Aquent
Strategic Partnerships Development Manager - Retail [AQ-13010]
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About The Role
We are seeking an experienced Strategic Partnerships Development Manager to drive complex partnership initiatives across the retail and e-commerce landscape.
This is a highly cross-functional, project-centric role within a matrix organisation. You will work across the commercial and technical sides of partnerships, collaborating with senior stakeholders, legal and finance teams, as well as product and engineering teams, to take opportunities from initial discussions through to signed agreements and successful launch.
You will bring strong commercial judgement, excellent stakeholder management skills and enough technical understanding to translate business requirements into technical considerations and work effectively with engineering teams. This is a partnerships role, not a sales or product management position, and you will not be expected to write code.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and manage strategic partnerships with retail and e-commerce organisations, working across both new and existing partnerships.
- Lead multiple partnership projects simultaneously, managing stakeholders, dependencies, timelines and deliverables within a complex matrix organisation.
- Work closely with legal and finance teams on commercial agreements, contracts and new partnership deals.
- Partner with product managers, product teams and engineering teams to translate commercial and business requirements into technical considerations.
- Support the development and implementation of partnerships involving e-commerce APIs, data transfer technologies, agentic commerce and AI-enabled solutions.
- Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and external partners, adapting your approach to different organisations and partnership sizes.
- Work across the full partnership lifecycle, from opportunity identification and negotiation through to contract signing, launch and ongoing development.
- Track and report on key partnership metrics, including number of deals signed and successfully launched, as well as other relevant commercial and delivery outcomes.
- Identify opportunities to deepen existing partnerships and develop new strategic opportunities within the retail and e-commerce ecosystem.
- Manage approximately 2–6 key stakeholder relationships or partner workstreams at any given time, depending on project complexity and scope.
- Work across commercial and technical requirements, ensuring strong alignment between business objectives and technical delivery.
- Use tools and platforms across the Microsoft or Google ecosystem to support collaboration, analysis and project delivery.
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About You
- 7+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, commercial partnerships, or a related field.
- Strong experience working with retailers and/or e-commerce businesses; direct retail or e-commerce experience is highly desirable.
- Proven experience managing complex, cross-functional projects within a matrix organisation.
- Strong commercial experience, ideally including contract negotiation and developing agreements for new products or partnerships.
- Comfortable working with legal, finance, product and engineering teams.
- Good understanding of technical concepts such as APIs, data transfer and emerging technologies such as AI or agentic commerce.
- Able to translate commercial requirements into technical considerations and communicate effectively with engineering teams, without needing to be a hands-on technical specialist.
- Strong experience working with senior stakeholders and external partners.
- Commercially minded, highly organised and comfortable managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
- Strong understanding of partnership performance metrics, with experience measuring outcomes such as deals signed, deals launched and commercial impact.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to operate effectively across different functions and levels of seniority.
- Fluent English is essential; German would be a nice to have but is not essential.
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What You’ll Bring
You are an experienced partnerships professional who can operate comfortably between the commercial and technical sides of complex partnerships. You understand how to build relationships, negotiate agreements and drive opportunities through to launch, while also being able to work effectively with product and engineering teams.
You don’t need to be a technical expert or write code, but you should be confident discussing technical concepts and translating business needs into requirements that technical teams can understand and act on.
This is an opportunity to play a key role in developing strategic partnerships at the intersection of retail, e-commerce, technology and emerging AI-driven commerce.
This role is open for a limited time. Next steps will be shared with shortlisted candidates by Monday 17th August. Due to the high volume of applicants, we may be unable to reply to each applicant individually. Thank you for taking the time to apply.
Client Description
Our Client is a multinational technology company, specialising in Internet-related services and products; including online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware. The atmosphere is relaxed with a diverse and innovative culture. Opportunities for growth and progression and networking with like-minded people across the business and beyond.
Aquent is dedicated to improving inclusivity & is proudly an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications from under-represented groups & are committed to providing support to applicants with disabilities. We aim to provide reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, to those with a medical condition, disability or neurodivergence.
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