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Emergent Labs Verified
Artificial Intelligence

Partner Development Lead - Service Partners

San Francisco, CAOnsiteFull TimeLeadPosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • partner development
  • channel partnerships
  • service partners
  • agency partnerships
  • IT solution providers
  • dev shops
  • partner program
  • enablement
  • budget model
  • success metrics

Nice to have

  • digital marketing
  • SEO/SEM
  • web/app development agencies
  • hyperscaler co-sell motion
  • AWS ISV Accelerate
  • APN

Role summary

Emergent is seeking a senior individual contributor to lead the development and scaling of its service partner program. This role will transform ad-hoc relationships with digital marketing agencies, IT solution providers, and dev shops into a systematic, repeatable playbook for global recruitment and joint customer acquisition. Responsibilities include defining partner criteria, building enablement programs, managing end-to-end partner relationships, negotiating commercial terms, and driving cross-functional alignment. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of experience in partnerships or channel development, a proven track record of building scalable programs from pilot stages, strong negotiation skills, and thrives in ambiguous, fast-paced startup environments. This is a unique opportunity to shape a critical function from the ground up at a rapidly growing AI company.

Emergent builds autonomous coding agents that replace traditional software development by generating, testing, and deploying production applications directly from plain-language intent. Our systems run in production at global scale and are used to build millions of real applications.

Since our public launch, we've crossed $130M in Annualised Revenue and grown to over 10M users across 190+ countries, who have built 12M+ applications on Emergent. We're backed by Creaegis, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Lightspeed, Together, Y Combinator, Google, Claypond and Sentinel Global.

We're solving the hard part of AI-driven software creation: correctness, reliability, security, and scale in real production systems. The team is built by repeat founders, Olympiad medalists, IIT & IIM alumni, and leaders from Google, Amazon, and Dropbox.

We're hiring builders who want ownership, speed, and impact at global scale.

The Role

Digital marketing agencies, IT solution providers, and dev shops are already building for their clients on Emergent, today largely through one-off, ad hoc relationships. We're looking for a senior individual contributor to turn that into a scalable, repeatable playbook: one that systematically recruits, enables, and drives joint customer acquisition with service partners around the world. You'll start by taking our first regional agency partnership from a single relationship into a documented, repeatable program, then use that playbook to recruit similar partners market by market, country by country. You'll report to our Head of Partnerships (formerly of AWS and Stripe) as one of the first dedicated partner hires, with real latitude to shape how this function works, not just execute someone else's process.

What You'll Do:

  • Turn our first pilot agency partnership into a documented, repeatable playbook: partner criteria, onboarding, enablement, budget model, and success metrics, the blueprint for recruiting similar partners in new markets.
  • Build and run Emergent's formal partner program for digital marketing agencies, IT solution providers, and dev shops: partner tiering, a vetted partner directory, certification and enablement content, and co-sell motions.
  • Own end-to-end relationships with service partners, from prospecting and recruitment through onboarding, enablement, activation, and ongoing account management, including regular business reviews.
  • Define and be accountable for joint outcomes in this priority order: new customer acquisition sourced or influenced by partners; speed to a deployed, production application; and customer retention and expansion.
  • Negotiate and stand up commercial terms and partner agreements (revenue share, co-marketing investment, marketing development funds) in partnership with legal and finance.
  • Partner cross-functionally with marketing, product, and sales so partner-sourced leads convert smoothly into deployed, successful customers.
  • Represent the voice of service partners internally, and build the internal processes, tooling, and reporting that let this program scale well beyond what one person can manage one relationship at a time.

    • What We're Looking For:

  • 5+ years of experience in partnerships, channel, alliances, or business development, ideally with agencies, systems integrators, dev shops, or a similar service-partner ecosystem.
  • A track record of taking a single pilot relationship and turning it into a scalable, repeatable program: you've built the playbook, not just run the deal.
  • Comfortable operating with a lot of ambiguity in a fast-paced startup environment where the function is still being built.
  • Self-motivated and professionally persistent: you proactively find and remove internal and external barriers rather than waiting for a process to catch up with you.
  • Strong commercial and negotiation skills, with experience structuring partner agreements and revenue-share models.
  • An excellent relationship-builder who can work across cultures, time zones, and company sizes, from a boutique agency to a large systems integrator.
  • Anchors every decision on joint customer success, not just partner count or deal volume.

    • Nice to Have:

  • Experience specifically with digital marketing, SEO/SEM, or web/app development agencies as partners or customers.
  • Experience building or scaling a channel program alongside a hyperscaler co-sell motion (for example, AWS ISV Accelerate or APN).
  • Multilingual skills or experience managing partners internationally.

    • Why Join Us:

  • Build one of Emergent's first partner programs from the ground up, with real ownership from day one.
  • Work directly with a Head of Partnerships who has built these motions at AWS and Stripe.
  • Shape a repeatable, global service-partner engine at one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world.
  • Real ownership, meaningful equity, and global impact.

    • Benefits and Perks:

  • 401(k)
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Unlimited Paid Time Off: take the time you need to recharge and come back refreshed
  • Flexible Working Hours: work arrangements that fit your life and commitments

    • Equal Opportunity

    Emergent is an equal opportunity employer. We know that strong partnerships talent comes from a wide range of backgrounds, and that candidates from underrepresented groups, including women and people of color, are statistically less likely to apply unless they meet every qualification listed above. If this role excites you and you meet most, but not all, of what we're looking for, we encourage you to apply anyway. We evaluate candidates on their skills, judgment, and record of results, not on pedigree, and not on a perfect match to a bullet list.

    Let's build the future of software together.

    Ready to apply?
    You'll be redirected to Emergent Labs's application page.

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