability to build a referral fee model, stress-test the margin assumptions, and present a commercially sound case to finance. Familiarity with enterprise software sales cycles and the confidence to run partner-facing conversations independently at a senior level. The ability to articulate a technical value proposition to non-technical partner audiences. You build your own target list, run your own outreach, and generate pipeline independently. You do not wait for partners to come to you. What we're not looking for Candidates whose channel experience is primarily managing an established partner base, or working within large GSI governance structures at a mature vendor, are likely to find this role a difficult adjustment. Candidates from high-velocity SMB or transactional reseller environments will also find the transition significant. Our buyers are CTOs and CFOs at tier-one financial institutions. The sales motion is deliberate, account-based, and relationship-driven. Nice to have Experience in developer tooling, DevOps, engineering intelligence, or any SaaS product sold to engineering leadership. Prior experience in financial services enterprise accounts. Exposure to mid-market sales motions alongside enterprise. What success looks like You'll be measured on active partner engagement and the volume of qualified partner-sourced pipeline entering the business within your first year. A focused portfolio of active, co-selling partners and a channel motion the direct sales team trusts and wants to work alongside. Benefits we offer London HQ, 3 days in office, 2 remote 32 days holiday including bank holidays 12 weeks paid maternity and paternity leave 4 weeks per year flexible remote working from anywhere Annual leave purchase up to 10 extra days Work from home equipment allowance Pet friendly office Sponsored learning opportunities Cycle to work scheme Team socials Stay connected with us on LinkedIn or keep an eye on our career page for future opportunities! BlueOptima is an engineering intelligence platform trusted by some of the world's largest banks, insurers, and enterprises. We give CTOs, CIOs, and engineering leaders the objective data they need to measure software engineering productivity, prove AI ROI, and reduce delivery risk. The question every large organisation is trying to answer right now is whether their AI coding investment is actually paying off. Nobody can tell their board with confidence. We can. Our research and our platform provide that answer, and we are building the commercial engine to get it in front of the people who need to hear it. BlueOptima already serves many of the world's largest banks and enterprises, providing a strong foundation on which to build a partner ecosystem.