Senior Manager, Partnerships

Rainforest; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Unlimited PTO

Paid parental leave

Flexible working environment

Job summary

Rainforest is seeking a Senior Manager, Partnerships to join the Revenue team. This remote role, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, focuses on building relationships with Private Equity and Growth Equity firms to source portfolio company introductions and deal flow.

You will own partner strategies, map accounts, and collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Product, and leadership to advance opportunities while traveling ~25% for meetings and events.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, private equity/growth equity, investment banking, consulting, fintech/payments, or another relevant relationship-driven role.
• Experience building trusted relationships with senior investors, operating partners, executives, or other sophisticated stakeholders.
• Strong commercial and analytical instincts. You can evaluate a software business, understand where payments could create value, and turn that insight into an actionable relationship strategy.
• A track record of originating opportunities, introductions, partnerships, or revenue through relationships rather than relying solely on traditional outbound sales.
• Exceptional communication skills and the executive presence to represent Rainforest with senior investors and executives.
• Highly proactive and comfortable owning relationships end-to-end in a fast-moving, ambiguous startup environment.
• Organized and disciplined enough to manage a portfolio of strategic relationships while identifying where to spend time for maximum impact.
• Experience in private equity, growth equity, vertical software, or payments is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Owning and growing relationships with priority Private Equity and Growth Equity firms, with a focus on driving qualified portfolio company introductions and partner-sourced pipeline.
• Developing account strategies for priority firms, building relationships across investment, operating, and value creation teams.
• Analyzing partner portfolios and individual software businesses to identify payments opportunities and develop tailored strategies and business cases for engaging investors and management teams.
• Prospecting and developing new target partners through warm introductions, live meetings, industry events, and thoughtful outbound.
• Deepening and activating existing partnerships through ongoing engagement, portfolio insights, benchmarking, case studies, and strategic content.
• Selectively developing relationships across adjacent channels, including payments consultants, operating advisors, embedded fintech companies, and other influential ecosystem partners.
• Representing Rainforest at conferences and industry events and driving partner initiatives including curated dinners, roundtables, webinars, and other strategic engagements.
• Maintaining disciplined partner account plans, relationship mapping, and partner-sourced pipeline tracking in HubSpot.
• Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and executive leadership to advance partner-sourced opportunities and inform broader go-to-market strategy.

Skills

Partnerships

Executive presence

Communication skills

Relationship building

Job description

Who is Rainforest?

Rainforest is an early stage payments-as-a-service startup that has developed a solution that makes monetizing payments for vertically focused software platforms fair and simple.

We focus on small-to-mid sized platforms that want to add value to their small business customers through embedded payments — and want to do so without adding operational or regulatory burdens or costs.

Led by a successful repeat fintech founder with deep knowledge of the industry, and with venture backing from a Top 10 VC firm, Rainforest is well positioned to make an impact in the payments-as-a-service space, and we're looking for new team members who want to be a part of this journey!

What are we looking for?

Rainforest is looking for its next Senior Manager, Partnerships to join our Revenue team and help grow Rainforest’s network of high-value investment and ecosystem partners, converting those relationships into qualified portfolio company introductions and partner-sourced pipeline. The primary focus of this role will be building and deepening relationships with Private Equity and Growth Equity firms that invest in vertical software, while selectively developing strategic relationships across adjacent ecosystem channels

The Senior Manager, Partnerships is a remote position located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The person who steps into this role should be excited to spend time in-market building relationships, with approximately 25% travel expected for partner meetings, conferences, industry events, and other strategic engagements.

What are some of the high-impact opportunities you’ll tackle?

• Owning and growing relationships with priority Private Equity and Growth Equity firms, with a focus on driving qualified portfolio company introductions and partner-sourced pipeline

• Developing account strategies for priority firms, building relationships across investment, operating, and value creation teams

• Analyzing partner portfolios and individual software businesses to identify payments opportunities and develop tailored strategies and business cases for engaging investors and management teams

• Prospecting and developing new target partners through warm introductions, live meetings, industry events, and thoughtful outbound.

• Deepening and activating existing partnerships through ongoing engagement, portfolio insights, benchmarking, case studies, and strategic content

• Selectively developing relationships across adjacent channels, including payments consultants, operating advisors, embedded fintech companies, and other influential ecosystem partners

• Representing Rainforest at conferences and industry events and driving partner initiatives including curated dinners, roundtables, webinars, and other strategic engagements

• Maintaining disciplined partner account plans, relationship mapping, and partner-sourced pipeline tracking in HubSpot

• Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and executive leadership to advance partner-sourced opportunities and inform broader go-to-market strategy.

This opportunity is for you if you have / are:

• 5+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, private equity/growth equity, investment banking, consulting, fintech/payments, or another relevant relationship-driven role.

• Experience building trusted relationships with senior investors, operating partners, executives, or other sophisticated stakeholders.

• Strong commercial and analytical instincts. You can evaluate a software business, understand where payments could create value, and turn that insight into an actionable relationship strategy.

• A track record of originating opportunities, introductions, partnerships, or revenue through relationships rather than relying solely on traditional outbound sales.

• Exceptional communication skills and the executive presence to represent Rainforest with senior investors and executives.

• Highly proactive and comfortable owning relationships end-to-end in a fast-moving, ambiguous startup environment.

• Organized and disciplined enough to manage a portfolio of strategic relationships while identifying where to spend time for maximum impact.

• Experience in private equity, growth equity, vertical software, or payments is strongly preferred.

We offer a comprehensive health benefits package, unlimited paid time off, paid parental leave, a fun and flexible working environment, and continuously invest in our people and our culture.

If you require any accommodations throughout the pre-employment process, please contact our HR team at [e-mail]