Partnerships Lead Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Illinois

At Braze, we have found our people. We're a genuinely approachable, exceptionally kind, and intensely passionate crew.

We seek to ignite that passion by setting high standards, championing teamwork, and creating work-life harmony as we collectively navigate rapid growth on a global scale while striving for greater equity and opportunity – inside and outside our organization.

To flourish here, you must be prepared to set a high bar for yourself and those around you. There is always a way to contribute: Acting with autonomy, having accountability and being open to new perspectives are essential to our continued success.

Our deep curiosity to learn and our eagerness to share diverse passions with others gives us balance and injects a one-of-a-kind vibrancy into our culture.

If you are driven to solve exhilarating challenges and have a bias toward action in the face of change, you will be empowered to make a real impact here, with a sharp and passionate team at your back. If Braze sounds like a place where you can thrive, we can't wait to meet you.

The Role

The best software companies don't grow through direct sales alone. They grow through ecosystems: networks of partners who extend their reach, deepen customer relationships, and deliver outcomes no single company can achieve alone.

Braze is on track to surpass $1BN in ARR, and the partner ecosystem is one of our key levers to get there with minimal drag. The agencies and systems integrators in it are where a huge share of the customer relationship actually lives: they implement Braze, run the campaigns, and shape the day-to-day experience our customers have with the platform long after the deal closes. The quality of those relationships determines the quality of our customers' outcomes, which is why this isn't a channel to manage at arm's length: it's a global practice to build.

As AVP, Agency & SI Partnerships, within our Partner Development function, you own Braze's global partnership with the agencies and systems integrators who implement, activate, and grow Braze for our customers. This is a true ownership role: you set the global strategy for how Braze builds and invests in these partnerships, define the practice-development and certification model that keeps partner-delivered work at a high bar, and are accountable for the health of our most strategic agency and SI relationships worldwide. You report to the SVP, Partnerships and operate as a peer to the VP, Technology & Marketplace Partnerships, the AVP, Partner Sales AMER, the AVP, Partner Sales EMEA, and the AVP, Partner Sales APAC.

Your closest counterpart is the VP, Technology & Marketplace Partnerships. Their team broadens Braze's addressable market - deepening our reach into ISV and marketplace ecosystems and expanding what we can sell. Your team delivers on the promise that broader reach creates: making sure every account and opportunity that surfaces through a technology or marketplace relationship is implemented and serviced well with our agency or SI partners running the work. Neither pillar succeeds without the other. You'll also depend heavily on the AVP, Partner Experience, whose team builds the strategy, program management, and instrumentation layer that every partnership function — including yours — runs on.

What You'll Own

A global team building and governing Braze's agency and SI practice:

• Partner Account Directors – own and grow a global team of 11 responsible for Braze's platinum-tier relationships with Deloitte, Accenture, WPP, Publicis, and Merkle, plus the broader roster of global agency and SI partners. This includes leading the hiring and global expansion of the team, expanding beyond its current North America concentration to build out a dedicated presence in EMEA and APAC.

• Practice development and certification – partner closely with the Global Learning and Enablement team to mature the enablement, training, and certification model that determines how well a partner can actually implement and run Braze, and hold partners to that bar.

• Partnership with Partner Services on Partner-Led Delivery – work closely with Partner Services leadership (within the Braze Customer Experience team) to keep Partner-Led Delivery – onboarding, certification, and delivery quality for every partner-run engagement – aligned with your agency and SI strategy.

• Solution development and joint GTM – co-building packaged, market-making solutions with Technology & Marketplace and platinum-tier agency/SI partners, so practice development and certification have a concrete, sellable offering to build around rather than an abstract relationship.

• One global practice, three regional partners – you establish the global SI and agency strategy and partnership standards; the AMER, EMEA, and APAC Partner Sales AVPs and their teams execute against it locally. You're the escalation point and relationship owner behind every platinum-tier engagement, wherever it happens.

• Shared foundation with Partner Experience – drawing on the strategy, program management, and instrumentation that team builds for the whole partnership org, rather than standing up parallel infrastructure for agency and SI partners alone.

• Pipeline and performance visibility – using Salesforce, Crossbeam, Clari, and Looker to track partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, implementation quality, and retention outcomes, and report on performance to senior leadership.

What This Role Is Really About

Pipeline and partner-influenced ACV are outcomes. They are the measure of a healthy practice, not the strategy itself.

The real work is building a partner community where every consultant at Deloitte or Merkle, every strategist at WPP or Publicis, knows Braze deeply enough to represent it well without us in the room. It's successful onboardings. It's campaign operations that actually run. It's retention and expansion driven by partners who are invested in their customers' success, not just the initial statement of work. It's a certification model with real teeth, not a logo on a partner page.

