Strategic Partnerships Manager

Strategic Partnerships Manager
Manchester, UK - Travel to the United States
Competitive salary (indicative £55,000-£70,000 depending on experience)
About the job
AIM Smarter operates North America's largest promotional products network, connecting a thriving community of distributor members with a portfolio of leading supplier partners. These partnerships represent $2Bn of member spend, and as a Strategic Partnerships Manager you will own a category of them end to end.
You are the business owner for your category. Your mandate is growth: expanding our partners' businesses and, in turn, ours, by building genuine, senior-level relationships, understanding each partner's ambitions, and identifying and unlocking new opportunities together. Strong relationships are the foundation; growth is the objective.
You will sit at the intersection of our members' demand and our partner network, using insight, engagement and joint business planning to create measurable value for your partners, and earning a deeper, more valuable relationship in return. You will operate with real autonomy, work with senior leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, and see your impact reflected directly in the results.
A day in the life
No two days look the same. You might open by diving into performance data across your category to spot an emerging opportunity, spend the middle of the day shaping a joint business plan with a partner's leadership team, and finish preparing for an upcoming trip to meet partners in the United States. You will move fluidly between strategy and execution, and between your partners and internal teams in marketing, operations and finance.
Responsibilities
* Own a category of strategic partner relationships end to end, carrying its revenue and growth targets.
* Build deep, senior-level relationships with your partners and become a trusted advisor to their leadership.
* Develop and execute joint business plans with clear, shared growth targets, and lead regular monthly business reviews.
* Identify opportunities to grow each partner's business through the network and, in turn, grow the value they deliver to AIM.
* Dive deep into commercial, spend and engagement data to uncover opportunity, shape strategy and build the case for growth.
* Strengthen and continuously improve commercial terms by demonstrating and increasing the value of the partnership.
* Identify and onboard new partners that strengthen your category, and own the overall health and performance of your portfolio.
* Work cross-functionally with marketing, operations, finance and product to deliver your plans.
* Represent your category internally to executive stakeholders and externally to partner leadership.
What success looks like in your first 12 months
* You understand your partners' businesses and leadership deeply, and are regarded as a trusted, strategic contact.
* Every key partner has an active joint business plan with agreed growth targets and a regular review rhythm.
* You have identified and begun to unlock new areas of growth across your category, for your partners and for AIM.
* You have measurably grown the value of your portfolio.
About the team
You will join a growing partnerships function that sits at the commercial heart of the business, with direct visibility to the executive team. As the market leader, we are not standing still: we are innovating, raising our standards, and finding new ways to add value for our members and partners, and you will help drive that next chapter of growth.
Minimum qualifications
* Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
* 5+ years of experience in account management, partnership or channel management, category or commercial management, or business development.
* Experience owning a portfolio of accounts, partners or vendors against revenue and growth targets.
* Experience building and influencing relationships with senior stakeholders, both internally and externally.
* Ability to travel to the United States as required, including a valid passport and eligibility for US business travel.
Preferred qualifications
* Experience growing strategic partner, channel or vendor relationships and expanding share of a category.
* Experience developing and executing joint business plans with defined growth targets, and leading executive business reviews.
* Experience negotiating commercial terms and using data and insight to identify and unlock growth opportunities.
* Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder-management skills, with executive presence and strong commercial judgement.
* A self-directed operator who sets a high standard and is comfortable owning a number in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment.
Location, travel and package
This role is based at our Manchester office. As much of our partner base is in the United States, you should expect to travel there several times a year for partner reviews, industry events and relationship building; travel is fully supported and expensed.
We offer a competitive salary (indicative £55,000–£70,000 depending on experience), a performance-related bonus, pension, and a comprehensive benefits package. To apply, please submit your CV.
AIM Smarter is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.
Equals One is an advertising and recruitment agency working on behalf of our client to promote this vacancy. You may be contacted directly by the employer should they wish to progress your application. Due to the number of applications we receive, we are unable to provide specific feedback if your application is unsuccessful