Sr Director, Partnership & Business Development

Solera

About The Position

The Senior Director, Partnerships & Business Development will own and grow Solera’s partner and developer ecosystem across the Dealer Solutions and Repair portfolios. The role combines business development and alliance management with responsibility for rebuilding the Certified Developer Program into an API-first ecosystem. The position will forge strategic partnerships, lead commercial negotiations, drive go-to-market initiatives, and develop the infrastructure third-party developers need to build, certify, and scale integrations on Solera’s platforms. This leader owns strategic partner, vendor, reseller, and integration relationships from recruitment and negotiation through launch, performance management, renewal, and expansion. They will define and operate the Certified Developer Program, including its framework, onboarding experience, API enablement, certification workflows, usage tracking, billing, and integration marketplace. Working across Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance, the Senior Director will shape partner offerings and developer experience, build measurable revenue-generating programs, and report ecosystem performance to senior leadership. The role also leads and mentors partner managers and developer relations specialists and represents Solera at industry and partner events.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
12+ years of experience in partner programs, business development, developer relations, or product management within an Enterprise SaaS environment.
5+ years in a senior- or director-level role owning a partner, channel, or developer ecosystem program at scale.
Demonstrated success building partner programs from early stage to measurable revenue contribution and commercial maturity.
Experience leading complex, multi-party commercial negotiations, including integration agreements, data licensing, reseller structures, and exclusivity provisions.
Deep understanding of SaaS go-to-market motions, API-led integration strategies, and two-sided marketplace dynamics.
Experience building or scaling a certified developer or ISV program, including developer portal, documentation, onboarding, and billing infrastructure.
Comfort with API concepts, developer tooling, and technical documentation standards, and ability to communicate fluently with engineers and developers without needing to write code.
Ability to influence cross-functionally without direct authority across Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance.
Excellent executive communication skills and ability to craft compelling narratives for partners, customers, and internal stakeholders.
Business acumen, including ability to build financial models, business cases, ROI frameworks, and partner revenue-share structures.
High-agency, self-starting approach and comfort navigating ambiguity in a fast-moving, transformation-era company.
Experience with AI tools and rapid prototyping to accelerate partner tooling, developer experience improvements, and go-to-market execution.

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred.
Automotive, vehicle lifecycle, dealership technology, or adjacent vertical experience is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Own the full lifecycle of strategic vendor, partner, and reseller relationships across the Dealer Solutions and Repair portfolios.
Lead commercial negotiations covering master service agreements, reseller agreements, data licensing, revenue sharing, and exclusivity.
Manage integration partnerships in collaboration with Product and Engineering, ensuring technical alignment, roadmap commitment, and successful launches.
Maintain executive-level relationships with key accounts and strategic partners, and serve as an escalation point for commercial disputes and performance issues.
Identify, qualify, and close new partnership opportunities that expand Solera’s market reach, product surface area, or data network.
Represent Solera at industry conferences, partner summits, and automotive technology forums.
Own the vision, strategy, and execution of the Certified Developer Program.
Define developer program tiers, certification requirements, badges and credentials, renewal policies, and compliance standards.
Own developer onboarding resources and experience, including API documentation, SDKs, sandbox environments, developer portals, integration toolkits, and getting-started materials.
Collaborate with Product and Engineering to shape the public API roadmap and represent external developer needs in platform investment decisions.
Partner with Engineering and Finance to build API usage tracking, metering, and billing infrastructure, including tiered pricing, overage handling, and enterprise licensing.
Establish technical review, compliance, security, and go-live approval workflows for third-party integrations.
Create and maintain a marketplace or directory of certified integrations for Solera’s dealer and repair shop customers.
Drive developer community engagement through newsletters, webinars, office hours, forums, and industry events.
Define and track ecosystem KPIs, including registered developers, certified integrations, API call volume, partner-sourced revenue, time-to-certification, and developer NPS.
Partner with Product Marketing and Sales on co-sell and co-market motions, joint solution briefs, partner enablement content, and integration showcases.
Design and execute channel and reseller go-to-market programs that generate measurable partner-sourced pipeline and revenue.
Establish partner onboarding programs, technical training curricula, and performance management frameworks.
Manage the partner lifecycle from recruitment and activation through performance management, renewal, and expansion.
Collaborate with peer Product leads to develop synergistic partner offerings across customer segments.
Lead and mentor partner managers and developer relations specialists, setting goals and providing coaching.
Track and report partner and developer program KPIs to senior leadership and use results to guide investment priorities and program evolution.
Influence Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance to advance partner and ecosystem objectives.
Monitor automotive trends, emerging API standards, and platform ecosystem practices and apply relevant insights to program differentiation.
Represent Solera at conferences, developer events, and partner summits to build brand equity and recruit strategic partners.