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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Development Partner

💰 $ - $

Business DevelopmentSalesPartnerships

🎯 Role Definition

The Business Development Partner is a strategic, revenue-focused leader responsible for identifying, qualifying, and closing new business and partnership opportunities that drive sustainable revenue growth. This role blends sales, partnership management, product-market strategy, and cross-functional execution to build scalable programs, manage key accounts, and align go-to-market initiatives with company objectives. The ideal candidate has a proven track record in strategic partnerships, enterprise sales or channel development, strong commercial judgment, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders across product, legal, and operations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Account Executive / Senior Account Manager (B2B SaaS)
  • Partnership Manager / Channel Manager
  • Sales Development Manager / Senior Sales Representative

Advancement To:

  • Head of Strategic Partnerships
  • Director of Business Development
  • VP of Sales / VP of Partnerships

Lateral Moves:

  • Product Partnerships / GTM Strategy Lead
  • Corporate Development / M&A Business Partner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Prospect, research, and qualify new enterprise and channel partner opportunities using a mix of outbound outreach, warm introductions, market intelligence, and networking to build a predictable pipeline and accelerate revenue growth.
  • Develop and execute targeted go-to-market partnership strategies for verticals, regions, or product lines that align with company revenue targets and long-term business objectives.
  • Lead end-to-end deal cycles from opportunity identification through negotiation, legal review, commercial sign-off, and contract execution while maintaining strong deal velocity and conversion rates.
  • Build high-quality sales pipeline forecasts, maintain CRM (e.g., Salesforce) with accurate stage updates, and report weekly and monthly progress to senior leadership against KPIs and revenue targets.
  • Negotiate commercial terms, pricing structures, SLAs, and partnership agreements that balance revenue upside with operational feasibility and risk mitigation.
  • Own strategic partner relationships, serving as the primary point of contact for onboarding, enablement, joint business planning, and escalation management to maximize lifetime value.
  • Design and launch partner programs (revenue share, referral, reseller, integration ecosystems) including partner tiers, enablement materials, performance metrics, and joint-marketing initiatives.
  • Collaborate with Product and Engineering to define joint solutions, prioritize partner-driven product enhancements, and translate partner feedback into actionable product requirements and roadmaps.
  • Create persuasive business cases, ROI analyses, and executive-level presentations to secure internal investment and partner buy-in for co-selling and co-marketing initiatives.
  • Coordinate cross-functional teams (legal, finance, marketing, customer success, operations) to operationalize partnerships, validate compliance, and ensure a smooth go-live and scale-up phase.
  • Conduct thorough competitive and market analyses to identify whitespace, map partner ecosystems, and recommend strategic moves that differentiate our offerings and accelerate adoption.
  • Drive partner-led pipeline by executing joint sales plays, co-branded campaigns, solution demos, and executive briefings tailored to partner audiences and buyer personas.
  • Manage partner onboarding and enablement programs including technical training, sales certification, partner portal content, and playbook distribution to ensure partners are fully productive.
  • Monitor and optimize partner performance via KPIs such as pipeline influenced, revenue sourced, conversion rates, deal size, and partner engagement scores; implement remediation plans where needed.
  • Support renewal and expansion motions by coordinating account plans with customer success and partners to identify upsell/cross-sell opportunities and mitigate churn risk.
  • Lead contract renewals, amendments, and upsell negotiations for partner-sourced accounts, ensuring commercial terms align with evolving business objectives and compliance standards.
  • Maintain structured documentation for partnership processes, SOPs, negotiation playbooks, and go-to-market templates to enable scale and replication across regions.
  • Represent the company at industry events, trade shows, partner summits, and executive meetings to generate leads, deepen relationships, and position the company as a category leader.
  • Design and A/B test joint-marketing tactics (webinars, content syndication, case studies, co-branded events) to identify high-ROI channels and optimize partner-driven demand generation.
  • Conduct regular business reviews with top partners to align on targets, share insights, reset joint priorities, and co-create growth plans that deliver measurable outcomes.
  • Manage complex stakeholder landscapes across large enterprises, navigating procurement, compliance, security, and executive procurement processes to close strategic deals.
  • Identify and pilot innovative partnership models (technology integrations, platform alliances, channel ecosystems) that unlock new revenue streams and improve product stickiness.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Enterprise sales and partnership lifecycle management (prospecting → close → scale)
  • CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot) for pipeline management and forecasting
  • Contract and commercial negotiation, including familiarity with MSAs, SOWs, and NDAs
  • Financial modeling and ROI analysis to build business cases and pricing scenarios
  • GTM strategy development and execution: channel strategies, co-sell models, and partner programs
  • Data-driven decision making with experience in KPI definition, dashboards, and reporting tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau, Excel advanced)
  • Familiarity with SaaS metrics (ARR/MRR, CAC, LTV, churn) and subscription business models
  • Technical fluency to coordinate integrations, APIs, and basic product architecture conversations with engineering partners
  • Experience with partner enablement platforms and marketing automation (e.g., Marketo, Pardot) for joint demand generation
  • Market research and competitive intelligence to inform targeting and positioning

Soft Skills

  • Strong executive presence and stakeholder management with the ability to influence senior leaders internally and externally
  • Persuasive communication and presentation skills; ability to craft executive-level storytelling and compelling proposals
  • Negotiation skills with a balanced commercial and legal mindset
  • Strategic thinking and problem-solving to design scalable partnership frameworks
  • High emotional intelligence, adaptability, and resilience in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
  • Project management and cross-functional coordination to drive complex, multi-team initiatives to completion
  • Customer-centric mindset with a focus on long-term relationships and account expansion
  • Collaboration and team enablement orientation — coaching partners and internal teams to drive mutual success
  • Detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills to manage multiple deals and priorities simultaneously

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Computer Science, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in a relevant discipline; certifications in sales, negotiation, or partnership management are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Computer Science / Engineering (for technical partnerships)
  • Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 4–8+ years in business development, partnerships, enterprise sales, or channel roles; at least 2–3 years in a strategic or mid-market/enterprise capacity.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years building and scaling strategic partnerships or reseller/channel programs within B2B SaaS, fintech, cloud, or enterprise software companies.
  • Demonstrated success closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals with cumulative quota attainment and measurable revenue impact.
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