Strategic Partnerships Manager

Zipline; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Strategic Partnerships Manager in San Francisco to own and grow a focused portfolio of strategic partners, serving as the face of Zipline to partner executives and stakeholders across commercial, product, operations, marketing, and field teams.

You will understand each partner’s business model, lead expansion plans, and drive cross-functional initiatives from launch through performance reviews, delivering executive-ready updates and data-driven insights for continuous

Qualifications

• 5+ years of partnerships, business development, or related experience.
• Proven ability to manage high-value, customized partnerships.
• Strong executive communication and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Own strategic partner relationships from launch through growth and ongoing performance.
• Develop expansion plans across markets and operating models.
• Create executive-ready materials and business reviews.
• Lead quarterly business reviews and partner touchpoints.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to launch and expand service.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder management

Tools

PowerPoint

Job description

• Zipline is building the future of delivery, and as a Strategic Partnerships Manager, you will ensure that our technology delivers incredible outcomes for our most important partners
• In this role, you will own the relationship for a focused portfolio of Zipline’s most strategic partners. You will be directly responsible for launching, managing, and growing these partnerships as Zipline scales, serving as the face of Zipline to partner stakeholders across executive, commercial, product, operations, marketing, and field teams
• You will develop a deep understanding of each partner’s business model, operating priorities, customer experience goals, and internal decision-making dynamics so that Zipline can help them transform delivery for their customers
• This is not a high-volume account management role; success requires deep ownership of a focused set of strategic partners
• Partnerships are highly cross-functional and often involve many stakeholders with different goals, even within the same organization
• You will turn partner priorities into expansion plans, operating rhythms, executive-ready materials, performance insights, and cross-functional workstreams that help Zipline and our partners grow together
• Own strategic partner relationships from launch through growth, expansion, and ongoing performance management
• Collaborate with partners to understand their business objectives, customer experience goals, operational constraints, and internal stakeholder priorities
• Build trusted relationships across partner organizations, including senior executives, commercial leaders, product teams, operations teams, marketing teams, and field stakeholders
• Develop expansion plans across markets, partner locations, delivery use cases, customer segments, and operating models
• Work cross-functionally with Zipline Operations, Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Support, and other teams to launch and expand service for partners
• Establish and track key success metrics, monitor partner performance, identify risks and opportunities, and drive continuous improvement
• Create executive-ready presentations, business reviews, briefing materials, launch updates, performance analyses, and recommendation memos
• Lead regular partner touchpoints, quarterly business reviews, executive briefings, launch readouts, and internal alignment meetings
• Provide white-glove service to strategic partners while maintaining clear expectations, priorities, and accountability on both sides
• Gather partner insights, analyze data, and surface relevant findings to identify growth opportunities and influence Zipline’s product roadmap
• Navigate complex stakeholder environments where different teams may have competing goals, timelines, or definitions of success
• Translate ambiguous partner needs into clear internal plans, owners, next steps, and decision points
• Advocate for partner needs while balancing Zipline’s operational, product, financial, and strategic priorities

This role requires strong executive communication, analytical rigor, and excellent stakeholder managementYou should be comfortable navigating ambiguity, building trust, creating clarity, and driving decisions in complex environmentsOur ideal candidate is customer obsessed, highly analytical, politically astute, and action oriented. You should be able to move fluidly between data analysis, partner strategy, executive presentations, operational problem-solving, and white-glove partner serviceAbility to quickly build trust through authenticity, direct communication, responsiveness, and strong customer empathyExperience owning and growing complex strategic partnerships, ideally with large retail, marketplace, logistics, consumer technology, or enterprise partnersStrong executive presence, with experience building and delivering clear, compelling presentations for senior audiencesExcellent analytical judgment; able to use data to diagnose performance, identify opportunities, prioritize work, and make recommendationsComfort operating in ambiguous, fast-changing, and politically complex environmentsOwnership mindset, bias toward action, and commitment to continuous improvementIntellectual curiosity and excitement about transforming the future of logistics5+ years of experience in partnerships, partner success, business development, customer success, strategy, operations, consulting, or a related functionDemonstrated success driving cross-functional alignment and accountability across senior internal and external stakeholdersProven ability to manage high-value, highly customized partnerships for a complex system, product, or serviceStrong commercial judgment and the ability to balance partner needs with company prioritiesHighly organized and able to manage many workstreams, stakeholders, deadlines, and open questions at onceStrong written communication skills, especially for executive updates, strategic plans, business reviews, and decision documents