Partnerships Manager

Job Description:

The Partnerships Manager will play a crucial role in expanding and nurturing Wonderist Agency's referral partner network. In this position, you will primarily focus on developing new partnership opportunities through strategic prospecting, speaking engagements, and relationship building that drive referral generation. This is a business development role where you'll spend most of your time expanding our partner network—whether through direct outreach, presenting at industry events, or building connections at conferences. As partnerships are established, you'll naturally nurture and maintain those relationships, but your core responsibility is expanding our reach through new partner acquisition.

This Partnerships Manager will work in parallel with the Partnerships & Events Manager, replicating our proven partnership framework with a new portfolio of partners. You'll identify and pursue new partnership opportunities, manage partner touch-points and communication, support partner client escalations, and track partnership performance metrics. This role requires someone who is a natural relationship-builder, a confident go-getter, and thrives on creating authentic connections. If you're bold, adaptable, and energized by bringing in new business, we want to hear from you!

Essential Functions:

• New Partnership Development: Proactively identify and pursue new partnership opportunities within the dental industry. Attend industry events, conduct discovery meetings with potential partners, present Wonderist's value proposition, and convert prospects into active referral partners.
• Partner Relationship Management: Serve as a main point of contact, fostering strong connections and ensuring partner needs are met. Own a focused group of partner relationships, conducting regular check-ins, tracking referral activity, managing quarterly business opportunities, and ensuring partner satisfaction. Develop customized strategic plans for each partner based on their needs and referral potential. Maintain up-to-date partner information in Monday.com CRM and track all partnership activity and goals.
• Travel & Presenting: Attend partner events, industry conferences, and networking opportunities consistently to build relationships and represent Wonderist professionally. Public speaking and presentation delivery are core responsibilities—you'll regularly take the stage to present Wonderist's services to partner organizations, speak at industry events, facilitate workshop sessions, and deliver pitches in both intimate and large group settings. You must be comfortable being the face of Wonderist in front of audiences of any size. May also include event setup/takedown, hosting partner dinners, and facilitating engaging networking experiences.
• Partnership Performance Tracking & Analytics: Monitor and report on partnership metrics including referral volume, conversion rates, partnership ROI, and goal achievement. Maintain accurate data in Monday.com CRM, analyze trends to identify partnership opportunities or challenges, and provide regular performance updates to leadership. Hold yourself accountable to quarterly referral targets and partnership development goals.
• Partner Client Support & Escalations: Serve as liaison between partners and Wonderist teams when partner-referred clients need support. Coordinate with account managers and leadership on escalations, ensuring partners feel supported and confident in referring clients to us.
• Partner Marketing Opportunities: Support partners who want to work with Wonderist for their own marketing needs. Coordinate with the sales team on discovery calls, proposals, and contract negotiations for partner marketing engagements.
• Partner Gifting & Recognition: Execute thoughtful partner appreciation strategy including quarterly referral-based gifts, milestone celebrations, life event recognition, and consistent touchpoints that keep Wonderist top-of-mind. Coordinate with Partnerships & Events Manager on overall gifting strategy.

Core Competencies

• Authentic Relationship Building: Demonstrate genuine interest in people and natural ability to build trust quickly. You excel at reading people, understanding their needs, and creating meaningful connections that lead to long-term partnerships.
• Bold Business Development Mindset: Comfortable initiating conversations, presenting to groups, and pursuing opportunities without waiting for permission. You're a self-starter who sees potential partnerships everywhere and has the confidence to make the ask.
• Presentation & Communication Skills: Confidently present Wonderist's services to individuals and groups. Articulate value propositions clearly, tell compelling stories, and represent the agency professionally in all settings.
• Dental Industry Knowledge: Acquire and apply deep understanding of dental practice operations, industry politics, key players, and partnership landscape. Continuously expand knowledge to speak credibly with industry leaders, consultants, and influencers.
• Obsessive Attention to Detail: Track multiple partner relationships simultaneously without dropping details. Remember personal information, follow through on commitments, and maintain meticulous records in CRM systems.
• Adaptability & Go-With-The-Flow Mindset: Thrive in ambiguous situations where you're building something from scratch. Comfortable pivoting strategies when partnerships aren't developing as expected and creative in finding new approaches.
• Time Management & Organization: Effectively manage your partnership portfolio, track action items across multiple relationships, and prioritize outreach based on partnership potential and strategic goals.
• Team Collaboration: Work seamlessly with Partnerships & Events Manager to align on strategy, with sales team on partner-referred leads, and with account management on partner client escalations. You're a team player who shares credit and seeks input.
• Ability to Adhere to and Embrace Wonderist Agency's Core Values: Take pride in your work and commit to being an agent of positive change. Put everything you have into building partnerships that deliver mutual value.

Personality Musts:

Our perfect fit is someone who is a natural connector who lights up when meeting new people and genuinely enjoys building relationships. You should be bold and scrappy with a positive attitude and hunger to bring in new business. You're the person who strikes up conversations everywhere, remembers details about people, and follows through on commitments.

You need to be authentically you - we don't want someone playing a role or using sales tactics that feel inauthentic. Your genuine interest in people and desire to create win-win partnerships should shine through naturally.

But relationships alone aren't enough—you need a winner mentality and hunger to hit goals. You're motivated by metrics, tracking referral activity, and seeing your partnership portfolio grow month over month. You get excited about data: conversion rates, referral trends, partnership ROI. Numbers tell you a story about what's working and what needs to pivot, and you use that information to refine your approach and win bigger.

You thrive on variety and autonomy - building a partnership portfolio from scratch means you'll have freedom to test approaches, but you need to be self-motivated enough to create your own structure. You're competitive with yourself, constantly trying to beat last quarter's numbers and prove what's possible. Resilience is essential - not every partnership prospect will pan out, and you need to bounce back quickly without getting discouraged. The difference between a good week and a great one motivates you, and you don't need external pressure to push for results—you create that drive internally.

You balance people skills with performance obsession—you genuinely care about building authentic relationships AND you're relentless about achieving measurable outcomes. If you can't get fired up about both a great partner conversation and beating your referral target, this role isn't for you.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, communications, or related field
• 3+ years of experience in sales, business development, or partnership roles
• Dental industry experience strongly preferred (practice management, consulting, industry associations, dental sales)
• Proven track record of developing new business relationships and hitting growth targets
• Excellent presentation and public speaking skills
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to build rapport quickly
• Proficiency with CRM systems (Monday.com preferred)
• Comfortable with travel for events and partner meetings

Bonus Points for Applicants With…

• Lives in or near San Diego (proximity to our Liberty Station office is a plus)
• Existing relationships within the dental industry (consultants, coaches, associations, vendors)
• Experience working with referral partner programs or affiliate marketing
• Experience presenting at conferences or industry events
• Understanding of dental practice marketing challenges and solutions
• Familiarity with dental practice management software and technology
• Track record of exceeding sales quotas or partnership goals