SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company, building the platform for the next era of software where products are built, extended, and operated by AI agents. The company is behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, trusted by OpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide.
You will join as Strategic Partnerships Lead, reporting to the Head of Strategic Partnerships. This is a highly cross-functional and technical role focused on developing first-of-a-kind partnerships that drive company growth through new distribution channels, pipeline generation, and platform capabilities. You will own a named set of strategic partners including hyperscalers, frontier AI labs, silicon vendors, and commerce/enterprise software platforms.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own strategic partners end-to-end from initial conversation through signed agreement, launch, and growth
- Identify and develop new partnerships aligned with Vercel's strategy in AI, cloud, commerce, and enterprise software
- Build business cases: size opportunities, scope required product/engineering investment, and provide clear recommendations to leadership
- Lead negotiations for complex commercial agreements including revenue share, embedded pricing, co-sell commitments, and marketplace terms
- Develop senior relationships with partners and bring Vercel executives in as needed
- Lead cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal) from signed agreement to launch
- Advise leadership on ecosystem trends and roadmap implications
- Run deals with clear milestones, success measures, and disciplined judgment on continuation
This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in San Francisco, Austin, or New York City offices.
Requirements:
- 8+ years developing, negotiating, and executing complex commercial agreements, ideally at a platform, infrastructure, cloud, or developer tools company
- Track record of initiating partnerships with no precedent, with companies significantly larger than your own; ability to articulate terms won and conceded
- Experience structuring deals with significant technical surface area (platform integrations, embedded/whitelabeled product, licensing, infrastructure/compute commitments); credible conversation capability with partner product/engineering teams on agents, inference, model routing, and cloud infrastructure
- Experience creating and driving strategy, and securing organizational funding for it
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams you do not manage (Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Sales)
- Strong agency and comfort with ambiguity; ability to decide priorities and defend choices
- Speed and decisiveness; ability to keep large deals moving
- Excellent written and verbal communication with executives on both sides
Bonus qualifications:
- Partnership experience at or with hyperscalers, frontier AI labs, or large commerce/enterprise software platforms
- Experience structuring technology licensing, OEM, or embedded distribution agreements
- Background in technical roles (engineering, solutions architecture, technical product) before moving to commercial work
