Team Lead Strategic Partner Ops

ServiceNow•San Diego, CA

8d•$114,200 - $199,900

About The Position

The Team Lead, Strategic Partner Operations runs the business for ServiceNow’s largest GSI partnership and its partner operations engine. The role owns the Pre-Buy motion end to end and is responsible for forecasting, operating rhythms, process and policy design, governance, and serving as a strategic business partner to Sales. This is a hands-on IC4 team lead who sets direction for a small pod of partner operations analysts and uses an AI-first mindset to simplify operations, reduce manual work, and provide leadership with faster, more reliable insight. The role owns partner business forecasting and operating cadences, Pre-Buy execution and governance, partner operations processes and policies, field and partner enablement, and AI-led simplification and scale. It also provides day-to-day leadership for partner operations analysts and serves as backup to the Director on partner operations decisions.

Requirements

At least 6 years of experience in Partner Operations, Sales or GTM Operations, Business Operations, or Sales Strategy in global enterprise SaaS.
Strong analytical background in forecasting, pipeline analytics, and KPI design, with advanced Excel/BI and SQL or equivalent data skills.
Hands-on use of AI to simplify or automate business workflows, such as GenAI assistants, agent workflows, or automation that measurably reduced manual effort.
Track record designing and enforcing process, policy, and governance in a cross-functional environment.
Experience leading, mentoring, or setting direction for analysts or project teams.
Experience working with or within a large GSI or strategic channel partner, with understanding of deal structures, budget allocation, and license consumption.
Comfort with enterprise SaaS deal mechanics, including NNACV/ACV, GRR/NRR, revenue bridge normalization, crediting, and compensation treatment.
Experience influencing Sales leaders and cross-functional partners in Finance, Legal, Deal Desk, Revenue Operations, and Compensation without direct authority.
Executive communication skills, including turning complex data into clear narratives and recommendations.
Ability to operate with calm urgency in high-stakes, quarter-end environments with competing priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience with prepaid, Pre-Buy, or inventory-based GTM models, including familiarity with burndown accounting and OPTY reconciliation.
Prior experience supporting a large GSI relationship, such as Cognizant or Infosys, at global scale.
Proficiency with Salesforce, Power BI, SQL, and Python or low-code automation platforms.
Experience building with LLM tools or agent frameworks, including ServiceNow AI capabilities such as Now Assist.
Familiarity with LOI structures, deal governance, and revenue bridge accounting.
Experience running GEO-distributed programs across EMEA, AMS, APAC, and JPN.

Responsibilities

Own weekly and quarterly partner business forecasts by GEO and stage, track call accuracy, and explain variance.
Design and run weekly business reviews, pipeline inspections, quarter-end readiness, and QBR packages for partner and executive audiences.
Define and own partner performance KPI frameworks and scorecards, including consumption, burndown, pipeline coverage, and partner health.
Proactively identify trends, risks, and opportunities and recommend actions before they become escalations.
Own end-to-end Pre-Buy execution across active contracts as reviewer and approver of inventory tracking, burndown, OPTY validation, add-backs, swaps, and leftover reconciliation.
Deliver bridge-normalized burndown reporting and flag slow-burn patterns, stranded inventory, and expiration risk.
Own LOI governance by interpreting contract language into booking and compensation guidance and preventing unintended downsell or GRR distortion.
Build documented, scalable processes for partner deal intake, approvals, exceptions, and reconciliation.
Author and maintain partner operations policy with Finance, Deal Desk, Legal, Revenue Operations, and Compensation, and drive adoption across the field.
Maintain governance and controls, including approval audit trails, policy compliance, and decision logs suitable for Finance and audit review.
Identify root causes of recurring escalations and address them through process, policy, or system improvements.
Partner with GPLs, GPMs, and Partner Sales leaders to remove deal blockers, resolve policy questions, and accelerate pipeline through appropriate partner motions.
Serve as the first escalation point for field issues such as mis-bookings, compensation disputes, and exceptions; resolve directly or prepare leadership recommendations.
Own field and partner enablement materials, including playbooks, SOPs, and self-service references.
Contribute data-grounded inputs to annual planning, including partner targets, coverage, and investment cases.
Lead the team's AI agenda by identifying manual work and redesigning it with AI, agents, and automation.
Build and deploy AI-enabled tools for forecast and burndown reporting, inventory and booking anomaly detection, and field policy and process assistance.
Set data quality and AI governance standards, including human review, accuracy checks, and responsible handling of partner and deal data.
Measure and communicate AI and automation impact, including hours returned, cycle-time reduction, and forecast accuracy, and scale successful approaches across Global Partner Operations.
Provide day-to-day leadership for a small pod of partner operations analysts by setting priorities, reviewing work quality, and coaching for ownership and judgment.
Build the team's analytical and AI fluency through shared tooling, templates, and peer review.
Model calm urgency at quarter-end and serve as backup to the Director on partner operations decisions.