Fleet Partnerships Lead

Quartermaster AI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Quartermaster AI is building a real-time picture of activity on the world’s oceans by deploying sensing equipment aboard commercial ships. This role owns the vessel recruitment mission end-to-end, from discovery through contract close to long-term retention, and will actively design an acquisition workflow to scale the network with hundreds to thousands of vessels.

You will lead outreach, build partnerships with shipowners and managers, and help define SOPs and training for the acquisition team

Qualifications

• Experience in supply acquisition or marketplace expansion.

Responsibilities

• Target & Close High-Value Fleets: Initiate direct outreach to shipowners, operators, and technical managers and close commercial partnerships.

Skills

Supply chain

Business development

Market expansion

Deal-making

Leadership

Analytics

Job description

About Us

Quartermaster is building the most comprehensive real-time picture of activity on the world's oceans. We do it by placing next-generation sensing equipment aboard commercial ships and turning the global fleet itself into a living network that illuminates the maritime domain in ways legacy AIS never could. Better maritime domain awareness means safer mariners, more secure sea lanes, and an ocean that can no longer go dark. Every vessel we bring onto the network extends that picture a little further.

The network only exists if ships join it. This role owns that mission end-to-end: enlisting the right vessels across priority ship types and regions. You will find target fleets, win over owners, close agreements, and shepherd the relationships that keep them contributing to the network long term.

This role sits at the foundation of how we scale. Rather than stepping into a rigid playbook, you will actively participate in designing and refining our acquisition workflow from day one. You’ll work with the team to evolve our early outreach into an efficient, repeatable engine that brings hundreds and thousands of vessels onto the network.

What You’ll Build:

• Engineer vessel recruitment from initial discovery to qualification, contract close, and long-term retention into a repeatable, data-driven operational funnel.

• Synchronize supply acquisition with Quartermaster’s broader growth targets and regional maritime coverage demands so deployment teams are never bottlenecked by vessel availability.

• Determine headcount needs by ship type, geography, and stage of acquisition; hire, mentor, and level up acquisition specialists and field leads as the company expands.

• Cultivate deep subject matter expertise across key maritime segments (e.g., container, bulk, tankers, specialized craft) within the team to eliminate coverage blind spots.

• Lead from the front by closing high-priority partner fleets yourself, while developing standard operating procedures and training your team to hit sustained targets.

Responsibilities:

• Target & Close High-Value Fleets: Work from prioritized lists of critical vessel types, initiate direct outreach to shipowners, operators, and technical managers, and close commercial partnerships.

• Own Partner Relationships: Serve as a trusted advisor to maritime executives, technical managers, and port agents globally to ensure high alignment and fast contract turnaround.

• Maintain Buffer Capacity: Keep a healthy surplus of qualified, signed vessels in reserve across key maritime hubs so installation teams can deploy without idle time.

• Operationalize the Funnel: Instrument acquisition metrics, tracking pipeline health, stage velocity, conversion rates, and acquisition costs.

Outcomes You’ll Own

• Fleet Coverage Velocity: Deliver qualified vessels to the network on schedule to meet regional and global coverage mandates.

• Supply Unit Economics: Manage incentives, connectivity arrangements, and field support costs to preserve network margin.

• Network Quality: Prioritize mission-critical, high-impact vessel classes over low-utility volume.

• Operational Repeatability: Establish a documented, hardened acquisition playbook that new team members can run out of the box.

Qualifications

• 4–7+ years of relevant experience: Demonstrated track record in supply acquisition, operations management, marketplace expansion, or business development—with direct ownership of supply-side rollouts, partner recruitment, or field-based acquisition.

• Proven 0-to-1 builder: Hands-on experience entering new markets, regions, or segments with no established playbook, standing up supply networks from scratch, and leaving behind repeatable processes that others can execute.

• Funnel architecture & discipline: Skilled at transforming unstructured, relationship-driven deal-making into a structured, trackable acquisition engine powered by clear milestones, pipeline hygiene, and operational rigor.

• Team leadership & coaching: Direct experience recruiting, onboarding, and managing frontline acquisition specialists, field teams, or sales reps—holding teams accountable to ambitious performance targets.

• Metrics-driven & unit economics minded: Rigorous focus on quantitative outcomes; comfortable analyzing funnel conversion, acquisition velocity, cohort retention, and operational cost per partner.

• Hands-on deal-making: Eager to lead from the front, comfortable handling end-to-end commercial negotiations, contract closing, and long-term account stewardship directly with partners.

Nice to Have

• Experience scaling supply within a two-sided marketplace or distributed hardware network.

• Direct familiarity with maritime supply chains, commercial shipping operations, or port-side services.

• Experience working across international time zones and with cross-cultural commercial partners.

Location & Travel

• Location: New York City

• Travel: 25% international and domestic travel to meet with shipowners, fleet managers, and port stakeholders, as well as to stand up acquisition efforts in newly targeted hubs.