Partnership Manager

Do you love the thrill of closing a new partner, but also get real satisfaction from watching that relationship grow, quarter after quarter? Are you the kind of person who owns your number and knows exactly which levers to pull to hit it? Do you want a book of business that's entirely yours — no handovers, no shared credit — from the first cold outreach through every renewal after? And do you like variety, where prospecting a new market one day and coaching a partner to a better campaign the next is just part of the job?

AIHR is looking for a Partnership Manager to build, own, and grow our global affiliate partnership network.

About AIHR

Founded in 2016 with the mission to future-proof HR, the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) has become the world’s market leader in online training for human resources (HR) professionals. We have a global customer base spread across 140+ countries, amongst which companies like Unilever, Reckitt, Goldman Sachs, Philips, Deloitte, Nike, Heineken, and UBS. It is our goal to continuously upskill and empower 1,000,000 HR Professionals.

We are an international team of 100+ people, driven by excellence, innovation, and a hunger to grow in everything we do. As such, we strive to provide the world’s best courses and excellent support to our customers while continuously optimizing every aspect of our work. With over 30 nationalities, our team is diverse, yet we all share a few traits: we're friendly, enthusiastic, and great team players.

Being a fast-growing company, working at AIHR means taking on a lot of responsibility and getting countless opportunities to develop yourself in new areas and potential to craft your own role.

Role and Responsibilities

As Partnership Manager, you own the growth of our affiliate partnership network end to end — a global portfolio of 50+ affiliates driving primarily single-seat e-commerce sales, with real upside to unlock B2B business through the same relationships. This is a full-cycle, quota-carrying role: you prospect and sign new affiliates, then you keep them. There’s no handover once a partner is onboarded — you stay their main point of contact for as long as they’re in the network.

Your target is built from two connected levers, and hitting it means working both:

• Acquisition — bringing new, high-quality affiliates into the network through disciplined prospecting, sharp discovery conversations, and closed partnership agreements.

• Expansion — growing the partners already in your portfolio so their revenue contribution increases year over year, through strong onboarding, regular QBRs, and hands-on coaching on what’s working.

You’ll report to the Team Lead for Channel & Strategic Partnerships, work closely with Marketing to get your partners the content and assets they need, and act as the partnership network’s advocate across the wider Sales team — helping the team use partner relationships to close business more efficiently.

Acquisition — build your pipeline

• Prospect new affiliates across relevant regions and verticals, keeping a disciplined, consistent outbound cadence. Building pipeline is on you — it doesn’t come to you.

• Run discovery meetings to qualify fit, audience, and revenue potential before you invest further time in a prospect.

• Negotiate and close partnership agreements, converting qualified prospects into signed, revenue-generating partners.

• Treat new-partner acquisition as one half of your number: the more strong affiliates you sign, the more room you create to hit target.

Expansion — grow your book

• Onboard every new affiliate quickly so they’re live and running campaigns without delay.

• Own the relationship for its full lifetime: there’s no handover to another team, so retention and growth are yours to protect.

• Run regular QBRs to ensure targets are on track, reviewing each partner against the metrics you’ve set together, and course-correcting, re-aligning, or pushing for more when needed.

• Drive year-over-year revenue growth per partner: your existing book is the other half of your number, and growing it matters as much as signing new logos.

• Coach partners on what’s converting, sharing best practices so they run better campaigns and deliver more.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Partner with Marketing to align on the content, creative, and campaign assets your affiliates need to perform.

• Advise the Sales team on how to use the partnership network as a lever to help close business more efficiently.

• Report on pipeline, revenue, and partner health, so your manager and stakeholders always know where your numbers stand.

On a typical day

On a typical Monday morning, you start by working through your pipeline and CRM notes from the week before — flagging which affiliate conversations need a nudge and which QBRs are coming up. You block an hour for outbound prospecting in a market you’re trying to break into, then jump on your first discovery call of the day with a promising new prospect, walking through their audience and how a partnership with AIHR could work for both sides.

The next day looks different: you’re prepping for a QBR with one of your strongest affiliates, pulling together their numbers and a couple of ideas for what could push their conversion rate up. Before the call, you sync quickly with Marketing to confirm the new co-branded assets they’ve been building are ready to share. On the call, you review targets together, agree on two concrete actions, and set a date to check back in. Not every QBR goes that smoothly — sometimes a partner’s numbers have dipped and you have to have a direct, honest conversation about what isn’t working. It’s not always the easiest part of the job, but the partners who trust you enough to hear it are usually the ones who turn things around.

Later in the week you’re back in acquisition mode, following up on a negotiation with a new affiliate who’s asked for better terms — deciding what you’re willing to give, and what you’ll ask for in return. You close out the week updating your forecast and walking your manager through where acquisition and expansion numbers stand. Friday afternoon wraps with a quick team catch-up and, if you’re in the Rotterdam office, our regular Friday drinks — a good reset before the next push begins.

Your Target

This is a quota-carrying role. Your number is built from two levers working together: new-partner revenue from the affiliates you acquire, and growth revenue from the partners already in your book. In your first year, that means a steady flow of newly signed affiliates, every active partner on a QBR cadence, and measurable year-over-year growth across your existing portfolio.

We offer

• Competitive, benchmarked compensation, including a commission plan tied to your target

• A high degree of autonomy in a vibrant, result-driven, inclusive, and international team

• A beautiful office right across Rotterdam Central Station (Millenniumtoren), with a satellite office in Amsterdam

• 26 paid holidays per year

• Exchange any 2 public holiday days for 2 other days of your choice

• Work-from-anywhere policy: up to 20 days a year working abroad

• Pension plan

• Access to the OpenUp mental health platform

• Personal development budget, training, and we pay for the books you read

• All public transport expenses covered (NS Business Card)

• MacBook + all other equipment you need to do your work

• Daily lunch prepared by a chef, weekly drinks, and fun team activities

• Free access to the office gym

Get a taste of AIHR experience and check out our AIHR Benefits Guide!

Apply for the job

Are you excited to become our Partnership Manager? Then we'd love to hear from you!

P.S. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women tend to apply only when they meet 100% of them. So if you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point above, please still apply. We'd love to consider you and see if you could be a great fit. 

Who you are

• 3+ years of experience in both partnership acquisition and partnership management, ideally in SaaS or e-commerce

• Comfortable owning targets

• AI-first mindset to drive & improve operational efficiencies

• A natural relationship builder — people trust you and want to keep working with you

• Highly organized and execution-oriented, able to manage 50–80 concurrent partner relationships without dropping the ball

• Commercially sharp, comfortable setting targets with partners and having direct conversations when performance needs to move

• A strong, clear communicator in English

• Available to work at least 3 days a week from our Rotterdam office

Nice to have

• Experience with HubSpot

• Background in HR tech, EdTech, or SaaS industry