Partnership Manager

Workfully is a European AI-powered recruitment marketplace that connects companies with independent recruiters across multiple countries. We operate in Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the UK, with active expansion into Ireland and the UAE.

Our platform uses AI matching to pair employers with the right recruiters, and we serve HR, People, and Talent leaders at mid-to-large companies through a commission-based marketplace model and a Jobslots subscription product.

We are at product-market fit stage, targeting €6M revenue, and are building the partnership engine that will take us to €10M–30M ARR. This is a foundational hire — you will not be managing an existing program. You will be creating one from zero.

We are hiring a Partnership Manager to build Workfully’s entire partnership function from scratch. There is no existing playbook, no partner program infrastructure, and no established process. You will define the strategy, identify the targets, open the doors, negotiate the terms, and close the deals.

Your partnership universe spans five categories:

•    HRIS / HCM platforms

•    ATS platforms

•    EOR providers

•    PE / VC firms

•    HR advisory & consulting

Critical context: Workfully is not yet integration-led. We do not have polished API marketplace listings or self-serve partner portals across these platforms. You will need to sell based on strategic narrative, pilot proposals, and co-marketing — not a finished product integration. This means the role is closer to enterprise BD than classic partner management. ´

•    Partnership strategy: Define which partner categories to prioritize, in what sequence, and with what commercial model (referral, co-sell, integration, white-label).

•    Pipeline creation: Build a pipeline of 30–50+ qualified partnership leads within the first 6 months. We will measure you on the number of leads generated, conversations opened, and deals closed.

•    Revenue attribution: Directly generate €500K–€1M in partner-sourced revenue within 12 months, scaling to €2M–5M by month 24. You must be comfortable being measured on hard revenue numbers.

•    Commercial negotiation: Structure and close referral agreements, revenue-share deals, co-sell arrangements, and integration partnerships. Own the full cycle from first outreach to signed contract.

•    Cross-functional coordination: Work with Product to define integration requirements, with Sales to ensure partner-sourced leads convert, and with the CEO on strategic and investor-facing partnerships.

•    Market intelligence: Feed competitive and ecosystem intelligence back to leadership. Identify when a partner is becoming a competitor (e.g., Deel building Deel Talent) and adjust strategy.

You come from the European HR tech ecosystem. You have built partnership channels at a startup or scaleup (Series A–C stage) that sells into HR, People, or Talent functions. You know the HRIS, ATS, and EOR landscape not from research — but because you have worked inside it, sold alongside it, or built integrations with it.

•    4–8 years in BD or Partnerships at a European HR tech startup or scaleup

You have operated at a company that was still building its partner ecosystem, not one where it was already mature.

•    Direct experience with HR tech partner programs: You have applied to, negotiated with, or managed integrations within HRIS/ATS/EOR partner ecosystems.

•    Two-sided marketplace or platform experience: You understand the dynamics of selling a marketplace to partners — not just SaaS. You know how to articulate supply-side value (recruiter network) to a platform that controls demand (employers).

•    Cross-border European experience: You have worked across at least two of our core markets (Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK). You understand that partnership dynamics in the Netherlands are fundamentally different from Spain.

•    Technical fluency (not engineering): You can discuss API integrations, webhooks, and data-sharing architectures with product teams and partner engineering leads without needing translation. You do not need to code, but you need to speak the language.

•    Built a partner pipeline of 20+ qualified leads in a previous role, from cold outreach to signed agreement. Show us the funnel: how many targets, how many conversations, how many closed.

•    Directly attributed €500K+ in revenue to partnerships you personally built. We want the number, the timeline, and the methodology you used to track attribution.

•    Closed at least 3–5 successful partnership agreements from scratch (referral, integration, or co-sell) at a company where no partnership function existed before you arrived.

•    Managed a partnership cycle end-to-end: from identifying the target, to first meeting, to commercial negotiation, to integration/launch, to ongoing revenue tracking.

•    Previously worked at one of our target partners and left on good terms with active relationships.

•    Experience with SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification processes as a prerequisite for enterprise partnerships.

•    Familiarity with the recruiter/staffing industry specifically, not just HR tech broadly.

•    Experience in marketplace businesses outside HR (fintech, logistics, freelancer platforms) that demonstrates transferable platform-partner skills.

•    Existing network of HR tech founders, partnership leads, or ecosystem operators in Europe.

•    Quantified partnership track record: You must be able to show, with numbers, how many partnership leads you generated, how many you converted, and what revenue resulted. “I managed relationships” without numbers is a disqualifier.

•    Built from scratch: You have created a partnership function, channel, or program where none existed before. Inheriting and managing an existing program does not count.

•    Unstructured environment tolerance: You have worked in a startup or early-stage company (Series A–C or bootstrapped) where you had to define your own process, tools, and targets. Large-company experience alone is not sufficient.

•    Location: Barcelona-based or willing to relocate. We offer relocation support.

•    Languages: Fluent English required. Spanish, Dutch, German, or French is a strong plus given our market footprint.

Base salary + performance bonus tied to partner-sourced revenue targets. Equity participation. Relocation package for candidates moving to Barcelona. Details discussed during the process.