Partner Director, Data Partners

ABOUT THE TEAM OpenAI's GTM Partnerships team builds a strategic, global partner ecosystem designed to accelerate customer success, support secure AI adoption, and drive growth in support of OpenAI's mission toward AGI. We collaborate closely across Sales, Technical Success, Product, Marketing, Operations, and Leadership teams to turn strategic partnerships into durable commercial outcomes. Within that team, our strategic data and AI platform partnerships are a critical part of our ecosystem strategy. As enterprises increasingly build AI applications on top of modern data platforms, strong partnerships with Snowflake and Databricks are essential to accelerating customer adoption and delivering successful AI outcomes. Success requires more than executive alignment—it requires field enablement, disciplined co-sell execution, strong operating rigor, and fast feedback loops into the business. ABOUT THE ROLE We are hiring a Partner Director, Data Partnerships to help build and scale OpenAI's go-to-market partnership strategy with two of our most strategic data platform partners. This person will serve as a field-facing leader responsible for enabling Data Partner sellers, such as Snowflake and Databricks sellers, shaping joint account and opportunity strategy, and helping qualified opportunities move efficiently through joint sales motions. This is a revenue-oriented partnerships role for a high-output operator who can translate alliance strategy into pipeline, partner-influenced revenue, and repeatable execution. The right candidate knows how to earn mindshare with partner field teams, navigate ambiguity, and build simple operating mechanisms that scale. This role is based in San Francisco. We use a hybrid work model of three days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees. IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL - Build trusted relationships with Data Partner's Account Executives, Solution Engineers, AI Specialists, Partner Managers, and regional leadership teams to create durable seller mindshare. - Enable Data Partner field organizations on OpenAI positioning, AI use cases, qualification criteria, and how to effectively engage OpenAI throughout the sales cycle. - Own the in-market operating relationship with Data Partner sellers across account mapping, joint account planning, opportunity coordination, and escalation management. - Identify, shape, and support qualified opportunities emerging from Data Partner accounts in close partnership with OpenAI Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Technical Success teams. - Drive strong co-sell execution across joint pipeline management, opportunity tracking, marketplace motions where applicable, follow-up discipline, and operational excellence. - Develop repeatable sales plays, enablement assets, joint solution messaging, and field communications that allow partner teams to independently identify and accelerate OpenAI opportunities. - Aggregate structured feedback from partner sellers and customers and translate it into actionable recommendations for Product, GTM, and Operations teams. - Help define the operating model, engagement framework, and regional strategy that enables these partnerships to scale as customer demand grows. - Collaborate cross-functionally with Partner Solutions Architects, Product, Engineering, Partner Marketing, Partner Operations, Sales Leadership, and GTM teams to remove friction and accelerate customer success. - Represent OpenAI with executive presence in customer, partner, and internal leadership conversations where commercial judgment and strategic thinking are critical. WE'RE SEEKING SOMEONE WITH EXPERIENCE INCLUDING - 8+ years of experience in partnerships, ecosystem sales, strategic alliances, business development, or related go-to-market roles within SaaS, cloud, AI, data, or platform companies. - Meaningful experience working closely with Snowflake, Databricks, or similar enterprise data platform ecosystems and a strong understanding of modern data, analytics, and AI go-to-market motions. - A proven track record of driving measurable revenue through partnerships—not simply managing strategic relationships. - Experience supporting complex enterprise opportunities alongside direct sales teams, including opportunity strategy, qualification, technical coordination, and executive stakeholder alignment. - Comfort engaging CIOs, CTOs, Chief Data Officers, Chief AI Officers, and senior business leaders in strategic conversations while clearly articulating technical value. - Experience developing joint sales plays, enablement programs, operating cadences, and scalable field engagement models in high-growth organizations. - Strong technical fluency across enterprise AI, data platforms, cloud technologies, and modern analytics architectures, with enough depth to engage productively with architects and technical decision-makers. - A demonstrated ability to operate with high ownership in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where new partnership motions are still being built. - Excellent cross-functional influence, with the ability to align Sales, Product, Engineering, Operations, Marketing, and executive stakeholders without formal authority. YOU MIGHT THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU - Are a builder. You enjoy creating structure where none exists and turning emerging partnership opportunities into scalable operating models. - Have a commercial mindset. You naturally focus on pipeline generation, partner activation, customer adoption, and measurable business outcomes. - Build trust quickly with partners and executives through credibility, clear communication, and thoughtful execution. - Operate with urgency and sound judgment, balancing strategic initiatives with day-to-day opportunity execution. - Enjoy technical learning. You don't need to be the deepest technical expert, but you're excited to understand AI, data platforms, and enterprise architectures well enough to connect technology with business value. - Are energized