Strategic Partnerships Lead – AI Labs & Cloud Providers

📋 Description

• • Own and architect the 90-day and 6-month strategic partnership roadmaps across AI labs, cloud hyperscalers, and SDLC platform partners, defining the entire function from scratch at a high-growth AI company.
• • Identify, prioritize, and secure new strategic partners in AI model labs for post-training collaboration, data evaluations, and joint research initiatives.
• • Extend the product through deep integrations across the full software development lifecycle, aligned with a modular, composable product philosophy.
• • Drive co-sell and co-build motions with cloud hyperscalers focused on enterprise modernization and migration workloads, ensuring alignment with customer needs and market demand.
• • Operate cross-functionally with product, engineering, GTM, legal, and finance teams to design, execute, and scale partnership initiatives from concept to revenue impact.
• • Build and eventually lead a team to operationalize the partnership strategy, recruiting and developing talent to support rapid scaling.
• • Define and own the entire strategic partnerships function — with no existing playbook — creating frameworks, processes, and metrics that set the standard for AI-native partnerships.
• • Establish and maintain executive-level relationships with C-suite and technical leaders at AI labs, cloud providers (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), and Fortune 500 enterprises.
• • Travel frequently to meet with partners, attend industry events, and conduct on-site collaboration sessions across North America and globally.
• • Work in-office five days per week in San Francisco’s SoMa district, with no remote flexibility permitted.
• • Leverage direct access to company founders and senior leadership to align partnership strategy with company vision, product roadmap, and capital priorities.
• • Utilize the company’s AI platform firsthand to inform partnership design and demonstrate product value to potential partners.
• • Measure and report on partnership success through revenue impact, product adoption, market expansion, and customer retention metrics.
• • Define what world-class strategic partnerships look like in the autonomous AI era, setting benchmarks for the industry.
• • Maintain deep fluency in the evolving AI model landscape, anticipating partnership opportunities before they become widely recognized.
• • Operate with extreme ownership: define roadmaps, drive execution, and take full responsibility for outcomes without oversight or established processes.
• • Move with speed without sacrificing depth — execute quickly on high-impact opportunities while building durable, trust-based relationships with enterprise partners.
• • Thrive in a startup environment characterized by ambiguity, rapid iteration, and minimal infrastructure — delivering results without a large team or established playbook.