Partnerships Lead

Paraform, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Paraform, Inc. is seeking a Partnerships Lead to build and scale our VC, accelerator and PE ecosystem channel from scratch.

You’ll transform relationships with venture firms, accelerators, and private equity sponsors into a steady flow of portfolio companies hiring through Paraform. You’ll work with founders to convert relationships into programs, programs into deals, and deals into recurring revenue, while shaping the investor-facing go-to-market and CRM strategy across hundreds of portfolio

Qualifications

• 5–8 years in partnerships or BD roles, preferably at a VC or PE firm (platform or talent team), an accelerator, or a B2B SaaS/AI company selling into startups.
• An existing network across venture platform teams, talent partners, accelerator program leads and/or PE operating partners.
• A track record of originating and structuring partnerships from scratch, not just managing existing relationships.
• Understanding of how investors support their portfolios and what makes a firm put its name behind a vendor.
• Strong commercial instincts. You can connect a partnership to pipeline and revenue, not just brand awareness.
• Clear, credible communication with GPs, founders, and operators alike, and comfort being the public face of Paraform in the ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Build and formalize the VC partnerships program: design a preferred-partner program for portfolio companies at top-tier firms, covering tiers, terms, perks and success metrics; scale into a repeatable channel.
• Open accelerator and PE channels: win placement in accelerator perks stacks and cohort programming; partner with PE operating teams and talent partners on portfolio-wide hiring.
• Originate and close: find the right firms, reach platform, talent and operating partners, and move deals from first conversation to signed agreement quickly.
• Drive portfolio activation: turn signed partnerships into live hiring through co-branded programming, portfolio events and warm introductions.
• Own the relationship system: build and maintain Paraform’s firm-level CRM and relationship tracking.
• Partner cross-functionally: work with Sales, Supply and Marketing to route partner-sourced opportunities, build co-marketing assets, and feed insights back into product/go-to-market.
• Report on channel performance: define and track pipeline, activation, and revenue from partner firms; inform where to invest next.

Skills

Partnerships

Networking

Strategic thinking

Communication

Sales mindset

CRM software

Tools

CRM software

Job description

We’re looking for a Partnerships Lead to build Paraform’s VC, accelerator and PE ecosystem channel from the ground up.

As Paraform’s first Partnerships Lead, you’ll turn relationships with venture firms, accelerators and private equity sponsors into a steady flow of portfolio companies hiring through Paraform. Hiring is one of the first problems every newly funded company hits, and investors are the people founders ask for help. You’ll make Paraform the platform those investors recommend.

You’ll work directly with our founders to turn relationships into programs, programs into deals, and deals into lasting revenue across hundreds of portfolio companies.

Why This Role Is Remarkable

• Founding-level impact: You’re the first partnerships hire. You’ll set the strategy, structure and playbook for how Paraform works with the investor ecosystem.

• A channel with built-in leverage: One strong firm relationship can open dozens of high-growth portfolio companies. Few go-to-market roles have this much reach per deal.

• Backed by the investors you’ll be selling to: Paraform is backed by Felicis, Scale Venture Partners and A-Star, and we sit at the center of how fast-growing startups hire.

• Work on a hard, universal problem: Every funded company needs to hire quickly and well. Paraform combines AI with a marketplace of top independent recruiters to fill roles that traditional agencies and in-house teams can’t.

What You’ll Do

• Build and formalize the VC partnerships program: Design a preferred-partner program for portfolio companies at top-tier firms, covering tiers, terms, perks and success metrics. Then scale it from a handful of relationships into a repeatable channel.

• Open accelerator and PE channels: Win placement in accelerator perks stacks and cohort programming. Partner with PE operating teams and talent partners on portfolio-wide hiring after acquisitions, including executive and scale-up hiring.

• Originate and close: Find the right firms, get to the platform, talent and operating partners who shape portfolio hiring, and take deals from first conversation to signed agreement quickly.

• Drive portfolio activation: Turn signed partnerships into live hiring on Paraform through co-branded programming, talent office hours, portfolio events, newsletters and warm intros. Own conversion from partner firm to active customer.

• Own the relationship system: Build and maintain Paraform’s firm-level CRM and relationship tracking so the team knows which firms are warm, who owns each relationship, and which portfolio companies are hiring.

• Partner cross-functionally: Work with Sales, Supply and Marketing to route partner-sourced opportunities, build co-marketing assets, and feed ecosystem insights back into the product and go-to-market strategy.

• Report on channel performance: Define and track pipeline, activation, and revenue from partner firms, and use that data to decide where to invest next.

Required

• 5–8 years in partnerships, business development or platform roles, ideally at a VC or PE firm (platform or talent team), an accelerator, or a B2B SaaS/AI company selling into startups.

• An existing network across venture platform teams, talent partners, accelerator program leads and/or PE operating partners. You already know the people who decide what gets recommended to portfolio companies.

• A track record of originating and structuring partnerships from scratch, not just managing existing relationships.

• Understanding of how investors support their portfolios and what makes a firm put its name behind a vendor.

• Strong commercial instincts. You can connect a partnership to pipeline and revenue, not just brand awareness.

• Clear, credible communication with GPs, founders, and operators alike, and comfort being the public face of Paraform in the ecosystem.

Preferred

• Experience in recruiting, talent marketplaces or HR tech.

• Experience in portfolio ops or talent at a VC firm

Compensation

$145,000–$160,000 base salary + variable compensation + equity + benefits

About Paraform

Paraform is the first end-to-end AI recruiting marketplace, modernizing one of the largest and most fragmented markets in the world: hiring. We connect companies with thousands of specialized recruiters and AI agents that work together to fill roles faster and more accurately.

We believe recruiting works best when human judgment is paired with AI that truly understands hiring. That's why we treat recruiters like entrepreneurs, not vendors, and build the financial, operational, and technical infrastructure that powers their success.

Industry leaders like Decagon, Palantir, Rippling, Abridge, and Hightouch hire through Paraform, and we grew revenue 8× last year. We're backed by Scale, Felicis, A*, BOND, Liquid 2, DST Global, and the founders of YouTube, Instacart, Canva, and more.

Our mission is to make hiring fast, reliable, and scalable for every company in the world. For more on where we're headed, read our company vision.