Partner Activation Lead

Kaizen Lab Inc.; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Spending Account

Professional development opportunities

Volunteer days

Hybrid work options

3 weeks vacation to start

Lifestyle Spending Account

Job summary

Payworks is seeking a Partner Activation Lead to turn partner and channel relationships into revenue. You will coach field sales teams, design playbooks, and drive regional activation across Canada with a hybrid work model. A 25%+ travel expectation supports collaboration with Account Executives and regional leaders.

The role emphasizes field execution, quota attainment, and strong relationship-building to sustain partner motions and pipeline growth.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of combined experience in sales, channel, partner, or field enablement roles within a B2B SaaS or technology environment.
• Experience activating partner, channel, or referral motions across a distributed field sales organization in an SMB or Mid‑Market environment.
• Proven ability to drive field execution through influence rather than authority, mobilizing sales teams and Account Executions who do not report to you and driving adoption of new motions.
• Willingness and ability to travel 25% of the time or more to meet sales teams in-region across Canada.
• Strong coaching, enablement, and relationship-building skills with both internal sales teams and external partners; coaches in the field to lift partner-selling capability rather than closing deals personally.
• Comfort building playbooks and translating partner strategy into concrete, rep-level, field-ready execution that produces measurable pipeline.
• Analytical skills to track activation, pipeline, and conversion metrics; uses data to prioritize where to activate, diagnose what is working, and hold the field accountable to outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Third‑party review administration – monitor and respond to third‑party review sites based on pre‑set escalation and communication playbooks.
• Field Activation & Playbook Execution – activate partner playbooks across all sales teams and drive field execution.
• Partner Playbook Development – co‑create playbooks defining target segments, value proposition, referral motion, and rep-level actions.
• Partner Relationship & Cross‑Functional Alignment – coordinate with Marketing, SalesOps, and Enablement.
• Performance & Accountability – own the field execution behind the partner and channel quota; track metrics and report progress to leadership.

Skills

Sales enablement

Channel enablement

Coaching

Relationship building

Travel readiness

Analytical skills

Job description

Doing business to business, person to person.Payworks is a leading workforce management solutions provider and multi-year winner of the Canada’s Best Managed Companies program. We are proud to be Canadian owned and operated as well as committed to developing world‑class products and providing a progressive workplace culture where Doing Right by Peopleis our purpose.

With clients of all sizes from coast to coast and nearly 700 employees, we currently have an exciting opportunity on our Sales team for the right candidate. Because when it comes to great people, there’s always room for one more.

Starting salary range - $120,000-$160,000

DOING RIGHT BY PEOPLE – IT’S WHAT WE DO

Reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer, the Partner Activation Lead turns Payworks’ partner and channel relationships into repeatable revenue across the field sales organization. Marketing’s Business Development function sources and maintains the national and regional partner agreements including National Bank, CIBC, Clover, and the accountant and bookkeeper channel. This role activates those agreements locally, team by team, so that every Account Executive knows how to work each partner and consistently generates qualified opportunities. This is an execution‑first role, measured by whether partner activity moves in the field. You’ll help design partner playbooks, but the core mandate is activation: coaching sales teams on how to run each playbook, building the field cadence that makes partner referrals flow, and travelling regularly across Canada to work alongside Account Executives in region. The role carries a variable compensation component tied to the partner and channel quota.

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE PAYWORKS

• Comprehensive employer paid benefits, including a Health Spending Account, for you and your family and excellent pension plan with employer contributions.
• Plenty of professional development opportunities.
• Community‑minded culture – Receive two paid days per year to volunteer and lots of opportunity to “Pay it Forward”.
• Time and flexibility to meet your needs – Hybrid work model with flexible work options, plus 3 weeks vacation to start, flex time and parental leave benefits.
• Cool perks – Annual Lifestyle Spending Account, fun office environment and events, and more!

ACTIVATE. COACH. DRIVE – IT’S WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Third‑party review administration – You’ll monitor and respond to third‑party review sites (Google Reviews, Gartner, Trustpilot, etc.) based on pre‑set escalation and communication playbooks for positive or negative reviews. You’ll ensure that responses are aligned with the brand’s voice, addressing customer concerns and acknowledging positive feedback.
• Field Activation & Playbook Execution – Work directly with Regional Sales Leaders and Account Executives to activate partner playbooks across all sales teams and drive consistent field execution. Meet sales teams in‑region, observe partner motions live, coach on execution, and remove local barriers to partner activity. Build the field cadence and accountability that sustain partner activation over time. Own the field‑facing execution of named partner programs, including National Bank, CIBC, Clover, and the accountant and bookkeeper channel.
• Partner Playbook Development – Co‑create partner playbooks that define target segments, value proposition, referral motion, and rep‑level actions for each partner. Partner with Business Development in Marketing to align each playbook with the terms and intent of the underlying partnership agreement, and refine playbooks continuously based on field feedback, win/loss patterns, and partner performance data.
• Partner Relationship & Cross‑Functional Alignment – Work closely with the Business Development function to ensure a clean handoff from agreement to field activation. Build working relationships with partner field contacts where activation requires joint execution. Coordinate with Marketing, SalesOps, and Enablement to align lead flow, attribution, reporting, and rep readiness, and represent the voice of the field back to partners and Business Development.
• Performance & Accountability – Own the field execution behind the partner and channel quota. Track partner activation metrics including team‑level adoption, partner‑sourced pipeline, qualified lead volume, and conversion by partner. Report progress and risks to the Chief Revenue Officer on a regular cadence and drive corrective action on underperforming partner motions.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED

• 7+ years of combined experience in sales, channel, partner, or field enablement roles within a B2B SaaS or technology environment.
• Demonstrated success activating partner, channel, or referral motions across a distributed field sales organization in an SMB or Mid‑Market environment.
• Proven ability to drive field execution through influence rather than authority, mobilizing sales teams and Account Executions who do not report to you and driving adoption of new motions.
• Willingness and ability to travel 25% of the time or more to meet sales teams in‑region across Canada.
• Strong coaching, enablement, and relationship‑building skills with both internal sales teams and external partners; coaches in the field to lift partner‑selling capability rather than closing deals personally.
• Comfort building playbooks and translating partner strategy into concrete, rep‑level, field‑ready execution that produces measurable pipeline.
• Analytical skills to track activation, pipeline, and conversion metrics; uses data to prioritize where to activate, diagnose what is working, and hold the field accountable to outcomes.

BONUS SKILL SET

• Experience with financial institution, accounting, or reseller partnerships is an asset.
• Experience in payroll, HCM, or HR technology is considered an asset.
• Fluency in both English and French is an asset and will be considered an advantage in the selection process.

We are proud to support a Flexible Work Plan that recognizes the diverse needs and lifestyles of our people. The Partner Activation Lead has the option to work fully from a Payworks office or on a hybrid work model, with flexibility in creating your own schedule. This role requires travel of 25% or more to meet sales teams and partners in-region across Canada.

Payworks is committed to providing an inclusive, accessible environment, and collaborating with employees, clients and guests to identify and effectively remove barriers, in a manner that respects the principles of independence, dignity, integration, reasonable accommodation and equal opportunity. Payworks welcomes and encourages applications from all persons. Individuals applying for employment with Payworks may request accommodations at all stages of recruitment and employment from Human Resources.

Payworks does not use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the screening, assessment, or selection of applicants at any stage of the hiring process.

This posting is for an existing vacancy within our team.