Strategic Leader, Full Stack Partnerships (Automotive Ecosystem)

At Podium, we bring AI Employees to local businesses that turn every conversation into revenue. Trusted by 60,000+ businesses across Auto, Home Services, and Aesthetics, Podium captures and converts leads 24/7, driving both new business and repeat customers.

In under 24 months, we crossed $100M in AI Agent ARR, scaling 300% year-over-year. During this time, we’ve deployed 10,000 AI employees to empower real business outcomes for our customers. Podium is building what we believe will be the most impactful AI employee ecosystem for local business.

Podium has been recognized as the Best AI Implementation by Inc. Magazine, highlighted by OpenAI for building revenue-driving AI Agents, and awarded the #1 AI Agent for Business Operations by G2.

Our growth is fueled by hiring exceptional people, holding them to high standards, and creating opportunities for them to grow and make an impact. Our operating principles guide daily behavior and ensure we hire people who will thrive at Podium. If you're hungry for growth, aligned to our operating principles, and ready to get to work, you won't find a better place to learn and accelerate your career.

About the Role

We are looking for a strategic leader to build and lead a "Full Stack" partnerships team dedicated to the holistic health of our Automotive ecosystem. This includes ensuring our technical roadmap supports commercial program requirements, renegotiating complex terms to support our AI evolution, and mobilizing field teams to drive adoption. You will lead the managers responsible for execution, validation, and revenue growth, ensuring that our integrations deliver value and our OEM partners drive revenue.

Key Responsibilities

Unified Ecosystem Strategy

• Bridge Technical & Commercial: You will ensure the technical roadmap aligns with commercial requirements. You will oversee the Product Partnerships function to ensure high-impact integrations are not just technically viable, but commercially certified for program inclusion.
• Holistic Health: You are responsible for the end-to-end health of the auto vertical, from the technical stability of the integration to the revenue growth of the partner accounts.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: collaborate with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and Sales to align business models and identify where leverage allows for compounded impact.

Strategic Negotiation & Commercialization

• Modernize Partnership Terms: Serve as the owner for renegotiating legacy and new partner agreements. You will focus specifically on establishing flexible pricing models and securing rights for AI inclusion and data usage.
• Incentive Alignment: Identify leverage points within partner business models to create long-term value and strategic alignment.

Team Leadership & Mobilization

• Lead the Product Partnerships Function: Guide your direct reports in driving the execution, validation, and adoption of integrations across Franchise and Independent car dealer sub-verticals. Ensure the team maintains rigorous validation workflows and optimizes engineering environments.
• Mobilize the GTM Function: Responsible for the performance of the GTM partner team. You will ensure they effectively enable OEM regional managers to understand and position our product.
• Drive Accountability: Instill a culture of urgency and ownership, ensuring your team takes accountability for outcomes across both technical delivery and revenue targets.

What You’ll Do

• Own the Roadmap: Dictate the priority of integrations based on Market penetration and revenue potential.
• Enable the Field: Oversee the strategy for partner enablement and training, ensuring partner field teams are equipped to drive referrals.
• Executive Presence: Represent the company at key industry events and lead high-stakes negotiations with OEM executives.
• GTM Readiness: Ensure full GTM readiness for new integrations, bridging the gap between technical completion and client team availability.
• Metrics & Analysis: Monitor integration health metrics alongside partner revenue deliverables to provide a single view of ecosystem performance.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience: 7+ years in Partnerships, Business Development, or Strategy, with significant experience in the Automotive industry (OEMs, DMS, or Dealer Tech).
• Full Stack Fluency: You must be bilingual in "Technical" and "Commercial." You can discuss API-based workflows and sandbox testing as comfortably as you can discuss revenue growth and OEM program incentives.
• Negotiation Prowess: specific track record of negotiating complex, high-value contracts, preferably involving data rights, AI, or platform integration terms.
• Leadership: Proven ability to manage diverse teams—supporting technical product managers in requirement gathering while simultaneously guiding relationship managers in event planning and field support.
• Strategic Vision: Ability to evaluate how integrations and partnerships generate compounding value over time for all parties.

What Success Looks Like

• Commercial Alignment: Technical integration roadmaps are 100% synchronized with GTM strategy.
• Contract Evolution: Key partner contracts are renegotiated to include favorable terms for AI deployment and flexible pricing.
• Ecosystem Growth: The team achieves green integration health metrics while simultaneously hitting revenue growth targets within partner dealer networks.
• Partner Mobilization: OEM regional managers are actively and accurately positioning our product in the market.

Benefits:

• Open and transparent culture 
• Life insurance, long and short-term disability coverage
• Paid maternity and paternity leave
• Fertility Benefits
• Generous vacation time, plus three 4-day summer holiday weekends
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision benefits
• 401k Plan with company matching
• Bi-annual swag drops with cool Podium gear and apparel 
• A stellar HQ (Utah) gym with local professional coaches and classes offered
• Onsite HQ (Utah) child care center, subsidized for employees

Podium is an equal opportunity employer. Podium provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, marital status or veteran status.