Partnerships Program Manager

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Are you actively looking for a new opportunity? Or just checking the market? Well… you might just be in the right place!

We’re looking for a Partnerships Program Manager to join our Global Partnerships team.

We are open to hire in Montreal & Toronto for this role.

The Partnerships Program Manager drives partner-led growth across the four International regions, focused on the principle, ‘partners as an extended salesforce’.

Reporting to the Operations & Strategic Programs leader, and partnering with our Regional Directors, this role is the interface for International in the global partnerships organisation, and supports International’s efficiency through successfully integrating relevant global initiatives into the International partnerships teams and operating model, with a key focus on best practices specific to the International business and market nuances for each of our regions and verticals.

The role will also look after key strategic programs for partnerships, such as operationalising strategic and brand partnerships that fall outside the regional partnerships team remit, strengthen partner enablement capability for International and work closely with Regional leaders to support expansion into new geographies and verticals through partners.

What you’ll be doing:

Program Management

• Program and risk management of the execution of programs led by the global partnerships team for International, such as backbook contract standardisation and re-tiering, commissions review, and rollout of the global partnerships tracker and Salesforce contract/billing automations

• Operationalise key strategic distribution/referral partnerships and partner co-sell best practices to drive successful adoption and referral volume

Partner Enablement

• Determine internal partnerships team enablement requirements and work with global partnerships and INTL enablement managers to develop a plan to meet these requirements, working with global teams or local structures

• Build out an INTL partner enablement model for enabling our top partners per region and lead partner enablement sessions alongside partner managers and other key stakeholders

Partner Operations & Reporting

• Work with Regional Directors, revenue operations and finance to execute strategic partner-led goals for each business unit in International, focused on driving new MRR contributions from top partners, driving efficiency (contributed MRR vs. operating costs) in the partnerships channel and reporting and insights for API/partner integration connections and residual revenue for INTL

• Standardise rules of engagement for our partnerships team to engage with top partners e.g. periodic business review templates and cadences and supporting RDs/partner managers to build accurate pipeline management & tier management capability

• Work with global partnerships/revops to ‘internationalise’ available reporting, such as splitting International into the respective business units in all reporting funnels and the partnerships tracker

• Ensure INTL partner managers are maintaining standardised contracts and tiers according to global standards; auditing and managing exemptions and compliance with the respective systems and SOPs from the global team

• Integrate global partnerships metrics, KPIs and activity tracking for INTL

Partner Marketing

• Work with regional marketing managers to;

  Develop clear guidelines for best practice/ROI for using Marketing Development Funds (MDF)

  experiment with co-funded partner marketing spend in each region (co-marketing, shared costs with partner e.g. for events/partner summit)

Strategic Partnerships Expansion

• Working with senior leaders to identify opportunities and market entry requirements for International to expand to new geographies through expert/reseller partners (RoAPAC & RoEMEA)

• Support the development of clear business cases including country prioritisation, fiscalisation requirements, and financial viability

• Work with the MD International on select local strategic partner experiments with potential to scale across the region, including for example: Telco partnerships, Big tech partnerships, and global private equity fund partnerships.

And a little bit of....

• Contributing as part of the wider team to achieve organisational objectives even if this means doing things that aren’t strictly within the scope of your role.

What you need to bring:

• 5+ years of experience in Strategic Partnerships, Operations, or Program Management

• Exceptional stakeholder management/relationship building capabilities in a matrixed, global organisation with the ability to influence without direct authority

• Proven track record of building and scaling programmes across multiple geographies and timezones

• Strong commercial and data acumen with exposure to and/or experience in financial models, business case development, and P&Ls for partner channels

• Experience managing cross-functional initiatives involving global departments such as Legal, Product and RevOps

• As a global company with employees and clients outside of Quebec, fluency in English as a working language is required for this position.

Even better if you have:

• A strategic mindset: ability to translate high-level objectives into operational plans with clear milestones and accountability, and balance short-term tactical needs with long-term strategic goals

• Program management skills: delivering key strategic programs on time, within budget, and aligned with assigned objectives

• Exceptional stakeholder management: ability to build trust and alignment and influence without authority, evidenced by positive feedback from senior leaders and other key stakeholders including external partners

• Proactive risk management: proactive identification and unblocking of risks before issues escalate and developing clear mitigation plans

• Strong commercial and quantitative skills: comfortable working with revenue growth and partner performance and efficiency data, understanding of financial models, ROI and tradeoffs, and leveraging reporting frameworks to drive decisions

• Excellent oral and written communication and group presentation skills, both internally and externally

• Resourceful self-starter mentality: has a high degree of initiative and a strong sense of ownership and autonomy, comfortable with ambiguity or ‘pioneering’ something that hasn’t been done before

• Ability to manage multiple complex workstreams simultaneously and prioritise effectively

• Deep understanding of the retail and hospitality technology landscape, including POS, payments, and partner ecosystems

• Flexibility with timezones and working with a variety of global cultures and teams

• Natural brand ambassador for Lightspeed and the International business: live and breathe our guiding principles and represent our identity when working with global stakeholders and in all external interactions

How you will succeed:

• Visible improvements in key performance metrics associated with this role’s output (e.g. MRR, expansion revenue, churn, efficiency of partnerships funnel)

• Data integrity: Ensure 100% of International partner data is clean, correctly tiered, and mapped to the respective business unit

• Operational excellence / Process adoption: use of standardised operating workflows and rules of engagement by the global partnerships team

• Content localisation: successful ‘internationalisation’ of global partnerships assets for internal teams and partners - ensuring every region has vertical-specific playbooks (Retail, Hospitality, Golf) that respect local market nuances

• Market entry playbooks: Delivery of comprehensive, data-backed business cases for RoAPAC and RoEMEA expansion, including fiscalization requirements and financial viability models
  

We know that people are more than what’s on their CV. If you’re unsure that you have the right profile for the role... hit the ‘Apply’ button and give it a try!

Be a changemaker

You’ll enjoy:

• A flexible work environment that empowers you to do your best work

• A culture that celebrates performance

• The chance to make an impact in a team that’s big enough for career growth, but lean enough to make your voice heard

• Career-defining opportunities

Plus benefits designed to keep you happy, healthy and fulfilled.

• Flexible paid time off and remote work policies

• Equity options, because this is your company too

• Contributions to your pension plan. Your future matters

• Training opportunities to grow your skills and career

• Health and wellness credit so you feel your best

• Time off to volunteer and give back to your community

• Interest groups, employee led networks, social committees to sponsored sports teams

• Computer purchase program to get your personal Macbook

• Enhanced parental leave to support growing families

Fuel your growth. Find your people.

At Lightspeed, your growth is our priority. We invest in you with continuous learning opportunities, global mobility and benefits designed to support you—all within a driven, diverse and inclusive team that’s passionate about empowering our communities.

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