Partner Development Lead
About this role
About Pinterest:
Millions of people around the world come to our platform to find creative ideas, dream about new possibilities and plan for memories that will last a lifetime. At Pinterest, we’re on a mission to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and that starts with the people behind the product.
Discover a career where you ignite innovation for millions, transform passion into growth opportunities, celebrate each other’s unique experiences and embrace the flexibility to do your best work. Creating a career you love? It’s Possible.
At Pinterest, AI isn't just a feature, it's a powerful partner that augments our creativity and amplifies our impact, and we’re looking for candidates who are excited to be a part of that. To get a complete picture of your experience and abilities, we’ll explore your foundational skills and how you collaborate with AI.
Through our interview process, what matters most is that you can always explain your approach, showing us not just what you know, but how you think. You can read more about our AI interview philosophy and how we use AI in our recruiting process here.
We are looking for a Partner Development Lead to join our founding team. In this role, you will be the central spine connecting our partner ecosystem with Pinterest’s product and commercial teams. You will drive the strategy and execution for a set of Activation (API) and AdTech partnerships, driving durable revenue growth and product adoption. You are a builder, a strategist, and an operator who thrives on ambiguity and can translate complex partner requirements into cohesive GTM motions.
What you’ll do:
- Own the Portfolio Strategy: Develop and execute multi-year strategies for our Activation (API) and AdTech partners (SSPs/DSPs). Define the roadmap for partner tiering, onboarding, and long-term commercial engagement.
- Architect the Partner Flywheel: Partner with Business Development (Acquisition), Product Marketing (Enablement), and Product/Engineering to build a frictionless "Acquire > Enable > Develop" motion.
- Drive Partner-Mediated Revenue: Establish accountability for partner-sourced pipeline, durable revenue growth, and product adoption. Implement standard operating mechanisms (QBRs, scorecards, and joint business plans) to track performance and hold partners accountable.
- Be the Technical & Commercial Advocate: Serve as the internal voice of the partner. Translate partner feedback into actionable product roadmap priorities and, conversely, translate Pinterest’s unique value propositions into clear integration/co-sell plays for partner platforms.
- Orchestrate Cross-Functionally: Lead cross-functional pods spanning Product, Engineering, Sales, and Marketing. Ensure all stakeholders are aligned on the execution of partner-specific plays that drive incremental performance for advertisers.
- Navigate Complex Ecosystems: Effectively bridge the gap between technical API capabilities and commercial sales goals, ensuring that our programmatic and agentic integrations are both technically robust and commercially viable.
What we’re looking for:
- Experience: 8+ years of experience in digital media, AdTech, or related technology industries.
- AdTech Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in the programmatic ecosystem, including hands-on experience with DSPs, SSPs, and API-based integrations. A deep understanding of the plumbing of modern performance marketing (tag management, attribution, measurement, and data signals).
- Builder Mindset: Proven ability to build new partnership programs from 0 to 1. You are comfortable defining processes where none exist and iterating quickly in a fast-paced environment.
- Strategic & Commercial Acumen: Experience leading end-to-end strategy for complex partnerships, including structuring deals, negotiating renewals, and driving joint GTM alignment.
- Communication & Influence: Exceptional ability to distill complex technical/product topics into persuasive narratives for both internal leadership and external C-level partner stakeholders.
- Technical Fluency: Strong knowledge of API integrations, custom platform connections, and technical documentation. You can speak the language of engineers and product managers as fluently as you speak with commercial partners.
- Collaborative Leadership: Experience working in highly matrixed organizations; you know how to influence stakeholders without direct authority to move the needle on product roadmaps and commercial targets.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Sales, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
In-Office Requirement Statement:
- We let the type of work you do guide the collaboration style. That means we're not always working in an office, but we continue to gather for key moments of collaboration and connection.
- This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 2x/week and therefore needs to be in a commutable distance from one of the following offices: Chicago, IL or New York City, NY.
Relocation Statement:
- This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.
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At Pinterest we believe the workplace should be equitable, inclusive, and inspiring for every employee. In an effort to provide greater transparency, we are sharing the base salary range for this position. The position is also eligible for equity. Final salary is based on a number of factors including location, travel, relevant prior experience, or particular skills and expertise.
Information regarding the culture at Pinterest and benefits available for this position can be found here.
Our Commitment to Inclusion: