Partner Operations Manager

X Development, LLC; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 136,000 - 199,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

X Development, LLC in Mountain View, CA, is seeking a Partner Operations Manager. This role involves managing partnerships and vendor relationships for early-stage moonshot projects. The ideal candidate will have 5–8 years of experience in operations or related fields, strong communication skills, and a continuous improvement mindset.

Responsibilities include structuring vendor agreements, providing launch operations support, and identifying process improvements. The position offers a base salary between $136,000 and $199,000, plus benefits and equity.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of experience in partnerships, operations, or related field.
• Experience managing multi-stakeholder projects.
• Strong communication skills for stakeholder interaction.

Responsibilities

• Manage accounts and partnerships for moonshot teams.
• Structure and negotiate vendor agreements and contracts.
• Provide operational support for project launches.
• Identify and implement process improvements.

Skills

Partnership management

Project management

Negotiation

Process improvement

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

MBA (preferred)

Job description

X is Alphabet’s moonshot factory with a mission of inventing and launching “moonshot” technologies that could someday make the world a radically better place. We are a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people. Our goal: 10x impact on the world’s most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement. We approach projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research with the speed and ambition of a startup. As an innovation engine, X focuses on repeatedly turning breakthrough‑technology ideas into the foundations for large, sustainable businesses.

About the Team

We are the commercially minded operational glue that helps early‑stage moonshots navigate complex market landscapes, build foundational partnerships, and launch into the real world. We work across the entire innovation pipeline, from the earliest stage ideas to projects getting ready to graduate. Our partners range from niche technology vendors to large multinational businesses, as well as critical internal Google teams. We are a team of multi‑disciplined individuals who wear multiple hats. We get to play with a lot of cool things, tackle a uniquely diverse set of challenges, and build the scaffolding that allows breakthrough technologies to scale.

About the Role

As a Partner Operations Manager, you will be a critical partner to our moonshot teams. You are a “Swiss Army Knife,” highly relational like a Business Development professional, highly organized like a Program Manager, and driven by a continuous improvement mindset. You might spend your morning structuring a complex vendor agreement, your afternoon managing graduation milestones for a climate tech project, and your Friday experimenting with new technologies to automate our internal workflows. You will work closely and embed deeply with specific moonshot projects (such as Bellwether, Materra, A‑Life, and others), acting as their account manager, operational backbone, and strategic guide. You will bring order to chaos, ensure external relationships deliver value, and help us scale our impact.

Responsibilities

• Partnership and account management: manage accounts and external relationships on behalf of early‑stage moonshot teams, ensure milestones and deliverables are met, and act as the primary point of contact for shared external partners.
• Commercial and vendor operations: structure and negotiate vendor agreements and simple commercial deals, tackle contracting challenges, and streamline the onboarding process for critical vendors and partners.
• Graduation support: provide hands‑on launch operations support and implement launch design improvements for specific project teams as they move from prototype to real‑world deployment.
• Process improvement and automation: identify operational bottlenecks, build scalable solutions, and continuously experiment with new technologies and tools to improve efficiency and documentation.

Qualifications

• Required:
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
  • 5–8 years of experience in partnerships, operations, consulting, or a related field.
  • Experience managing complex, multi‑stakeholder projects from inception to completion.
  • Demonstrated ability to build, manage, and scale relationships with external partners or vendors.
• Preferred:
  • MBA, management consulting experience, or equivalent strategic operational experience.
  • Experience thriving in early‑stage, fast‑paced environments while navigating massive, complex matrixed organizations.
  • Experience with contract negotiation, commercial agreements, or legal operations.
  • Strong continuous improvement mindset with willingness to experiment with new technologies to automate workflows and scale processes.
  • Strong communication skills, verbal and written, and ability to speak with stakeholders at all levels.
  • Audacious, highly curious, comfortable with extreme ambiguity, and a structured thinker who can bring order to complex, open‑ended challenges.

Compensation

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is $136,000 – $199,000 plus bonus, equity, and benefits. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Location

This position is located in Mountain View, CA.

An Equal Opportunity Workplace

At X, we don’t just accept difference – we celebrate it. We support and thrive on diversity for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. We are an equal‑opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.