Head of Engineering & Architecture - Partnerships

Go-to-Market & Operations · Palo Alto · full-time

Build the partnerships that put Sycamore where enterprises already work: the cloud providers, model providers, systems integrators, and software vendors our customers already depend on.

About Sycamore Sycamore is building the trusted agent operating system for the enterprise. Our platform helps companies build, deploy, and orchestrate AI agents that take on real operational work, with the security and control large organizations need.

We are a small, engineering-led team working directly with Fortune 500 enterprises. The role Enterprises do not adopt a new platform in isolation. They adopt it through the cloud they have standardized on, the systems integrator running their transformation program, the software vendors whose systems hold their data, and the model providers they have already approved.

That means deciding which partnerships actually matter, building them into working relationships rather than press releases, and making them produce something measurable: sourced pipeline, faster deployments, technical integration that removes real friction, or credibility in a procurement process.

This is a technical partnerships role at an engineering-led company. You should be able to explain what our platform does, where an integration creates genuine value, and where a proposed partnership is mostly optics.

You will work closely with our Commercial Leads, who own the customer relationships, and with our engineers, who build whatever integration a partnership requires. Partnerships that create engineering work without creating customer value are worse than no partnership, and you are expected to make that call.

Build the case for which cloud marketplace or partner ecosystem we should invest in first, based on where our actual pipeline already sits.

Work with a hyperscaler’s field team on a joint account, and make sure the collaboration produces a real deployment rather than a co-selling formality.

Negotiate a partnership agreement that is specific about commitments on both sides rather than aspirational.

Work through a model provider relationship covering commercial terms, capacity, and roadmap alignment.

Kill a partnership that is consuming attention without producing outcomes.

Bring a pattern you are seeing across partners back to Product as a platform requirement.

What you will do Own Sycamore’s partnership strategy: which categories matter, which partners within them, and in what sequence.

Drive measurable outcomes: sourced and influenced pipeline, deployment velocity, technical reach, and procurement credibility.

Maintain an honest view of which partnerships are working, and end the ones that are not.

What we are looking for 8-15 years of experience in partnerships, alliances, business development, or a technical commercial role with direct ownership of partner-driven outcomes. A track record of partnerships that produced measurable revenue or deployment impact, with specifics you can walk through.

Experience with at least one of: hyperscaler ecosystems and marketplaces, global systems integrators, ISV integration partnerships, or model and infrastructure provider relationships.

Commercial and contract judgment across partnership structures, marketplace mechanics, and co-sell economics.

You can tell a strategically flattering partnership from one that will produce anything.

Strong relationship-building across partner field teams, product teams, and executives.

Comfort with startup ambiguity, broad ownership, and regular travel.

Two 60-minute conversations, one on partnership strategy and commercial structure and one on the technical substance of an integration.

A working session where you present a partnership plan for a real ecosystem, including what you would build, what you would negotiate, and what you would decline.

Build the partnership strategy for a company defining a new enterprise category, from the beginning.

Work across the cloud, model, integrator, and software ecosystems that enterprise AI actually runs through.

Join early enough to decide what the partnership function is, rather than inherit it.

Receive competitive cash compensation and meaningful equity in the company you are helping build.

Trust architectures, memory systems, multi-agent coordination. The foundational layer that makes AI agents work in production.

65M from Coatue, Lightspeed, Abstract Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, 8VC, and notable industry angels.

Competitive compensation, meaningful equity, and a genuine focus on your growth as the company scales.

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