Director, Buyer Growth Partnerships – Referral

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the referral pillar's OKRs, which include buyer traffic, qualified traffic share, referral-attributed revenue, and source diversification across all four brands.

• Define the partnership portfolio by determining which motions are significant, their depth, and how they vary by brand.

• Create a prioritization framework that balances quick wins (such as vendor badges, podcasts, and review sites) with strategic initiatives (like cloud marketplaces, VC/PE portfolio programs, and AI buyer-discovery surfaces).

• Identify, prioritize, and cultivate a diverse array of partnership types aimed at driving buyer traffic or users, including ecosystem and channel partners, affiliate and media partners, content and community partners, distributed product-led referral channels, and emerging buyer-discovery surfaces.

• Source, assess, and structure deals across various commercial models, which include rate-card and CPA media buys, affiliate commission and revenue-sharing structures, strategic data and integration partnerships, and zero-cost product-led arrangements, ensuring the right model is selected for each partner and initiative.

• Negotiate and oversee partnership agreements from start to finish, covering initial sourcing, contracting, launch, performance management, and either renewal or wind-down.

• Develop the operational infrastructure necessary to manage partnerships at scale, including partner platforms, tracking and attribution systems, onboarding workflows, and a self-service layer for long-tail partners.

• Drive scalable onboarding and enablement resources for integration partners, which consist of technical documentation, sandbox environments, and integration guides.

• Collaborate across functions with Product and Engineering to support partner development and ensure seamless integration experiences.

• Establish the referral dashboard in conjunction with Insights & Planning, tracking traffic, revenue, GP by partner, and partner-sourced pipeline.

• Set up reporting cadences for affiliate and ecosystem partnership performance, focusing on revenue, engagement, and growth metrics.

• Utilize data to pinpoint top-performing partners, optimize incentive structures, and prioritize investment across ecosystem and affiliate programs.

• Work closely with Performance Marketing, AEO/SEO, Lifecycle, and Buyer Product leaders, as the referral function serves as a connecting role across the Buyer organization.

• Stay ahead of market trends in affiliate marketing and ecosystem-led growth to continuously enhance G2's partnership strategy.

• Opportunity to build and lead a team, scaling as programs grow.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 8 years in growth, partnerships, marketing, or business development within a B2B SaaS, marketplace, or media company — with at least 3 years responsible for revenue or traffic metrics.

• Proven experience in developing a partnership, affiliate, or referral program from inception to significant traffic/revenue contributions. You have structured commission models, negotiated rate cards, and made tough decisions regarding partner relationships.

• Marketing fluency: you have worked within a marketing P&L, comprehend CPA/LTV calculations, and have made informed media-buying decisions. For you, partnerships represent a growth channel rather than a corporate development function.

• Strong commercial instincts: you have negotiated partnership agreements ranging from rate-card media deals to multi-year strategic commitments, and you know how to create terms that are sustainable over time.

• Ability to engage with diverse audiences: credible with a partner PM as well as a CRO, GP, or community founder; comfortable transitioning between affiliate platform operations, media-buying reviews, and executive partnership discussions.

• Technically curious — while you do not write code, you grasp the requirements of integrations and can effectively communicate with engineering teams on both sides of the table.

• Data-driven operator: you define key metrics, create dashboards, and let data inform investment decisions. Comfortable managing attribution complexity without evading it.

• High agency. You do not wait for a playbook — you create one, test it rigorously, and discard it when it ceases to be effective.

🏝️ Benefits

• Flexible work options

• Generous parental leave

• Unlimited paid time off