Partner Development Manager - US Public Sector

Cohere • Washington, DC

101d

About The Position

As the Partner Development Manager - Public Sector, you will build a public-sector practice with leading System Integrators, distributors and resellers, as well as consulting firms, influencing how GenAI is deployed across government, defense, civilian, and state/local and education departments. You will define and execute Cohere’s public-sector partner-go-to-market plan, focusing on system integrators, distributors, resellers, ISVs, and cloud providers serving U.S. government and allied customers. Your role will involve recruiting, onboarding, and certifying partners to deploy and manage Cohere’s North platform and foundational LLMs. You will own joint pipeline generation, create co-sell motions, solution plays, and capture strategies that map Cohere capabilities to agency mission needs and procurement cycles. Additionally, you will drive partner enablement through sales and technical workshops, run QBRs and joint business planning, and serve as the voice of the partner back to Cohere Product, Engineering, and Legal. You will also navigate government AI policy to advise partners on risk management and responsible-AI best practices, and evangelize Cohere at partner and industry events and briefings to build thought leadership in responsible GenAI for the public sector.

Requirements

• 8+ years in public-sector partner, alliances, or capture roles within AI/ML, cloud, or cybersecurity domains.
• Deep knowledge of U.S. federal procurement and contracting vehicles.
• Experience negotiating teaming agreements and managing proposal responses.
• Understanding of the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy in Canada.
• Experience in FVEY and NATO partner GTM motions.
• Working understanding of GenAI (LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, agentic workflows).
• Familiarity with AI policy and ethics frameworks.
• Existing relationships and/or a DoD Secret clearance (or ability to obtain).
• Technical fluency and storytelling skills.

Nice To Haves

• Growth mindset and bias for action.
• Experience in a start-up-speed environment.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute Cohere’s public-sector partner-go-to-market plan.
• Recruit, onboard, and certify partners to deploy and manage Cohere’s North platform and foundational LLMs.
• Own joint pipeline generation: create co-sell motions, solution plays, and capture strategies that map Cohere capabilities to agency mission needs and procurement cycles.
• Drive partner enablement through sales and technical workshops.
• Run QBRs and joint business planning, tracking sourced and influenced ARR against targets.
• Serve as the voice of the partner back to Cohere Product, Engineering, and Legal.
• Navigate government AI policy to advise partners on risk management and responsible-AI best practices.
• Evangelize Cohere at partner and industry events and briefings.

Benefits

• An open and inclusive culture and work environment.
• Work closely with a team on the cutting edge of AI research.
• Weekly lunch stipend, in-office lunches & snacks.
• Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget for mental health.
• 100% Parental Leave top-up for 6 months for employees based in Canada, the US, and the UK.
• Personal enrichment benefits towards arts and culture, fitness and well-being, quality time, and workspace improvement.
• Remote-flexible, offices in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, London and Paris, as well as a co-working stipend.
• 6 weeks of vacation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees