Tech Partnerships & Strategic Alliances Manager
Posted Updated
Description
- As Tech Partnerships & Strategic Alliances Manager, you will own and grow Piano’s technology partner ecosystem — the strategic data, payments, and adjacent SaaS platforms our customers already run alongside Piano
- Reporting directly to the Global VP, Partnerships, you will be responsible for owning our most important technology relationships end-to-end and building the intake process that lets Piano evaluate new technology-partnership opportunities quickly and confidently
- Your primary mission is to turn a set of high-value but historically less-owned technology relationships into a coherent, jointly-executed go-to-market motion, while giving the business a single, well-run front door for every new technology-partnership or integration request that comes in
- This role will work in concert with support from team members in our Product organisation and Solution Consulting organisation, to ensure you are surrounded by robust product expertise and client-need intelligence
- Success in this role will be measured by strategic-partner health and joint GTM output, the speed and quality of inbound technology-partnership triage, and the strength of the operating model you build with Product and Solution Consulting
- Both halves of this role are ongoing, not sequential hand-offs — but the near-term weighting favors depth over breadth: priority in year one is on deepening our existing strategic-partner relationships (Partner ownership & growth, below) quickly, with the formal inbound-intake process (Inbound triage & product collaboration, below) built out close behind
- Strategy & prioritization
- Build the segmentation and prioritization framework for which technology partners are worth strategic investment, across data platforms, payments and subscription infrastructure, consent/tag management, and adjacent measurement or CRO/experimentation tools
- Prioritize partners aligned to Piano’s ICP and product roadmap, in close collaboration with Product leadership and Solution Consulting
- Partner ownership & growth
- Own a focused portfolio of strategic technology partners end-to-end — the primary relationship owner for commercial and go-to-market purposes
- Build joint go-to-market motions with each partner, not just technical integrations — joint messaging, co-sell motion, and shared pipeline where relevant
- Negotiate and maintain partnership agreements that set clear terms for collaboration, technical scope, and mutual commitments
- Inbound triage & product collaboration
- Act as the front door for inbound technology-partnership and integration requests, working with Solution Consulting to evaluate technical validity and strategic fit before anything reaches Product
- Partner with a named Product Manager on each strategic relationship, translating commercial opportunity into a realistic, shared roadmap
- Keep partner-facing commitments honest against what Product can actually deliver, and vice versa
- Operating rigor
- Build the operating rhythm for technology partnerships as a function — pipeline, reporting, and prioritization — where none exists today
- Maintain a clear, current view of every active and prospective technology-partner relationship, its owner, and its status
- Internal influence & alignment
- Represent technology partnerships in company-wide go-to-market and product-strategy planning
- Collaborate closely with Product, Solution Consulting, and the regional Partner Management team to keep technology partnerships coherent with the rest of Piano’s partner ecosystem
- Comfort operating at the intersection of commercial strategy and technical depth — equally credible in a conversation with a partner’s solutions engineer and their VP of Partnerships, with deep technical backup available from Piano’s Product and Solution Consulting teams whenever it’s needed
- Proficiency with CRM and partner management tools; comfort with pipeline reporting and forecasting
- Willingness to travel as needed for industry events, partner meetings, and Piano team gatherings
- Strong cross-functional operator, able to work closely with Product without owning its roadmap, and to bring structure to a function being built from scratch
- Experience triaging, scoping, or evaluating inbound partnership or integration opportunities is a strong plus
- 7+ years of experience in partnerships, alliances, or business development within B2B SaaS, martech, or adtech, including direct experience managing platform-level technology relationships (not only referral/reseller channel)
- Based in or near Amsterdam, or able to work core CET hours; fluent in English, additional European languages a plus
- Demonstrated track record of building and scaling joint go-to-market motions with technology partners, not just signing agreements
- Strong negotiation skills, with experience structuring and closing partnership agreements