Team Lead Strategic Partner Ops

ServiceNow•San Diego, CA

About The Position

The Team Lead, Strategic Partner Operations runs the business for ServiceNow’s largest GSI partnership and the partner operations engine behind it. The role owns the Pre-Buy motion end to end and also leads forecasting, operating rhythm, process and policy design, and governance. It acts as a strategic business partner to Sales, removing blockers and helping scale effective partner motions. This is a hands-on IC4 team lead who sets direction for a small pod of partner operations analysts and raises the bar for analytical rigor. The role uses an AI-first mindset to simplify business operations, eliminate manual work, and provide leadership with faster, more reliable insight. The position owns partner forecasting by geography and deal stage, operating cadence, KPI frameworks, and performance reporting. It leads Pre-Buy execution across active contracts, including inventory tracking, burndown, opportunity validation, add-backs, swaps, leftover reconciliation, and LOI governance. It builds scalable processes and policies, maintains governance controls, and works cross-functionally with Finance, Deal Desk, Legal, Revenue Operations, and Compensation. As a strategic partner to Sales, the role resolves deal and policy issues, supports enablement, and contributes data-grounded inputs to annual planning. It also leads the team’s AI agenda by identifying manual workflows, deploying AI-enabled tools and automation, setting data quality and responsible-use standards, and measuring business impact. Day-to-day team leadership includes setting priorities, reviewing work, coaching analysts, and serving 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, with measurable reduction in manual effort at scale.
Experience 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, including understanding how GSIs structure deals, allocate budgets, and consume licenses.
Comfort with enterprise SaaS deal mechanics, including NNACV/ACV, GRR/NRR, revenue bridge normalization, crediting, and compensation treatment.
Track record as a strategic partner to Sales leaders, influencing 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; 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 JV20.

Responsibilities

Own partner business forecasts weekly and quarterly by geography and stage, track call accuracy, and explain variances.
Design and run operating cadences, including weekly business reviews, pipeline inspections, quarter-end readiness, and QBR packages.
Define and own partner performance KPIs 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, reviewing and approving inventory tracking, burndown, opportunity validation, add-backs, swaps, and leftover reconciliation.
Deliver bridge-normalized burndown reporting and flag slow-burn patterns, stranded inventory, and expiration risks.
Own LOI governance by translating 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 scrutiny.
Identify root causes of recurring escalations and resolve them through process, policy, or system improvements.
Advise GPLs, GPMs, and Partner Sales leaders; remove deal blockers, resolve policy gray areas, 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 them or provide leadership with recommendations.
Create field and partner enablement materials, including playbooks, SOPs, and self-serve references.
Contribute data-grounded partner targets, coverage inputs, and investment cases to annual planning.
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 forecasting, burndown reporting, inventory and booking anomaly detection, and policy and process questions.
Set data quality and governance standards for AI use, 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, 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.