Founding Partnership Lead - Ecosystem / Product Partnerships

Terminal

$100K — $130K *
Telecommunications & Hardware
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years in ecosystem partnerships, platform partnerships, API/data partnerships, or BD in a technical product environment.
  • Ability to close and operationalize partnerships effectively.
  • Technical fluency in APIs/webhooks, data schemas, and production reliability.
  • Strong cross-functional leadership skills, especially with Engineering and Legal teams.
  • Results-driven with a high ownership mentality.

Responsibilities

  • Build and manage the partner supply pipeline, closing strategic partnerships end-to-end.
  • Define and implement a targeted sourcing strategy across TSPs, OEMs, and data providers.
  • Negotiate key partnership agreements covering data rights and SLAs.
  • Facilitate product-led integrations to ensure seamless partner activation.
  • Create a repeatable operational model for onboarding and enabling partners.

Benefits

  • Strong compensation and equity packages.
  • Brand new MacBook and computer equipment.
  • Top-tier health and dental benefits with a flexible healthcare spending account.
  • Personal spending account for professional development and wellness.
  • Four weeks paid time off plus statutory holidays.
  • In-person culture with a downtown Toronto office.
Full Job Description
Note: This role is only available to Toronto/GTA-based candidates

About the role

We're hiring a Founding Partnership Lead to establish Terminal's ecosystem partnership motion from the ground up. This is a product-focused partnerships role: you will build supply-side partnerships that convert telematics feeds into broad, auditable distribution for application-ready telematics - without partners losing ownership, attribution, or control.

Partner focus:
  1. Telematics service providers (TSPs)
  2. Original equipment manufacturer (OEMs)
  3. Enrichment Data providers

You'll be a builder: set the strategy, close partners end-to-end, and operationalize repeatable onboarding and activation. Entrepreneurship/0→1 experience is a strong advantage; we want someone who is results-driven and comfortable with ambiguity.

What you'll do

1) Build the partner supply pipeline + close strategic partnerships (hands-on)
  • Define partner ICPs/segmentation and build a targeted sourcing plan across TSPs, OEMs, and data providers.
  • Run partner deals end-to-end: discovery → technical diligence → commercial negotiation → signed agreement → launch plan.
  • Negotiate data rights, attribution/provenance, permissioning/consent, auditability, SLAs, and commercialization (where applicable).
  • Create crisp partner-facing materials (deck, one-pager, standard deal constructs) and internal deal review cadence.


2) Drive product-led integrations + partner activation (distribution outcomes)
  • Liaison between partner needs and Terminal roadmap to ensure smooth onboarding path: technical scoping, integration approach (API/webhooks/file), auth/rate-limit alignment, mapping readiness, testing, and go-live.
  • Work tightly with the Product & Integration Engineering team to ensure integrations are production-grade (retries, rate limits, schema drift handling, diagnostics, freshness/SLA reporting).
  • Ensure integrations translate into real downstream consumption (insurers, fleet platforms, fuel cards, logistics/transportation platforms).


3) Build the playbook and scale the function (repeatability > heroics)
  • Codify a repeatable partner operating model: lifecycle stages, onboarding checklist, standard timelines, templates, escalation paths, and partner enablement assets.
  • Build lightweight instrumentation and reporting: onboarding funnel, time-to-live, activation, incident/support load, and expansion.
  • Establish cross-functional rhythms so partner friction turns into product improvements (not recurring fire drills).
  • Define the scaling plan (partner ops / solutions / partner engineering) and participate in hiring over time.


What we're looking for
  • 5-7 years in ecosystem partnerships, platform partnerships, API/data partnerships, or BD in a technical product environment.
  • Demonstrated ability to close and operationalize partnerships (not just perform relationship management).
  • Proven technical fluency: APIs/webhooks/file exports, data schemas, normalization / versioning, provenance/attribution, permissioning/consent concepts, and production reliability.
  • Strong cross-functional leadership with Engineering / Legal / Commercial; you can translate ambiguity into execution.
  • High ownership, bias to action, and a results-driven approach (you run to measurable outcomes).


Bonus points
  • Entrepreneurship / founder experience; built a function 0→1 at an early-stage company.
  • Domain familiarity: telematics, OEM data ecosystems, fleet/logistics software, insurance data workflows.
  • Experience designing partner programs and standard deal constructs that scale.


What success looks like

In the first 90 days
  • Build a prioritized target list and open a repeatable outreach + qualification motion.
  • Drive 10-15 partner opportunities into active diligence and sign 2-3 initial partners.
  • Ship v1 partner "kit": partner deck + one-pager + standard terms outline + onboarding checklist.
  • Establish weekly pipeline + onboarding cadence, and baseline metrics (time-to-sign, time-to-live, activation).

In 6-12 months
  • Close 12-15 supply-side partners total (mix depends on strategy) and establish a predictable quarterly signing cadence.
  • Bring median time-to-live down to ≤ 45 days and achieve ≥ 60% activation within 90 days consistently.
  • Demonstrate partner program repeatability: standard terms, standard onboarding, and reduced support escalations per partner.
  • Build the plan (and optionally hire) for the next function layer (partner ops / partner engineering).


Practical details
  • Location: Toronto-based
  • Travel: As needed for partner meetings and industry events (up to 15-25% vast majority to the US).
  • Reports to: COO; tight day-to-day partnership with Engineering and other functions.


Benefits You'll Get
  • Strong compensation and equity packages
  • Brand new MacBook and computer equipment
  • Top-tier health/dental benefits and a flexible healthcare spending account
  • Personal spending account for professional development, fitness and wellness
  • Four weeks paid time off + statutory holidays
  • In-person culture with an office located in downtown Toronto

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