Founding Head of Partnerships

The Challenge Arcade is the MCP runtime that makes AI agents production‑ready, and our partner ecosystem is central to how enterprises discover, evaluate, and deploy us. We’ve already established relationships with AWS, Azure, LangChain, MongoDB, Redis, and others—but we need someone to turn these early relationships into a scalable, revenue‑generating partner program. What You'll Do Own and execute Arcade’s partner strategy end‑to‑end, starting as a hands‑on IC with full accountability for partner‑sourced pipeline and revenue. Deepen and operationalize existing relationships with AWS, Azure, LangChain, MongoDB, Redis, and other strategic partners. Build co‑sell and co‑market motions with cloud providers, including marketplace listings (AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace) and joint go‑to‑market plays. Develop joint solution architectures and reference deployments with technology partners that accelerate enterprise adoption. Drive partner‑sourced and partner‑influenced pipeline by enabling partner sales teams to identify and refer Arcade opportunities. Create and manage a partner enablement program—training materials, solution briefs, and technical content that make it easy for partners to sell with us. Identify, evaluate, and recruit new strategic partners across the AI infrastructure and enterprise software ecosystem. Collaborate with Sales, Product, and Marketing to align partner initiatives with company revenue goals and product roadmap. Represent Arcade at partner events, industry conferences, and executive briefings. Track and report on partner program KPIs—pipeline contribution, revenue influence, partner engagement, and marketplace traction. As the program proves out, hire and lead a partnerships team to scale what you’ve built. Required Skills 7+ years of experience in technology partnerships, alliances, or business development at a B2B infrastructure or developer tools company. Proven track record of building partner programs that generated measurable pipeline and revenue, ideally from early stage or near‑zero. Direct experience working with cloud provider partner programs (AWS, Azure, or GCP) including marketplace listings and co‑sell motions. Deep understanding of the enterprise software ecosystem and how partnerships drive infrastructure adoption decisions. Demonstrated ability to work cross‑functionally across Sales, Product, Marketing, and Engineering to operationalize partner motions. Strong executive presence and relationship‑building skills—you’re comfortable in the room with VPs and GMs at major cloud providers and technology companies. Experience at a startup or high‑growth environment (ideally Series A‑C, under 100 employees) where you built process and structure, not just inherited it. AI‑curious and forward‑leaning—you understand how MCP, agent frameworks, and AI infrastructure fit together and can articulate Arcade’s value to technical partner audiences. Scrappy, hungry, and comfortable operating without a playbook or heavy support infrastructure. Located anywhere USA, ideally SF, Austin, New York or Seattle Bonus Points Previous experience building partnerships at an infrastructure company during a major platform shift (cloud, mobile, API economy, or AI). Existing relationships at AWS, Microsoft/Azure, LangChain, MongoDB, Redis, or similar ecosystem players. Experience with developer community and open‑source ecosystem partnership models. Background in identity, security, or integration infrastructure. Familiarity with marketplace selling mechanics (AWS Marketplace Private Offers, CPPO, MCPP). Compensation and Benefits This role offers a competitive salary, equity, and benefits. Compensation is aligned with the range below and determined based on a candidate’s background, experience, and performance. Salary Range $215,000-$315,000 USD OTE #J-18808-Ljbffr