Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager

Zebra Group; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Zebra, headquartered in Austin, TX, is seeking a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to grow high-impact partnerships with SMBs across the US. You will identify opportunities, negotiate terms, and guide deals from inception to scale.

This hands-on role requires collaboration with Product, Legal, Finance, Marketing and executive teams, ensuring strategic value and measurable results for The Zebra.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years in strategic partnerships or related roles.
• Experience in fast‑paced or high‑growth environments.
• Proven ability to structure and manage complex deals.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills.
• Ability to lead cross‑functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Source, negotiate, and manage strategic partnerships with SMBs.
• Position Zebra's offerings to partners and drive user traffic.
• Develop a prospecting strategy to grow partner pipeline.
• Coordinate with product, legal, finance, marketing and leadership.
• Lead end-to-end deal processes from inquiry to ramp.
• Monitor competitive landscape and report insights to leadership.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Business development

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Excellent communication

Job description

Introduction

TheZebra.com meets customers right where their search for car and home insurance begins: online. We provide easy-to-use tools and services, plus friendly, licensed agents who offer advice and guidance at any point along the way. The Zebra has helped customers compare over 74 million quotes since 2012. At its heart, both insurance and tech industry veterans collaborate together to simplify insurance shopping for customers. In today's digital world, The Zebra's customer-centered approach offers people the choices they want and simplicity they need.

The Zebra was recently named Austin Business Journal's 2026 Best Place to Work. Our motto is "All Stripes Welcome." Building the best product, the best teams, and the best company comes from inviting a diverse array of voices, backgrounds, and perspectives to contribute, making everyone feel welcome. Our Zeebs are passionate about learning, growing, and working together to tackle exciting problems.

We're seeking a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to identify, negotiate, implement, and grow high-impact partnerships that drive mutual value for The Zebra and our external partners.

This role requires cross-functional collaboration across internal teams and senior leadership to align partnership strategies with broader business goals. The ideal candidate has a strong background in strategic partnerships and a proven ability to structure and manage complex, high-value deals.

Location

Our company headquarters are in Austin, TX, but our employees work remotely across the US. For folks who live around Austin, we offer the option to join us in our office or opt for a hybrid setup. Whether you prefer the structure of an office, the convenience of remote work, or a mix of both, we support what works best for you!

Please note: at this time we are not able to hire in Massachusetts & California.

The Role

Our Strategic Partnerships team is growing, and we're looking for a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to help us continue the growth. Reporting to the Manager of Strategic Partnerships, you'll be responsible for developing and growing new partnerships within our SMB segment.

This is a hands‑on partnerships role. You’ll be responsible for an inbound pipeline of partnership inquiries as well as developing fresh strategic partnership opportunities with other SMBs. In this role you will identify which opportunities add the right strategic value, negotiate terms with the external partners, support implementation, and manage the partnership through its ramp to a stable scale.

Doing this well requires internal and external cross‑functional collaboration with Product, Legal, Finance, Marketing, and others, as well as occasional executive alignment check‑ins.

What You’ll Do

You will drive our best‑in‑class strategic partnerships function with SMB partners, leveraging our industry‑leading capabilities. Even more importantly, you will collaborate cross‑functionally at The Zebra to develop and iterate a process for fluidly identifying, qualifying, and implementing partnerships of all types.

• Source, build, negotiate and maintain strategic relationships with partners to drive high-quality user traffic to The Zebra

• Develop and maintain mastery in positioning the benefits of The Zebra’s product offerings to potential partners

• Create and implement a prospecting strategy for growing our strategic partner pipeline

• Create and iterate on a process to properly include the right functional teams (product, engineering, marketing, etc.) in partnership discussions and implementation

• Vet new companies through phone calls and face‑to‑face meetings

• Monitor the competitive landscape and share findings with The Zebra’s leadership team and other relevant departments

What We’re Looking For:

• 3-5+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, or strategic sales, ideally in fast‑paced or high‑growth environments.

• A track record of building and scaling partnerships ‑ you’ve launched new initiatives, negotiated smart deals, and can point to tangible results.

• Strong attention to detail and follow‑through. You keep projects on track, follow up like a pro, and care about getting the small things right.

• Proven success navigating ambiguity and driving outcomes, especially when priorities shift or you’re working across multiple teams.

• Confident negotiator with a knack for structuring deals that create value for both The Zebra and our partners.

• Excellent communicator who can adjust your style to suit different audiences – internal teams, external partners, execs, and anyone in between.

• Comfortable collaborating with cross‑functional teams and guiding projects from idea to execution.

What Will Really Impress Us

• You bring experience building a strategic partnerships function from the ground up, leveraging best practices to create scalable, cross‑functional processes in a fast‑paced environment

Why Work Here

• When we say “All Stripes Welcome,” we mean it. Considering viewpoints outside of our own as individuals create better inclusive experience for everyone

• We live and breathe inclusion. You will be part of a wide array of voices, opinions, and experiences that inform everything we do

• We believe in innovation. You will be part of experimentation; creative problem solving; cross‑functional collaboration; testing new approaches, tools and ideas and learning from those tests; and understanding when innovation can drive real impacts and when it may not be needed.

• We trust our teams. You’ll own your work, balancing personal accountability with team accountability. Together, we take pride in individual and team contributions; make thoughtful decisions; and want our teammates to succeed.

• We care about each other. You’ll join a team that truly lives their values, in and out of the office. Our Zeebs have honest conversations, give direct feedback, and remember that we are all people here to do great work.

• We take thoughtful action. You will be empowered to do the right things as efficiently as possible, not just checking Boxes…

Benefits & Perks

Inclusive and healthy environments are crafted