Sr. Strategic Partnership Manager

Plug Technologies Inc•Los Angeles, CA

5d•$150,000 - $175,000•Onsite

About The Position

Plug is an automotive fintech startup building the marketplace for electric vehicles. Consumers, dealers, and commercial partners trade in, sell, and auction used EVs through a platform built exclusively for electric, with nothing adapted from legacy automotive. Consumers can get an instant cash offer in minutes, backed by data-driven pricing, battery state-of-health analysis, with pickup, payment, and title transfer handled end-to-end. Franchise and independent dealers across the United States bid in real time on inventory sourced directly from these consumers, dealers, and commercial partners. The result is a single platform that gives sellers a fast, fair exit and gives dealers a dedicated channel for sourcing used EV inventory. Founded in 2023 and led by former Tesla executives, Plug has facilitated $100M in EV sales since launch and is backed by a $20M Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners. We’re building the most AI-native startup team in Los Angeles, full of operators, engineers, and ML researchers laying the transaction rails for the used EV market’s exponential growth. Partnerships are how Plug scales supply and demand at the same time. The Partnerships team owns the relationships that power Plug’s auction: consumer marketplaces, dealer groups, and commercial vehicle sellers –such as fleets, rental companies, OEMs, and other high-volume consignors. Reporting to the Head of Partnerships, you will own a major slice of that portfolio end to end. You are not running a support function and you are not waiting for direction. You set the plan for your accounts, drive it across Operations, Sales, Product, and Finance, and answer for the results. Our company mission is to electrify the used car industry. Your job is to turn Plug’s most important partnerships into durable, growing programs, and to be the person inside the company who makes those programs work.

Requirements

5+ years of relevant experience in partnerships, business development, account management, or commercial roles, with real ownership of outcomes rather than support of someone else’s.
A track record of growing existing relationships into larger programs, with numbers you can speak to.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional work without authority and get decisions made.
Strong executive presence and clear written communication with both partners and internal teams.

Nice To Haves

Automotive, fleet, OEM, or marketplace experience - strongly preferred, not required.
Worked two-sided or supply-constrained businesses where partnerships drove liquidity.
Experience structuring commercial terms alongside legal and finance.
Already using AI tools in your daily workflow to move faster.

Responsibilities

Own a portfolio of strategic partnerships: Carry direct accountability for a defined set of partner relationships and the numbers they produce. Set the objectives for your accounts inside the team’s goals, build the plan, and drive it without needing it handed to you.
Grow the programs you own: Find the expansion inside existing relationships - new lanes, new vehicle types, new commercial structures - and build the case for it. Bring the analysis, not just the idea.
Lead cross-functionally without authority: Get Operations, Sales, Product, Engineering, and Finance aligned on what your partners need and when. You will not own those teams, so influence, clarity, and credibility are the job.
Maintain excellence throughout the relationship: Own onboarding, implementation, and the ongoing operating cadence. Track commitments and milestones, resolve issues end to end rather than escalating them, and surface risk before it lands.
Be the partner’s advocate and Plug’s filter: Translate partner needs into clear internal priorities and product requirements with enough detail that other teams can act. Push back internally when a partner is right, and push back on the partner when Plug is.
Build the playbook: Document how Plug runs strategic partnerships so the approach scales past you, and contribute the standards and methods the next hires will run on.
Bring AI-native solutions to your work: We want people who don’t just execute the process but rebuild it, and who apply new tools to their own workflow before asking for headcount.