Senior Manager, Product Partnerships

OpenRouter; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenRouter is seeking a Senior Manager, Product Partnerships to own strategic deals end-to-end, from sourcing to launch, and drive workstreams within our largest partnerships.

You'll lead technical conversations on APIs and integration architecture, structure commercial agreements, and translate partner needs into product roadmap insights while collaborating with executives on a fast-moving team.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in partnerships and business development.
• Proven record scaling consumption- or usage-based models in API platforms or infrastructure.
• Fluency with API platforms, developer tooling, and cloud infrastructure.
• Strong commercial and legal acumen negotiating complex agreements including data governance.
• Strategic thinker balancing ecosystem building with execution.
• Fluency with APIs, authentication, and developer platforms.
• Hands-on contributor capable of working with executives on a small team.

Responsibilities

• Analyze the AI/ML ecosystem to identify priority partners and opportunities.
• Represent OpenRouter in discussions with prospective partners to map value.
• Lead partner-facing technical conversations on APIs and integration architecture.
• Shape commercial structures including revenue share and usage-based models.
• Collaborate with product and engineering to create specs for new features.
• Build repeatable playbooks, packages, and templates.
• Negotiate complex partnerships, including integrations and data privacy terms.
• Coordinate with Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Legal to prioritise integrations.

Skills

Partnerships

Business development

API platforms

Cloud infrastructure

Commercial negotiation

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical communication

Job description

About OpenRouter

OpenRouter is the open AI routing and infrastructure layer that enterprises use to access, manage, and optimize the best large language models across providers—without lock-in, capacity constraints, or unnecessary cost. We power some of the most advanced AI teams in the world by giving them the flexibility to move fast, scale confidently, and stay future-proof as models evolve.

As enterprise adoption of AI accelerates, OpenRouter sits at the center of how organizations operationalize LLMs across research, product, and production workloads.

About the Role

As Senior Manager, Product Partnerships, you'll own strategic deals end-to-end—from sourcing and structuring through launch—while driving critical workstreams within our largest, most complex partnerships. This is a hands‑on role at the intersection of business development, product, and engineering. You'll lead technical conversations with partners on APIs and integration architecture, structure creative commercial agreements (revenue share, usage‑based, and per‑seat models), and translate partner needs into insights that shape our product roadmap.

You'll work directly with the VP of Partnerships on a small, fast‑moving team where your perspective on the AI/ML ecosystem will inform every deal. Beyond individual wins, you'll build the repeatable playbooks and processes that transform one‑off successes into a scalable partnerships engine.

What You’ll Do

• Analyze the AI/ML ecosystem to identify priority partners, competitive dynamics, and emerging opportunities while maintaining expertise in AI infrastructure and partnership trends

• Represent OpenRouter is discussions with prospective partners to understand their product, business models and goals and identify opportunities to create mutual value through integrations and other partnerships

• Lead partner‑facing technical conversations (account models, APIs, integration architecture) to translate them into implementation plans and deal terms

• Shape commercial structures across revenue share, usage‑based billing, and per‑seat models depending on partner business models

• Closely collaborate with product and engineering teams to create specs for new features and products based on feedback from the partner ecosystem

• Help build the repeatable machinery: packages, playbooks, and templates so deal ten costs a fraction of deal one

• Negotiate complex partnership agreements, including technical integrations, data privacy terms, GTM commitments, and commercial structure, while building scalable onboarding frameworks.

• Collaborate cross‑functionally with Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Legal to prioritize partner integrations, develop co‑marketing initiatives, and balance partner needs with product strategy.

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years in partnerships and business development

• Proven track record scaling consumption‑based or usage‑based partnership models in API platforms, developer tools or infrastructure companies with measurable impact on product adoption and revenue ($10M+ in influenced consumption/revenue).

• Fluency with API platforms, developer tooling, and cloud infrastructure, able to engage credibly with engineering teams on integration architecture, authentication patterns, and data flows. Able to hold your own in a technical scoping conversation about provisioning, key management, and data flows

• Strong commercial and legal acumen with experience negotiating complex agreements involving data governance, SLAs, consumption economics, and technical integration commitments.

• Strategic thinker who can balance long‑term ecosystem building with short‑term execution, comfortable with ambiguity and building from zero to one.

• Fluency with APIs, authentication, and developer platforms;

• Comfortable as a hands‑on individual contributor working directly with the execs and department leaders on a small, fast moving team