Strategic Partnerships Lead - Ecosystem & Channel

Applied Compute•San Francisco, CA

17h•Onsite

About The Position

As the Strategic Partnerships Lead - Ecosystem & Channel at Applied Compute, you will build partnerships that do not yet have an established playbook. This hands-on role focuses on sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and operating partnerships with open-source model labs, human data companies, research groups, systems integrators, and consulting firms. Much of the work is greenfield: you will define partnership models for different counterparties, prove them through initial deals, and develop them into repeatable programs. You will own partnerships from the first conversation through agreement execution and ongoing results, with responsibility for structure, economics, and business impact. You will work closely with sales, research, product, and leadership to select partners and turn relationships into pipeline, capability, and revenue as the company grows. You will develop model and data partnerships, including licensing, co-development, distribution, and data-supply arrangements. You will build a channel program for systems integrators and consulting firms by recruiting and enabling partners and establishing referral, resale, and delivery structures. You will identify new partnership categories, such as evaluation and benchmark providers, domain-expert networks, and industry consortia, and establish initial deals. You will lead co-selling, co-marketing, and account-mapping activities with partners and sales account executives, build the agreements and enablement materials that support repeatable operations, manage partner relationships, and measure partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, revenue, and capability. The role is based at Applied Compute’s office in San Francisco’s Mission district. The company offers competitive compensation and equity, employer-paid health insurance for employees and their families, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, daily lunches and dinners, transportation and relocation support, a 5% 401(k) match, and visa sponsorship. The company encourages candidates to apply even if they do not meet every qualification and states that it does not discriminate on the basis of protected group status under applicable law.

Requirements

Prior professional experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, or business development at an AI lab, data company, infrastructure company, or enterprise software company, with a track record of closed partnerships producing measurable revenue.
Experience structuring and negotiating complex commercial agreements, including licensing, co-development, data-supply, resale, and referral arrangements.
Existing relationships with partner and business development teams at open-source model labs, human data companies, or large systems integrators.
Technical depth sufficient to discuss model training, post-training data, and inference, and to work directly with researchers and engineers on joint projects.
Strong commercial judgment in evaluating which partnerships can move the business and structuring deals that work for both sides.
Comfort building a partnership category from scratch amid ambiguity and without templates or precedent.

Nice To Haves

Experience building a partner or channel program from scratch at an early-stage company.
Experience working with systems integrators on enterprise AI deployments.

Responsibilities

Source, structure, negotiate, and close partnerships with open-source model labs, human data companies, research groups, and other research and data counterparties.
Negotiate licensing, co-development, distribution, and data-supply arrangements.
Build and operate a partner program for systems integrators and consulting firms, including recruiting partners, enabling their teams, and establishing referral, resale, and delivery structures.
Identify new partnership categories and define partnership models, closing initial deals to prove them.
Run co-selling, co-marketing, and account-mapping activities that convert partner relationships into qualified opportunities, working with sales account executives.
Build agreements, enablement materials, and tracking systems to make partnerships repeatable.
Manage relationships with executive sponsors and day-to-day partner counterparts.
Measure partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, revenue, and capability, and use results to guide investment and future partnership priorities.
Collaborate with sales, research, product, and leadership teams to select partners and generate pipeline, capability, and revenue.