Partnerships, strategic partner lead

Watershed; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Watershed, a leading enterprise sustainability platform, is seeking a Senior Partnerships Leader to own and expand North American partnerships with advisory and SI firms. You will work directly with the Head of Partnerships and cross-functional teams across Sales, Product, Legal and Finance to design and execute partner strategies.

Based in New York, you will drive deal flow, negotiate terms, onboard new partners, and share successes across the company to accelerate revenue and delivery

Qualifications

• 6+ years in strategy consulting, business development, partnerships, or a mix of these.
• Understanding of how large consulting firms and systems integrators work with solution providers.
• Track record of building something new, such as a practice, offering, alliance, venture, or business line.
• Commercial instincts to design a deal or program with win-win incentives, supported by data.
• Ability to set strategy and draft a co-marketing plan while aligning with multiple teams.
• Credibility with senior partners and executives; low ego and collaborative mindset.
• Willingness to collaborate across Product, Marketing, Sales and Customer teams.

Responsibilities

• Expand and strengthen the North American Watershed ecosystem of partners by aligning with product roadmap and go-to-market strategy.
• Own partnerships end-to-end, including developing terms, executing partnership agreements, onboarding new partners and sharing successes across the company.
• Help drive sales pipeline and improve win and retention rates across partnerships — a key success metric.
• Be a thought leader for the partner program, bringing learnings to Sales, Customer Success and Product to shape revenue and delivery workstreams.

Skills

Strategy consulting

Partnerships

Business development

Commercial instincts

Cross-functional collaboration

Deal design

Job description

About Watershed

Watershed is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb, Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for voluntary and regulatory reporting including CSRD, and drive real decarbonization. We are looking for team members who love product-building, want to work hard at a mission-oriented startup, and will collaborate with us in shaping the culture of a growing team.

We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Mexico City, and remote team members across the US and Europe. We hope that you'll be interested in joining us!

The role

Watershed’s strategic partners help the world’s largest corporations advance their climate programs from data to action. Our Partnership leads play a critical role in sourcing, designing, and managing these partnership opportunities to ensure transformative sustainability outcomes for our customers.

We are at a high-growth phase, and this senior role will lead end-to-end partnerships for our largest North American advisory, services and systems integrator partners. By evaluating and refining our top partnership opportunities, sourcing and designing optimal co-sale models, and ensuring clear, effective cross-team collaboration, this role will oversee a critical channel for expanding and empowering our category-leading customer base.

We are looking for an experienced, creative and entrepreneurial individual who combines strategic vision with operational know-how to drive scalable results through collaboration with both external partners and internal teams. You’ll work directly with our Head of Partnerships along with cross-functional teams including Sales, Product, Legal and Finance. Your role will focus on ensuring both new business development and successful customer outcomes with established and deeply strategic North American partners, including the industry’s largest consultants and SI partners.

This role is based in our New York office. San Francisco-based or remote candidates will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

You will:

• Expand and strengthen the North American Watershed ecosystem of partners by understanding our product roadmap and go-to-market strategy to select the best partnership opportunities
• Own your partnerships end-to-end, including developing terms, executing partnership agreements, onboarding new partners and sharing partner successes across the company
• Help drive sales pipeline and improve our win + retention rates across your partnerships - this will be a key metric of success for this role
• Be a thought leader for the future of our partner program, bringing what you learn from partners and customers back to Sales, Customer success, and Product to shape Watershed’s revenue + delivery workstreams going forward.

You have:

• 6+ years in strategy consulting, business development, partnerships, or a mix of these.
• A clear understanding of how large consulting firms and systems integrators work with solutions providers: how firms build practices, pick technology partners, and make money. Whether you learned that inside one of these firms or by partnering with them, both are useful.
• A track record of building something new, such as a practice, offering, alliance, venture, or business line, and owning the result
• Commercial instincts: you can design a deal or program where the incentives work for both sides - with data to prove it.
• The range to set strategy in the morning and draft a co-marketing plan in the afternoon
• Credibility with senior partners and executives, plus the low ego to roll up your sleeves
• A deeply collaborative mindset and a desire to build bridges across Product, Marketing, Sales and Customer teams

Must be willing to work from an office 4 days per week (except for remote roles)

Watershed has hub offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Mexico City and satellite offices in Denver, Sydney, Paris, and Berlin. Where we have offices, employees are expected to be in office for 4 days per week. Certain jobs are open to being remote and will be specifically noted on the jobs page and in the job description if so.

What’s the interview process like?

It starts the same for every candidate: getting to know the team members through 1 to 2 conversations about Watersheet, your experience, and your interests. Next steps can vary by role, but usual next steps are a skill or experience interview (e.g. a coding interview for an engineer, a portfolio review for a designer, deeper experience call for other roles) which leads to a virtual or in person interview panel. We prioritize transparency and lack of surprise throughout the process.

What if I need accommodations for my interview?

At Watershed, we are dedicated to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. We provide reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health needs, religious observances, neurodivergence, or pregnancy-related support requirements. If you need assistance during your process, please contact your recruiter.