Partnership Manager

Zania•San Francisco, CA

1d•$140,000 - $190,000

About The Position

Zania is building agentic AI for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) to solve a massive problem in an industry dominated by legacy systems. The company has found exceptional product-market fit and is experiencing hyper-growth, with 10x ARR growth in the last year. Zania is backed by a leading Tier 1 venture capital fund (NEA, Anthropic, Menlo Ventures) and has raised $18M. The team comprises AI and Security leaders from top tech companies. As a Partnership Manager, you will build the partner channel to expand Zania's reach into enterprises, define the strategy, sign and launch the first partners, and drive sourced and influenced revenue. This role involves working with advisory firms, audit and assessment firms, MSSPs, GRC and security platforms, and cloud marketplaces to create pipeline, accelerate deals, and integrate Zania into compliance workflows.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Security, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
5+ years of experience in partnerships, channel, alliances, or business development at a B2B SaaS company.
Experience working with cybersecurity, GRC, or enterprise software partners such as advisory firms, resellers, MSSPs, or technology alliances.
Proven track record of generating partner-sourced pipeline and closed revenue.
Strong structured written and verbal communication skills.
Ecosystem knowledge: You understand how the security, risk, and compliance ecosystem works, including advisory firms, auditors, MSSPs, and platform vendors, and how they make money.
Deal-making skills: You can find the mutual value in a partnership, negotiate terms, and get to signature.
Revenue focus: You measure partnerships by pipeline and closed revenue, not logos on a slide.
Builder mentality: You have built or scaled a partner program from little or nothing and are comfortable owning it end to end.
Relationship management: Executive presence and a proven ability to build trust with partner leaders and internal sales teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a Big 4 or advisory firm, or managing alliances with one.
Experience launching on AWS or Azure Marketplace and running co-sell motions.
Familiarity with GRC frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST) and platforms (ServiceNow IRM, OneTrust, Archer, AuditBoard).
Experience as an early partnerships hire at a startup.

Responsibilities

Build the partner strategy: Define which partner types matter most (advisory and audit firms, MSSPs, resellers, technology partners, and cloud marketplaces), and focus on the ones that will move revenue.
Recruit and launch partners: Source, negotiate, and sign partnerships, then run enablement, joint go-to-market plans, and the first co-sold deals.
Drive partner-sourced pipeline: Own partner-sourced and influenced pipeline targets, working closely with AEs on account mapping, co-selling, and deal registration.
Technology and integration partnerships: Work with product and engineering on integrations with the GRC, ticketing, and security tools our customers already use.
Marketplace motion: Launch and grow Zania's listings and co-sell programs with cloud marketplaces such as AWS and Azure.
Build the playbook: Set up partner agreements, tiers, incentives, deal registration, and reporting so the program can scale.