Senior Partner Development Manager

Are you actively looking for a new opportunity? Or just checking the market? Well… you might just be in the right place! 

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Partner Development Manager to join our Partnerships team at Lightspeed. This role is built for a “hunter” type with demonstrated success, driving material impact through outbound partnerships acquisition and development efforts.  Possessing excellent business acumen, a high energy level, demonstrated critical thinking and presentation skills, creative problem-solving skills, and a highly professional demeanor, a successful candidate for this role is an experienced go-getter who knows how to identify, source, navigate and land high value agreements with channel partners, and work through complex operational and contractual requirements with multiple stakeholders, possessing drive, resilience, patience, and skilled relationship management.  

You’ll be responsible for identifying, sourcing, and providing initial development of nascent but high-impact distribution relationships — the kind that require patience, foresight, and influence, but have the capacity to deliver at multiples beyond current motions. These are not transactional partnerships; they’re intentional channel plays designed to unlock step-change growth through clearly articulated shared outcomes, thoroughly aligned go-to-market execution, integration and shared roadmaps, and alignment at the executive level.  To the extent valuable relationships require consideration of changes in our or our partners’ operating processes to ensure success, you’ll be instrumental in developing business cases and operational plans to support new ways of working, collaborating with key stakeholders across Partnerships, Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Operations and other parts of the internal and partner organizations as required.

You’ll work closely with partnerships and other leadership in the company to provide continuous feedback and improvement on partner acquisition, activation and retention strategies.  As a partnership is being established, you’ll work closely with the head of partner growth to ensure a clear handoff plan for partner launch, success, and ongoing management post contract signature.

What you'll be doing:

• Working closely with senior partnerships and sales leadership, identify and align on key target segments, partner types and recruitment plans
• Within identified priority segments, identify, qualify, prioritize, pursue and land a portfolio of top tier distribution partners with significant business potential and long-term value creation opportunities.
• Develop partner penetration plans, partner pitches and joint value propositions
• Identify and qualify proposed partnership arrangements for impact, timing, degree of difficulty and risk
• Negotiate complex commercial agreements with multiple internal and external stakeholders that balance partner and Lightspeed requirements, operational capabilities, time to market, and revenue impact.
• Develop, negotiate, plan and document end-to-end GTM motions, including joint marketing activities with partners, and success metrics
• Work alongside partner growth management to align on clear mutual success metrics and develop clear timelines and milestones for partner management handoff.  
• Assist partner growth management as needed in developing and leading strategic reviews with partner executives to evaluate success, align priorities, and define next-phase growth initiatives
• Work cross-functionally with Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Operations and other teams to define operational requirements and ensure seamless execution.
• Track and report on partnership acquisition efforts and results, and calibrate downstream partnership success against initial estimates developed during the partnership qualification phase, with a focus on continued feedback and improvement in forecasting ROI, pipeline influence, and market impact.
• As required, represent Lightspeed externally at partner-focused industry events, trade shows, and partner gatherings as a credible, consultative voice in the retail POS partner space
• Stay ahead of industry trends, identifying important partnership opportunities that have the potential to increase Lightspeed’s market share.

• 7+ years of proven experience in strategic partnerships, business development, or channel strategy within a SaaS, payments, or technology environment.
• Deep comfort with cold sourcing and initiating key relationships from scratch
• Demonstrated ability to navigate “white space” to quickly identify the highest value opportunities
• Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships from sourcing through negotiation to initial execution and hand-off.
• Strong general business acumen and partnership qualification skills - ability to quickly know what a good deal looks like
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, comfortable influencing at the C-suite and VP level.
• Ability to understand end to end systems and processes, determine where likely chokepoints will occur, and work with cross functional teams to assess and mitigate
• Ability to understand complex gives and gets and advanced negotiation skills focusing on aligning interests
• Strong organizational and project management skills — able to juggle multiple initiatives while maintaining focus on outcomes.
• Strong bias towards learning, upskilling and continuous improvement
• Experience in retail technology ecosystems is a strong asset.

• Experience developing multi-year strategic partnerships with enterprise or platform partners.
• A known personal brand / good reputation / deep rolodex in any of our target channels
• Specific experience selling through enterprise channels to end customer SMBs.
• Specific experience with existing or legacy POS channels
• Exposure to product integrations or API-driven partnerships; comfort in working with product development teams
• Experience with and/or solid understanding of all key distribution models, from referral, to reseller, to hybrid, to embedded
• Strong commercial and data analysis acumen, with the ability to model business cases and assess ROI.
• Deep knowledge of POS, payments, or adjacent retail SMB SaaS technologies.

What’s in it for you?

Come live the Lightspeed experience...

• Ability to do your job in a truly flexible hybrid environment (3 days/week in office);
• Genuine career opportunities in a company that’s creating new jobs everyday;
• Work in a team big enough for growth but lean enough to make a real impact.

… and enjoy a range of benefits that’ll keep you happy, healthy and (not) hungry:

• Lightspeed RSU program (we are all owners)
• Unlimited paid time off policy
• Flexible working policy
• Health insurance
• Health and wellness benefits
• Possibility for transit fees to be covered
• Paid leave assistance for new parents
• Linkedin learning

At Lightspeed, we carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including your skillset, qualifications, experience, and market data. These considerations can cause your compensation to vary. We reasonably expect the base salary for this position to be in the range of $[85,000 to $100,000] USD, depending on the candidate’s location. Additionally, this role may be eligible for discretionary short-term and long-term incentives. Lightspeed also provides a variety of employee benefits including, but not limited to, medical, dental, wellness, life and disability insurance, 401K plan and match, paid parental leave top-up, and paid time off. 

Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within the United States, and refers to the amount Lightspeed is willing to pay at the time of this posting, which may vary depending on the candidate’s actual location. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

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