Director OF Strategic Partnerships

About Freehand Most AI companies are building tools. We're building the worker. Freehand's AI agents replace the human decision-making and coordination layer that sits above enterprise software — handling the analysis, negotiation, prioritization, and execution that previously required armies of logisticians / supply chain professionals. Our customers include Apple, Meta, GE, Pfizer, J&J, Schlumberger, Cardinal Health, and Unilever. They chose us because we have a fundamentally different answer to what enterprise software looks like when AI can do the job. If you want to work on something that matters, with people who will push you to be sharper than you thought you could be, this is the place. The Role & The Team This is an individual contributor role, reporting directly into leadership, with no team to manage. We want someone who's genuinely hands-on: building their own decks, running their own demos, writing their own partner collateral, and closing their own relationships. There's no support infrastructure to lean on yet; you're building it. We're open on exactly how this role is structured, depending on who we find: One person, both channels : If you bring real System Integrator (SI) and Private Equity/ISV partnership experience, we'll hire you into a single role covering both channels at a premium. Two people, one channel each: If your background is strong in only one of these areas, we're equally happy to hire two specialists. SI Partnerships : Could be a partner sales or partner marketing background — building and running relationships with systems integrators. PE Channel Partnerships : must have experience selling to industrial- or consumer-focused private equity firms, who in turn open doors to their portfolio companies. Alternative path: if the partnerships hires aren't a slam dunk, we're also open to a very hungry ABM marketer or product marketer with a track record of building strong external relationships and a genuine hustle to move into partnerships. Whichever shape this takes, you'll be one of the earliest strategic hires in this function, with outsized influence over how Freehand's partner ecosystem gets built from scratch. What You'll Do Partner pipeline generation — Identify, prioritize, and build relationships with SIs, PE firms, and/or ISV/product partners relevant to accounts payable, procurement, supply chain, and finance ops Deal collaboration — Work hand-in-hand with these partners to source, co-sell, and close enterprise deals, acting as the connective tissue between their relationships and Freehand's sales motion Collateral and enablement, self-built — Create your own partner decks, one-pagers, demo scripts, and pitch materials; there's no dedicated support team, so you own the full production Demos and pitches — Run partner- and prospect-facing demos yourself, translating Freehand's agentic AI capabilities into value propositions relevant to each partner type PE portfolio company motion — For the PE channel, build the specific muscle of pitching PE firms on Freehand as a value-creation lever across their industrial/consumer portfolio, then working through to individual portco engagements SI relationship building — For the SI channel, build joint go-to-market motions, referral pipelines, and co-delivery relationships with systems integrators serving supply chain and finance transformation Feedback loop to product/GTM — Bring market and partner intelligence back to product and marketing to sharpen positioning and roadmap prioritization Who You Are Startup or scale-up sales/partnerships experience — you've built something like this before, not just maintained an existing program High-pedigree intellect — top-tier engineering or MBA background An athlete or high performer in whatever form that's taken in your life — competitive, driven, and used to winning A true individual contributor at heart: scrappy, comfortable doing the work yourself (decks, demos, outreach) rather than delegating Some exposure to accounts payable, supply chain, finance, or logistics — you don't need to be a domain expert, but you should be conversant enough to build credibility fast If pursuing the premium single-role path: proven SI and PE/ISV partnership experience If pursuing a single-channel path: deep, specific experience in either SI partnerships or PE-channel selling (with the PE track specifically requiring experience selling to industrial/consumer-focused PE firms to reach their portfolio companies) If coming from marketing: a demonstrated hustle and relationship-building track record as an ABM or product marketer, with real hunger to move into a partnerships-facing role Comfortable with ambiguity and building process from scratch at an early-stage, fast-moving startup Working at Freehand Series C, ~100 people across the US and India. Big enough to have infrastructure, small enough that your work is visible. We run on five core operating principles; these are not values-on-a-wall, this is the exact philosophy we built our AI agents on : Context Before Confidence. We get in, ask (a ton of) questions, connect the dots ourselves and move fast. No passengers, no hand-holding. The amount of confidence you'll have in Week 1 is directly proportional to the context strive to gain. Decisions, not Recommendations. Freehand folks decide, they don't present options. You'll have real autonomy, and real accountability to match. High Agency, High Trust. We won't manage you closely or ask you to escalate every call. Act, share your reasoning, and course-correct when needed. That's the contract. Accountability is the Product. When something goes wrong — and it will — we name it, learn from it, and move on. No politics, no cover. Just fix it. The Work That Remains is the Work That Matters. We actively cut low-value work. What lands on your plate is there because it matters — and can only be done by you. It's a small world. Freehand employees Work Anywhere across US & India (we're remote & travel-first). As and when required, for this role, we will also arrange for a fully-paid trip to our HQ in Chennai to meet & interact with cross-functional teams. In addition, we proudly offer the following Benefits to all our full-time employees: Full Health coverage (accidental, life, vision, dental & health consultations) Monthly home-internet costs Flexible working hours Complimentary food & snacks at the Chennai HQ Equal Opportunity Freehand hires on merit — your thinking, your track record, your potential — without regard to race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic. If you meet most of the criteria above but not all of it, apply anyway. We care more about your willingness to learn & take initiative than whether your resume maps perfectly to every line