Partnerships Lead

Thera (YC S22); New York (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Thera is seeking a Partnerships Lead to establish and manage its partnership strategy in New York City. This role involves sourcing, negotiating, and closing deals to create a revenue pipeline from partnerships.

Ideal candidates will have experience building partnerships in fast-paced environments, be comfortable negotiating terms, and think strategically in systems. The position offers a compensation range of $100K - $150K, with real ownership and a direct line to the CEO.

Qualifications

• Experience building partnerships in early-stage or fast-growing companies.
• Ability to negotiate contracts and understand commercial terms.
• Strategic mindset and comfort in unstructured environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the partnership strategy.
• Source, pitch, negotiate and close deals.
• Manage onboarding and activation of partners to ensure mutual success.

Skills

Partnership development

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Job description

Partnerships Lead, Thera (NYC, in-person)

Thera is building the financial OS for modern SMBs. Payroll, payments, treasury, spend, and accounting in one ecosystem that actually works end-to-end.

We're hiring a Partnerships Lead to build our partnership engine from scratch. You'll define the strategy, source the deals, close them, and turn partnerships into a real revenue channel. Not logos on a slide. Actual pipeline.

This is an IC role today, reporting directly to the CEO. Hit the numbers, build the function, and you build the team.

NYC, 5 days/week

Why we started Thera

Our founders saw firsthand how broken SMB payroll and finance had become. The average SMB stitches together 5+ tools just to pay people, move money, and close their books. We started Thera to collapse that fragmented stack into a single source of truth.

Backed by YC, 10X Founders, Zillionize, and Amino Capital.

What You'll Own

• Strategy: who we partner with and why. Agencies, platforms, accounting firms, service providers, strategic allies.
• End-to-end deals: source, pitch, negotiate commercial terms, close
• Partnership models: referral, rev share, co-sell, embedded distribution
• The engine: onboarding, enablement, tracking. New partners live and producing in weeks, not quarters.
• Cross-functional execution across Sales, Marketing, Product, and Ops
• The number: pipeline, revenue, ROI from partnerships
• Being the face of Thera in partner meetings, events, and strategic conversations

What Success Looks Like

• New revenue showing up from partners every month
• Partners activated and producing within weeks of signing
• A documented, repeatable partnership motion
• Leadership sees pipeline, revenue, and ROI without asking
• People in our space say "Thera is a great partner to work with"

About You

• You've built partnerships at an early-stage or fast-growing company
• You know the difference between a real partnership and a press release
• You're comfortable negotiating contracts and commercial terms
• You think in systems and playbooks, not one-off hero deals
• You're proactive, direct, and own outcomes without being told
• You get excited (not anxious) when there's no playbook

Nice to Have

• Background in fintech, payroll, HR tech, SaaS, or B2B services
• Experience with agencies, accounting firms, or platform partners
• Built a partner program from zero to one

Not a Fit If

• You want a pure strategy or management role
• You see partnerships as logos and decks, not pipeline and revenue
• You're not willing to be in-person in NYC

Why Thera

• Partnerships are one of our biggest growth levers for the next 18 months
• Real ownership, real equity upside, and a direct line to the CEO
• You're not joining a function. You're building one.

Compensation Range: $100K - $150K