Strategic Partnership Manager

Job description

Lever was founded to tackle the most strategic challenge that companies face: how to recruit and hire top talent. We’re building the next generation of hiring software that companies like Netflix, Yelp, Cirque du Soleil, Shopify, and Eventbrite rely on to grow their teams. We've rethought the talent acquisition paradigm and are the innovation leaders in our space and looking for the right people to join us as we scale. THE CHALLENGE As Lever reimagines the role of recruiting software and the importance of a cohesive talent cloud, our ability to deliver highly impactful and strategic partnerships in the HR Tech space becomes imperative and front and center of our growth plans. Lever customers love our seamless partner integrations and our ability to increase the number and quality of those partnerships is of the utmost importance. We need a strategic thinker who is adept at engaging existing and prospective partners to deliver on ambitious revenue goals and to increase the partner offerings for Lever customers. Additionally we need someone to work closely with our Sales, Marketing, and Success teams to ensure they understand and are trained to articulate the value of our current partner offerings. THE OPPORTUNITY This is a unique opportunity for a go-getter who is comfortable with navigating ambiguity and creating processes to scale a high-growth business through existing and future partnerships. This is an opportunity to work across the entire Talent sector and to transform the way our customers think about HR Tech. As a key contributor to Lever’s Partnerships and Alliances team, you will have a high degree of ownership to define your work streams and the strategic direction of the team. You will work closely with the Director of Partnerships and Alliances, and leaders across Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, and Product to shape this immensely strategic function. THE TEAM The Partnerships and Alliances team is responsible for driving revenue growth through our partner ecosystem. We define strategic new business initiatives to grow our market segment share, and identify new product partnerships to extend the reach of Lever’s product suite. We deliver direct revenue to Lever’s Sales team through partner referrals and a revenue share model with our partners. This work is fast-paced and involves interacting with and influencing both external and internal stakeholders. ### The Skill Set - Strong partner/relationship management skills. The ability to drive new business leads, revenue and sales through existing and future partnerships. - Strong, consistent experience in Partner Management in a high growth environment. - Strong presentation and communication skills with both internal and external stakeholders. - Can effectively collaborate with Sales, Customer Success, and Product to articulate the value of current and future partnerships and alliances. - Can leverage cross functional influence to gain buy-in and support for partnerships and alliances. ### WITHIN 1 MONTH, YOU'LL - Complete Ramp Camp, our comprehensive onboarding program designed to get you up to speed on all aspects of the business with a cross-functional cohort of new Leveroos. You'll learn about our business, product, vision and team and gain an understanding about how your role fits in to Lever's broader organization. - Dive into learning about the products in our talent acquisition suite - Lever Hire, Lever Nurture, and Lever Analytics - including the benefits they deliver and how we position them. Shadow sales calls to learn more about the product and how we position it to potential customers. - Complete your starter project: Evaluate our partner tiering system and make recommendations on criteria, metrics, and process for engaging partners. Present your proposal at the end of your second week to your Ramp Camp class and our Director of Partnerships and Alliances. - Successfully complete demo certification on our core products so that you are fully equipped to demo Lever for existing and prospective partners. ### WITHIN 3 MONTHS, YOU'LL - Get up to speed on our existing partnerships and the competitive landscape by meeting with existing partners, reviewing industry reports, meeting regularly with our Marketing and Product teams and attending select conferences to deepen knowledge of our partner ecosystem. - Become the internal subject matter expert on existing partnerships. Direct Sales and Success colleagues to self-service resources (Guru, battle cards), and drive clarity on new partnerships that expand our ecosystem and strengthen Lever's value proposition. - Partner with internal stakeholders to build out a Partnerships demo environment and toolkit to showcase the Lever product suite and seamless partner integrations. - Develop a sustainable and repeatable process to follow up with the Sales team on the status of partner leads. - Work with Sales Operations to ensure all inbound partner leads are accurately routed to Sales for timely follow up and recommend steps to further streamline and automate the process. - Conduct initial meetings with 3 strategic partners to determine a baseline relationship. This should include metrics and opportunities for increasing the value of those relationships. Determine how we will structure the partnership whether it be through lead sharing, sales territory mapping, co-marketing, or other initiatives. - Own regular business reviews and close partnership with 1 of our top strategic partners. This includes bi-weekly or monthly calls to measure adoption/traction, share what’s working and what’s not, leading up to quarterly reviews. ### WITHIN 6 MONTHS, YOU'LL - Establish recurring monthly sessions for new Leveroos to be introduced to our partnerships and alliances function, and a quarterly deep dive with sub-teams across Sales and Marketing. - Own monthly sync with Sales leaders for our customer segments and Marketing leaders to review areas of collaboration, future opportunity, and room for improvement. - Develop an annual Partnerships and Alliances calendar of events. This should include recommended conferences and partner events to attend for maximum partner engagement, and partner lunch and learns to enable our partners to engage with Lever’s Sales and Success teams. - Alongside the Director, Partnerships and Alliances, work cross-functionally with Lever’s Sales and Marketing leaders to establish a framework and recommendations for executing on our partnership strategy. ### WITHIN 12 MONTHS, YOU'LL - Work with the Director of Partnerships and Alliances to develop a 1 and 3-year plan for the function including recommendations for the partnerships marketing budget to help deliver on our revenue and other strategic goals. - Partner with Product and Marketing as we continue to build out a leading partner platform that delivers strong revenue generation, and builds a strategic advantage for the business.