Partner Director, Data Partners

Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with Data Partner's Account Executives, Solution Engineers, AI Specialists, Partner Managers, and regional leadership teams to create durable seller mindshare.
• Enable Data Partner field organizations on OpenAI positioning, AI use cases, qualification criteria, and how to effectively engage OpenAI throughout the sales cycle.
• Own the in-market operating relationship with Data Partner sellers across account mapping, joint account planning, opportunity coordination, and escalation management.
• Identify, shape, and support qualified opportunities emerging from Data Partner accounts in close partnership with OpenAI Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Technical Success teams.
• Drive strong co-sell execution across joint pipeline management, opportunity tracking, marketplace motions where applicable, follow-up discipline, and operational excellence.
• Develop repeatable sales plays, enablement assets, joint solution messaging, and field communications that allow partner teams to independently identify and accelerate OpenAI opportunities.
• Aggregate structured feedback from partner sellers and customers and translate it into actionable recommendations for Product, GTM, and Operations teams.
• Help define the operating model, engagement framework, and regional strategy that enables these partnerships to scale as customer demand grows.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Partner Solutions Architects, Product, Engineering, Partner Marketing, Partner Operations, Sales Leadership, and GTM teams to remove friction and accelerate customer success.
• Represent OpenAI with executive presence in customer, partner, and internal leadership conversations where commercial judgment and strategic thinking are critical.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in partnerships, ecosystem sales, strategic alliances, business development, or related go-to-market roles within SaaS, cloud, AI, data, or platform companies.
• Meaningful experience working closely with Snowflake, Databricks, or similar enterprise data platform ecosystems and a strong understanding of modern data, analytics, and AI go-to-market motions.
• A proven track record of driving measurable revenue through partnerships—not simply managing strategic relationships.
• Experience supporting complex enterprise opportunities alongside direct sales teams, including opportunity strategy, qualification, technical coordination, and executive stakeholder alignment.
• Comfort engaging CIOs, CTOs, Chief Data Officers, Chief AI Officers, and senior business leaders in strategic conversations while clearly articulating technical value.
• Experience developing joint sales plays, enablement programs, operating cadences, and scalable field engagement models in high-growth organizations.
• Strong technical fluency across enterprise AI, data platforms, cloud technologies, and modern analytics architectures, with enough depth to engage productively with architects and technical decision-makers.
• A demonstrated ability to operate with high ownership in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where new partnership motions are still being built.
• Excellent cross-functional influence, with the ability to align Sales, Product, Engineering, Operations, Marketing, and executive stakeholders without formal authority.

Nice-to-Haves

• A builder mindset: enjoys creating structure where none exists and turning emerging partnership opportunities into scalable operating models.
• Commercial mindset focused on pipeline generation, partner activation, customer adoption, and measurable business outcomes.
• Ability to build trust quickly with partners and executives through credibility, clear communication, and thoughtful execution.
• Operate with urgency and sound judgment, balancing strategic initiatives with day-to-day opportunity execution.
• Enjoy technical learning and connecting technology with business value in AI, data platforms, and enterprise architectures.
• Energized by the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem and excited to help define how OpenAI scales through strategic partnerships with leading data and AI platform providers.