OpenAI Strategic Partnerships Lead

Working at CreateFuture CreateFuture is a Version 1 company and AI-native consulting partner where people do work that matters and are supported to do it well. We work alongside organisations such as PayPal, adidas, NatWest, FanDuel and Money Saving Expert, building digital products and services that make a difference while always putting people first. We’re a team of creators. We write code, shape delivery, build go-to-market strategies, develop AI solutions and create the practices that support our people. We work side by side with our clients, challenging what’s not working and helping them to build the future. Our commitment to craft, quality, and culture has helped us scale to over 600 people in just a few years. Our UK Benefits 35 days leave (including bank holidays). Private medical insurance. Enhanced parental and adoption leave. Financial coaching + 5% pension match. 40 hours of paid learning and development. View our full list of UK benefits. CreateFuture is a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company and has won Best Workplaces UK multiple years in a row. Join us on our journey. Let’s create tomorrow, together, today. About the role and team: OpenAI is one of CreateFuture’s most strategically important technology partnerships, and we’re looking for someone exceptional to help us realise its potential. This is an opportunity to take ownership of a partnership at an unusually exciting point in its development. OpenAI’s partner ecosystem is evolving quickly as it develops how it works with consulting and technology partners around the world. At the same time, our clients are increasingly looking to CreateFuture to help them understand and realise the potential of AI. We want someone who can bring those two worlds together. You’ll work directly with CreateFuture’s CEO, executive sponsor and Partnerships team to drive our OpenAI strategy, build relationships across OpenAI’s GTM organisation and create commercial opportunities for both organisations. There isn’t an established playbook to follow. You’ll help us build it. What you’ll be doing: You’ll be the day-to-day owner of CreateFuture’s relationship with OpenAI, responsible for turning our strategic ambition into action and commercial results. You’ll: Build strong relationships across OpenAI’s partner, sales, GTM and industry teams Develop and execute our OpenAI partnership plan alongside our CEO, executive sponsor and Partnerships team Understand where OpenAI is focused and identify where CreateFuture can add value Proactively create partner-sourced and partner-influenced opportunities Connect OpenAI teams with the right CreateFuture clients, capabilities and industry expertise Develop practical co-selling and go-to-market activity across shared accounts, propositions, campaigns and events Mobilise our Commercial, Industry, Technology, Presales, Marketing and Delivery teams around the partnership Drive the capabilities, credentials, specialisations and client evidence required to strengthen our position with OpenAI Own our performance within the OpenAI partner programme, including the operational management of our partner portal Track relationships, activity, pipeline and commercial outcomes and continually identify where we can do more You’ll have significant autonomy and executive support to make things happen. We’d love to talk to you if: We’re less interested in whether you’ve previously had exactly this job title and more interested in whether you’ve demonstrated the characteristics required to succeed in it. You’ll be commercially minded, proactive and comfortable operating in an environment that is still taking shape. You’ll ideally bring: Experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, business development, enterprise technology sales or a similarly commercial technology role A track record of turning relationships into tangible opportunities and commercial outcomes Experience building something where the operating model or route to market wasn’t already defined The confidence to build relationships with senior sales, GTM and technology leaders Strong commercial judgement and an ability to spot opportunities others might miss The ability to turn strategy into action and mobilise people across an organisation Comfort operating with ambiguity, changing priorities and incomplete information Enough understanding of AI and enterprise technology to engage credibly with OpenAI, our clients and our technical teams Strong organisation, persistence and follow-through Experience working within a major technology ecosystem would be useful, but this isn’t a traditional alliance-management role. We’re looking for someone who creates momentum. What success looks like: You’ll have a simple objective: make CreateFuture an increasingly valuable and commercially successful OpenAI partner. That means building relationships with the OpenAI people who matter, creating opportunities together, growing partner-influenced pipeline, strengthening our OpenAI capabilities and ensuring the wider CreateFuture business is actively engaged in making the partnership successful. If you’re excited by the prospect of building a major technology partnership rather than inheriting an established one, we’d like to hear from you. What we’ll offer you: We trust people to do their best work. That means flexibility over rigid rules, impact over activity, and real investment in your growth both professionally and personally. You’ll be part of a supportive, and friendly culture, surrounded by smart, curious people who care deeply about what they do. We offer flexible working, including hybrid and remote options. Our office hubs are located in Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, London and Bulgaria, with occasional travel to client sites or CreateFuture offices when needed. We trust you to manage your time balancing collaboration with client time and focused work. What matters is the impact you have, not how busy you look. Our hiring process We try to keep our hiring process clear, fair and respectful of your time. We aim to get back to everyone who applies and we will be upfront about where you are in the process. It usually looks like this: Call with our Talent Acquisition Team Role specific capability interview Depending on the role, we might also ask you to do a short presentation, a practical or technical task or have a values focused conversation. We will explain what is involved before anything happens. Inclusion at CreateFuture We believe diverse teams build better workplaces and better products. We want CreateFuture to be a place where people feel able to be themselves and do their best work. If you need any adjustments or support during the application process, just. We will do what we can to help. We look forward to your application!