Partnerships Manager

Plain; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading B2B customer support platform is seeking a Partnerships professional to establish and grow strategic partnerships that drive market presence. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience in software partnerships and has taken part in early go-to-market strategies. This hybrid role based in San Francisco requires a detail-oriented person comfortable with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment. If you thrive on relationship building and shaping product priorities, this could be the right fit.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience working in software partnerships.
• Experience in an early GTM team (Series A to Series B).
• Comfortable using various AI tools for execution.

Responsibilities

• Build strategic partnerships to drive market growth.
• Negotiate commercial terms with targeted partner companies.
• Work with Sales to identify revenue-driving companies.

Skills

Experience in software partnerships

Ability to use AI tools

Detail-oriented

Job description

I'm Phil, Head of Sales at Plain, and the hiring manager for this role.

Plain is redefining customer support for the next generation of B2B companies. We're building the fastest, most powerful platform to help companies move beyond reactive support and build true customer relationships.

Some of the world's most forward-thinking companies, like Cursor, Ashby, and Sanity, trust Plain to unify all customer interactions, enable faster team collaboration, and supercharge their workflows with AI.

We're a small team with offices in SF and London. This role is hybrid with 3 days a week in our SF office.

Why this role is special

You’ll be the first hire to start up our Partnerships organization. You will be helping to drive focus and priority partnerships across sales and product to help drive product roadmap and sales pipeline.

What you'll do

• Build a strategic ecosystem to help drive Plain up market while also determining strategic partnership with like-minded companies.
• Develop and build mutually beneficial partnership relationships. Everything from targeting, relationship and negotiating commercial terms with target partner companies
• Work with Sales to identify what companies will help drive revenue forward and open up additional markets for us.
• Align with Product on what Plain should prioritize to build and what would be the revenue impact of building features.
• Maintain relationships of existing partners and how we continue to generate value on an ongoing basis with the entire ecosystem.

This is a great fit if you…

• Have 5+ years experience working in software partnerships.
• Have been part of an early GTM team (Series A to Series B) and know what “building from scratch” looks like.
• Are comfortable using various AI tools to increase your ability to execute.
• Are detail-oriented and thrive in a fast-moving environment where no two deals look exactly the same.
• Care as much about shaping product as you do about driving partnership relations.
• Want to be in office, and being in-market in San Francisco, meeting Partners and learning from peers.

This won't be the right role if you…

• Are uncomfortable with ambiguity. We have some really exciting traction but are still at an early stage and are constantly learning and trying new things as our company grows. There is a ton of growth opportunity in a role like this, but right now we need someone who is excited by closing individual deals and helping us to keep up with our growing pipeline.
• Prefer to stay in the background, this is a high-visibility role, internally and externally.
• Need everything figured out before you can operate confidently. There are no playbooks here yet - this is an opportunity to build them yourself.
• Aren't energized by the idea of being the first person in this function at a company that’s still being built.