Principal, Partnership Management – Strategic Partners Europe

About Staffbase We inspire people to achieve great things together. Our mission is to help organizations unlock the power of inspirational communication with the first AI-native Employee Experience Platform . Our industry-leading and award-winning agentic AI communications channels - intranet, employee app and email solutions - create engaging experiences that connect and empower employees. Headquartered in Chemnitz, Germany and New York City, with offices in Berlin, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Prague, and Minneapolis–St. Paul, our diverse team of 550+ employees supports 1,500+ customers—reaching over 14 million employees—in transforming their employee experience. We are proud to be a Unicorn company—privately valued at over $1 billion—demonstrating strong growth, innovation, and lasting impact in our industry. Together, we’re shaping the future of workplace communication. As our Principal, Partnership Management for Strategic Partners Europe, you'll own Staffbase's European Partnership Strategy end to end — from design through execution and cross-functional alignment. This is a senior, deeply relational individual contributor role with no shared ownership: the strategy will evolve with the market, but accountability for it sits with you. You won't be managing a broad portfolio or a scaled program. Instead, you'll focus scarce time and resources on a small number of high-impact strategic partners across Europe, building executive-level relationships that drive real commercial outcomes. We're looking for someone who thrives operating at that senior level — internally and externally — and brings conviction, focus, and follow-through to everything they own. We know strong candidates come in different shapes. If you've worked as a Partner Manager or in a similar partnership role and don't check every box, we'd still love to hear from you. What you’ll be doing Strategy & Market Focus Own and continuously develop the European Partnership Strategy, aligned with leadership and key internal stakeholders. Lead DACH as the primary market, with France as an area of active momentum requiring immediate evaluation. Assess all other European markets for strategic investment potential, delivering clear recommendations to leadership by the end of 2026 and on an ongoing basis thereafter. Partner Relationships & Commercial Execution Own executive-level relationships with 5–10 strategic partners across Europe. Maintain regular in-person presence with each strategic partner Lead joint business planning, co-selling initiatives, and go-to-market execution with each partner. Ensure every strategic partner has access to the right Staffbase resources, knowledge, and internal contacts to succeed. Negotiate and manage individualized partner contracts starting Q3, with annual reviews. Evaluate smaller or emerging partners for strategic fit and provide investment recommendations to leadership — without managing them directly. Internal Alignment & Strategic Influence Act as the internal voice of European partnerships, influencing product, pricing, and go-to-market priorities based on partner feedback and market intelligence. Build alignment proactively so partnerships are taken seriously across the organization — not just when issues arise. Collaborate closely with Customer Success to identify service opportunities that can be routed to strategic partners, keeping that pipeline flowing consistently. Serve as the first escalation point for strategic partner issues, resolving problems before they escalate and owning the outcome regardless of root cause. Performance & Investment Decisions Own partnership KPIs — customer acquisitions, partner-sourced revenue, pipeline contribution, and partner engagement — tracked by market and partner. Provide leadership with clear, data-backed recommendations on where to invest, where to scale back, and where to exit. What you need to be successful Principal level experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, or enterprise business development, ideally in B2B SaaS A track record of owning executive-level relationships with partners and driving measurable commercial impact (revenue, pipeline, or acquisition) Experience developing and executing partnership or go-to-market strategy at a market or regional level Comfortable negotiating and managing individualized commercial agreements Strong cross-functional influence — you know how to align product, pricing, GTM, and Customer Success around a shared goal without formal authority over those teams Business fluency in German and English; additional European languages a plus Willingness and ability to travel regularly across Europe to maintain in-person partner relationships Comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and ambiguity, and making judgment calls on where to focus time and resources What you'll get Competitive Compensation - we offer attractive salary packages including LTIP (unit-based Long Term Incentive Plan) Flexibility - we offer flexible working time models and the option of hybrid work, and support this with a yearly flex work allowance of €1560 Recharge - with 31 vacation days annually (incl. one floating holiday), plus pro rata fully paid Fridays off during August Support - we offer offering a company pension scheme Volunteers Day - you’ll get one day off per year for supporting a social project