Head of Channel Partnerships

We’re looking for an experienced and strategic leader to serve as Head of Channel Partnerships at Gusto. This senior role reports to the Head of Indirect GTM and is responsible for building and scaling our channel partner organization. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of managing both individual contributors and managers, setting long-term strategic direction, and driving operational excellence. Success in this role requires balancing big-picture planning (3+ years out) with hands-on execution to deliver measurable growth and impact.

The team sits within the revenue organization, and is responsible for sourcing net-new revenue, and through-partner recruitment

At Gusto, partnerships are core to our growth strategy. The Channel Partnerships team focuses on:

• Developing partner-to-partner strategies with accounting firms.
  
• Driving new revenue opportunities in collaboration with product partnership teams.
  

Your remit will span partners across banking/lending, vertical markets (e.g., franchise and medical practices), and time-tracking solutions—shaping how Gusto shows up across the partner ecosystem.

Strategic Leadership (25%)

• Define the long-term vision for the Channel Partnerships organization, including key growth drivers and investible partner criteria.
  
• Conduct portfolio assessments (new categories, scaling existing, sunsetting where needed).
  
• Build and manage the economic model for investments (partner acquisition and activation costs)
  

Team Leadership (25%)

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of ICs and managers.
  
• Design compensation structures, define roles, and drive performance management.
  
• Build a culture of excellence in partnership management.
  

Go-to-Market Execution (25%)

• Develop and refine playbooks for partner recruitment, activation, and growth.
  
• Mobilize partners through marketing/partner development programs, co-marketing strategies, and partner-to-partner initiatives.
  
• Oversee business planning, contracting, and legal negotiations.
  
• Build a motion for both 1:1 strategic management (deep engagement with high-value partners through joint business planning, dedicated support, and exec-to-exec alignment) and 1:many programmatic management (scaled enablement, digital onboarding, programmatic incentives, and performance dashboards).
  
• Establish a tiering framework, shared GTM playbook, and feedback loops that connect both models.
  
• Defined approach to-through-with marketing, and implement strategy in collaboration with the partner-marketing team
  

Operational Excellence (25%)

• Build and manage resourcing, investment plans, and scalable systems/tools.
  
• Define rules of engagement across internal and external stakeholders.
  
• Ensure rigor in contracts, negotiations, and value exchange modeling.
  
• Continuously measure and optimize partner performance and economics.
  

• 15+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, or GTM strategy, with 8+ years in leadership roles.
  
• Demonstrated success managing both ICs and managers.
  
• Strong balance of strategic vision and hands-on execution.
  
• Deep understanding of partnership economics, GTM motions, and scaling playbooks.
  
• Experience working with accounting firms, fintech, SaaS, or B2B partner ecosystems strongly required
  
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is $191,200 to $239,000 in Denver & most major metro locations, and $224,800 to $281,000 for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.