Strategic Partnerships Manager - JD
Hey there!
I'm Chris, founder at Balto, writing this from seat 24F (window, obviously) on my way to Chicago for an event with one of our partners. When you join our team, trips like this will become routine.
Here's the situation: Partnerships have taken off over the past year and a half, and we're more excited than ever about what they can do for the company. That's why I'm spending nearly all my time on it, and why I'm hiring two people to join me.
Now, when I say partnerships, I mean both our technology partnerships (whitelabel or referral via another technology solution) and traditional Technology Service Distributors like Telarus or Avant (you don't need to know what these words mean, but it does help). Your role is to ensure they have everything they need to successfully position and sell Balto. Don't worry, I'm still in the trenches too — together, we'll be the most efficient three-person partner team the world has ever seen.
Think this might be for you? You'll succeed and enjoy this role if the following specifics resonate with you:
You enjoy traveling. This role involves frequent travel (primarily across North American cities) with peak months between April and September, when you may be away from home up to ~50% of the time (it balances out over the year). You should be comfortable flying and staying at perfectly nice (but not five-star) hotels near office parks. If this sounds like an adventure, great! If this sounds awful, this might not be the right fit.
You're comfortable with a lot of work. We offer unlimited vacation, and we are nice people, but we're also very busy. With hundreds of individual partners (and growing), there are times when urgent support is needed to help get deals across the line. Being genuinely energized by the work makes a big difference. But this is a serious job with serious demands. A lot of people's livelihoods are tied to how we perform.
Enjoy identifying ambiguity and fixing it. We're still evolving, with constant opportunities to build, refine, and learn. When you spot a gap, you naturally develop thoughtful, scalable solutions the whole team can benefit from.
Most importantly, your work raises the bar for those around you – you naturally build solutions that help our entire team, not just yourself.
Understand AI, or want to learn. I debated leaving this out because AI can feel overplayed (ironic, given what we do), but it's been a meaningful lever for scaling output over the past few months. You should be interested in doing the same. Hands-on experience (whether that's vibecoding or similar) is a plus, but genuine curiosity goes a long way.
Last but not least, a strong interest in entrepreneurship helps. It's not required, but it tends to align with everything above—you'll get more out of this role if you're genuinely curious about how businesses operate and grow. If you see this as a step toward building something of your own one day (or mastering a craft), there are few better places to learn. I'll go out of my way to teach you whatever I know, for better or worse. But if you're only looking for a paycheck, the pace and expectations may feel draining. We'd love for you to stay at Balto long-term—but just as much, we want this role to meaningfully contribute to whatever you're building toward. Either way, you'll have our support.
Necessary Soft Skills
People Skills. You don't need to be the life of the party, but you should be comfortable striking up conversations with new people—at events, on the fly—and doing so in a way that feels thoughtful, memorable, and genuine. Partner success often comes down to being top of mind, and first impressions matter. And candidly, this is an area where I'm still growing myself—so there's real opportunity to learn from you here. As our SVP of Sales, Dan, puts it: "Chris, you have a great operational mind," which is a polite way of saying we could use cooler people on the front lines. That cooler person could be you.
Positive Energy. This role can be unpredictable, often for reasons outside your control, like a deal slips, a partner goes quiet, or a last-minute curveball changes everything. That's part of the job. What matters is how you respond. We're looking for someone who meets those moments with resilience and a "how do we get better from here?" mindset, not a "life is unfair" mindset. Of course life is unfair—but we still have a number to hit.
Highly Organized. You might have five partner calls in a day and meet a dozen new people at an event—and each one should feel like they have your full attention. That only happens with strong systems and discipline. You just need to be highly organized. There isn't a way around it.
What You'll Need
- 1-3 years of professional selling experience, ideally in direct sales, partnerships, business development, or another customer-facing role at a SaaS company. If you've carried a number, even better. If you've worked with partners or channels before, even better still—but it's not required. We'd rather have someone hungry and sharp than someone with a perfect resume.
Not Required, But Certainly Helpful
- Experience in CCaaS, UCaaS, or contact center software—or a strong curiosity and ability to ramp quickly in the space.
- Exposure to TSDs or channel partners (e.g., Telarus, Avant, Bridgepointe, Intelisys, AppDirect, etc.).
- Hands-on experience using AI tools to scale output—ChatGPT, Claude, automations, light vibecoding. If you've built anything on your own, we'd love to hear about it.
- Startup experience, or any environment where you've had to operate without a clear playbook.
- Based in a partner-dense market, ideally Denver or Texas. Once again, useful but not a requirement.
Hiring Process
Your Interview Process Will Look Like This
- An initial video call with me
- A take-home skills test, which should take about two hours to complete.
- A longer form interview, with myself and (likely) one other person, where we go through a few realistic scenarios and work on solutions as a team.
- References and background check
- Offer
We’re hoping to fill both roles quickly, so it’s possible to get through all of these steps in a week should schedules permit. Realistically, though, expect a 2-3 week process.
Comp
- Base: $90-100k
- Variable: $40–50K (tied to pipeline production)
- OTE: $130-150k
- Details: Base & uncapped variable tied to pipeline generation, plus equity, full health/dental/vision, 401(k), a $500 quarterly wellness stipend, and unlimited PTO. Compensation is the same regardless of U.S. location.
If you've made it this far, we'd love to talk. We're excited for the adventure ahead.
Chris
The Pay Range For This Role Is
90,000 - 100,000 USD per year(Remote (United States))
