Growth Partnerships & Channel Development Lead
About the Role
A growth-focused initiative is seeking a professional to lead the expansion of a referral-based partner ecosystem. This role is centered on developing scalable partnership channels that contribute to business growth through structured referral networks and strategic relationship management.
This opportunity is ideal for individuals who excel at building professional relationships, activating external partners, and creating systems that drive measurable outcomes. Success in this role requires a combination of outreach expertise, operational discipline, and performance-driven thinking.
The work involves recruiting and supporting referral partners, optimizing engagement programs, and scaling network-driven acquisition channels where partner activation and sustained participation are critical to long-term success.
What You'll Do
- Recruit and onboard referral partners, including individuals and small lead-generation organizations
- Develop and expand multi-layer referral networks to increase lead generation capacity
- Design and execute outreach strategies to identify and engage high-potential partners
- Educate partners on referral processes, program guidelines, and participation best practices
- Manage onboarding, activation, engagement, and ongoing partner communications
- Configure and maintain referral incentive structures where applicable
- Create training materials, playbooks, and operational resources for partner success
- Track referral activity, partner performance, activation rates, and growth metrics
- Identify high-performing partners and implement strategies to increase contribution levels
- Collaborate with growth and operational stakeholders to improve partnership programs
- Optimize processes that support referral network expansion and acquisition performance
- Maintain accurate records and reporting within partner management systems
Requirements
- Experience in partnerships, affiliate programs, referral programs, business development, community growth, or related functions
- Demonstrated ability to recruit, activate, and manage external partners or networks
- Strong stakeholder management, relationship-building, and communication skills
- Experience working within performance-based or incentive-driven partner environments
- Ability to conduct outbound outreach and partner acquisition activities effectively
- Strong organizational skills with consistent follow-through and execution discipline
- Analytical mindset with the ability to track performance metrics and optimize outcomes
- Comfortable working independently in fast-paced, high-ownership environments
- Proficiency with CRM platforms, partner management tools, or referral tracking systems
- Experience building referral, affiliate, ambassador, or partnership ecosystems preferred
- Familiarity with lead-generation organizations or independent business development partners preferred
- Background in recruiting, staffing, technology, AI, marketplace, or growth-oriented environments preferred
- Experience using productivity and AI-assisted tools, including ChatGPT, for workflow efficiency preferred
- History of scaling partner programs that produced measurable business results preferred