Strategic Partner Manager

Gomotive; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 188,000 - 298,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, pharmacy, optical & dental

401k contribution

Paid time off

Job summary

Motive seeks a Senior Strategic Partner Manager to build and scale our partner ecosystem across SaaS and hardware. You will recruit strategic partners, craft co-sell frameworks, and drive enablement programs to unlock indirect revenue streams.

You will sit at the crossroads of Sales, Legal, Marketing, and Enablement, delivering measurable partner-driven growth. You will lead the end-to-end partner lifecycle, map key decision-makers, and ensure seamless collaboration with internal teams to close

Qualifications

• 8–10 years in Business Development or Strategic Partnerships at senior level.
• Strong ability to recruit and onboard strategic partners, enablement programs.
• Proven track record in enterprise-level partner negotiations.

Responsibilities

• Identify, contract, and onboard high-value strategic partners.
• Develop joint go-to-market initiatives to drive pipeline.
• Manage strategic relationships and ensure partner experience.
• Map decision-makers and penetrate partner organizations.
• Provide partner enablement materials and training.
• Ensure partners can position Motive solutions effectively.
• Serve as SME to sales teams for partner-enabled deals.
• Establish co-sell/referral frameworks with sales teams.
• Oversee end-to-end deal flow and partner handoffs.
• Collaborate with Legal, Marketing, Product and Finance.
• Lead quarterly business reviews to measure ROI and satisfaction.
• Maintain strict operating rhythm for reporting and accountability.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Business development

Negotiation

Communication

Analytical rigor

CRM (Salesforce)

Education

Bachelor's degree in business

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Motive empowers the people who run physical operations with tools to make their work safer, more productive, and more profitable. For the first time ever, safety, operations and finance teams can manage their drivers, vehicles, equipment, and fleet related spend in a single system. Combined with industry leading AI, the Motive platform gives you complete visibility and control, and significantly reduces manual workloads by automating and simplifying tasks.

Motive serves nearly 100,000 customers – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses – across a wide range of industries, including transportation and logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, retail, and the public sector.

We are looking for a relentless and strategic Senior Strategic Partner Manager to build, accelerate, and optimize our partner ecosystem. Reporting to the GTM Partnerships team, you will be the primary engine behind unlocking indirect revenue streams and fostering deep, collaborative relationships with key partners.

This is not a passive maintenance role. We need a builder who is hungry to hunt for new opportunities and drive end-to-end partner development. You will be responsible for identifying and recruiting new strategic partners, creating robust co-sell frameworks, overseeing referral management, and driving comprehensive enablement programs.

You will sit at the intersection of Sales, Legal, Marketing, and Enablement, translating our value proposition into streamlined revenue channels. If you have a gritty, "get it done" mentality and deep experience navigating the intersection of SaaS/Hardware and complex partnerships, this is your opportunity to help build a massive vertical at Motive.

Key Responsibilities

• Build the Ecosystem: Identify, contract, and onboard high-value strategic partners to expand our market footprint and unlock new indirect revenue streams.


• Joint Go-To-Market: Collaborate with newly acquired and existing partners to develop joint go-to-market initiatives that drive pipeline generation and mutual market penetration.


• Strategic Relationship Management: Act as the dedicated, day-to-day point of contact for Motive's most high-value strategic partnerships, ensuring seamless communication, continuous alignment, and top-tier partner experience.


• Relationship Mapping & Penetration: Identify key decision-makers and centers of influence within each partner organization, cultivating deep internal relationships across their leadership, product, and GTM teams to maximize partner mindshare and drive Motive as their preferred solution.


• Partner Enablement & Training: Provide each partner with comprehensive and up-to-date training materials, resources, and tools to be successful.


• Drive Confidence: Ensure partner teams are fully enabled so they can confidently position and refer Motive solutions to their customer base.


• Act as Internal SME: Serve as the primary subject matter expert for our direct sales team, educating them on how to leverage our partners to close deals faster and without friction.


• Referral, Deal Management & Co-Selling: Establish Scalable Frameworks: Outline and implement robust co-sell and/or referral frameworks with partner and Motive sales teams. Provide clear enablement guidance to ensure both sides know exactly when and how to engage on joint opportunities.


• Robust Deal Management: Oversee the end-to-end processes, ensuring seamless partner handoffs and minimizing friction for our direct sales teams.


• Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner with Legal, Marketing, Product, and Finance to scale existing joint offerings while proactively identifying new collaborative opportunities to ideate, develop, and launch innovative solutions.


• Partner Reporting & Performance Management: Regular Business Reviews: Lead quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with strategic partners to measure program ROI, track service satisfaction metrics, and identify critical areas for improvement.


• Operational Rigor: Establish a strict operating rhythm for internal and external reporting, driving mutual accountability and ensuring seamless service delivery for shared customers.


• Performance Tracking: Monitor ongoing partner performance, rigorously tracking KPIs, deal registrations, and revenue attribution to report back to leadership.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience: 8-10 years of experience in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, or Alliance Management, with a track record of operating successfully at a senior level (Senior Manager equivalent).


• The Hunter Mentality: You are proactive. You don't wait for leads to drop; you shape the requirement beforehand. You are comfortable driving alignment across complex partner organizations and navigating to key decision-makers.


• Partnership Fluency: Deep understanding of partner recruitment, co-sell frameworks, referral models, deal registration processes, and partner enablement programs. Proven expertise in negotiating complex commercial terms, revenue-sharing models, and referral agreements with enterprise-level partners.


• Industry Background: Experience in SaaS, IoT, Hardware, or the Mobility/Transportation industry is highly preferred. Understanding how to sell physical + digital solutions is a major differentiator.


• Communication: Ability to distill complex product and program language into simple, actionable advice for sales reps, partners, and executives.


• Analytical Rigor: Proficiency in tracking deal registration, revenue attribution using CRM tools (Salesforce), alongside deep leading Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs).

Why Join Us

• Impact: You will be building a revenue pillar from the ground up with high visibility from Executive Leadership.


• Market Opportunity: Businesses operating physical operations and commercial fleets are undergoing a massive digital transformation, and Motive provides the essential AI-driven platform they need to increase safety, boost efficiency, and reduce operational costs.


• Culture: We value builders and owners. You will have the autonomy to define the strategy for this vertical.

Pay Transparency Your compensation may be based on several factors, including education, work experience, and certifications. For certain roles, total compensation may include restricted stock units. Motive offers benefits including health, pharmacy, optical and dental care benefits, paid time off, sick time off, short term and long term disability coverage, life insurance as well as 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Learn more about our benefits by visiting Motive Perks & Benefits.

Bay Area, California

$217,000 - $298,000 USD

Other Locations in U.S.

$188,000 - $259,000 USD

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is one of Motive's core values. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.

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