When a customer engages with Braze through an agency or SI, that partner is carrying our brand into every project they run. This role sets the standard for what that means globally.

How We Lead at Braze

• Charts Strategic Transformation – You define the global strategy for how Braze invests in agency and SI partnerships, decide which practices are worth building out and which partners earn platinum-tier investment, and evolve the certification and enablement model from where it exists today into a predictable and scalable credentialing program that ensures customer success and growth.

• Drives High Performance – You lead a team of Partner Account Directors with clear targets against partner-sourced pipeline, delivery quality, retention, and growth, and hold both your team and your partners accountable to a consistent bar.

• Forges Collaborative Relationships – You operate as a true peer to the three regional Partner Sales AVPs, the VP, Technology & Marketplace Partnerships, and the AVP, Partner Experience & Ecosystem Ops — orchestrating the broaden-then-deliver handoff on one side and drawing on shared partner infrastructure on the other — while carrying the senior, executive-level relationships with our largest agency and SI partners that make the practice real.

• Communicates with Impact – You translate a global strategy into a playbook your team, Partner Sales, and your cross-functional peers in Partner Services and Partner Marketing can act upon.

Who You Are

• 15+ years in partner sales, alliances, or consulting/SI ecosystem roles in B2B SaaS, with at least 7-8 years at Senior Director or AVP level – you've owned a global partner-influenced revenue number and can speak clearly to the commercial outcomes you drove.

• Deep experience managing relationships with global SIs and agency holding companies at the executive sponsor level – you've sat across the table from a Deloitte, Accenture, Merkle, WPP, or Publicis partner lead and know how their business, and their incentives, actually work.

• Proven track record building or scaling a partner certification, enablement, or practice-development program – you know what separates a partner who can genuinely deliver from one who just has the logo rights.

• Comfortable operating as a global function, leading through influence with peer AVPs in AMER, EMEA, and APAC, and you've done this successfully before.

• Track record co-developing packaged solutions or joint IP with technology and agency/SI partners together — not just a co-marketing agreement, but a named, sellable offering built on top of the platform — and turning that into a repeatable practice motion.

• MarTech or adjacent SaaS ecosystem knowledge strongly preferred, with an emphasis on how composable tech stacks create implementation and delivery opportunities for SIs and agencies.

• Comfortable using account mapping tools such as Crossbeam or equivalent to prioritize where to invest partner attention.

• Energized by owning something that isn't fully built yet, with a track record of creating operating models, certification programs, and playbooks from scratch.

For candidates based in the United States, the pay range for this position at the start of employment is expected to be between $163,000 and $256,000/year, with an expected On Target Earnings (OTE) between $271,000 and $426,000/year (including bonus or commission). Your exact offer may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition to cash compensation, this role qualifies for a comprehensive Total Rewards package that includes equity grants of restricted stock (RSUs) so that you will own a piece of our company.

WHAT WE OFFER

Braze benefits vary by location, and we encourage you to review our specific benefits offerings for each country here. More details on benefits plans will be provided if you receive an offer of employment.

From offering comprehensive benefits to fostering hybrid ways of working, we've got you covered so you can prioritize work-life harmony. Braze offers benefits such as:

• Competitive compensation that may include equity

• Retirement and Employee Stock Purchase Plans

• Flexible paid time off

• Comprehensive benefit plans covering medical, dental, vision, life, and disability

• Family services that include fertility benefits and equal paid parental leave

• Professional development supported by formal career pathing, learning platforms, and a yearly learning stipend

• A curated in-office employee experience, designed to foster community, team connections, and innovation

• Opportunities to give back to your community, including an annual company-wide Volunteer Week and donation matching

• Employee Resource Groups that provide supportive communities within Braze

• Collaborative, transparent, and fun culture recognized as a Great Place to Work®

ABOUT BRAZE

Braze is the leading customer engagement platform that empowers brands to Be Absolutely Engaging™. Braze helps brands deliver great customer experiences that drive value both for consumers and for their businesses. Built on a foundation of composable intelligence, BrazeAI™ allows marketers to combine and activate AI agents, models, and features at every touchpoint throughout the Braze Customer Engagement Platform for smarter, faster, and more meaningful customer engagement. From cross-channel messaging and journey orchestration to AI-powered decisioning and optimization, Braze enables companies to turn action into interaction through autonomous, 1:1 personalized experiences.

The company has been consistently recognized as a Leader in marketing technology by industry analysts, and was named a G2 "Best of Marketing and Digital Advertising Software Product" in 2026. Braze was also named a 2026 Best Places to Work by Built In, a 2025 America's Greenest Companies by Newsweek, and a 2025 Fortune Best Workplace in Technology™ by Great Place To Work®. Braze is also proudly certified as a Great Place to Work® in the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Singapore.

The company is headquartered in New York with offices in Austin, Berlin, Bucharest, Chicago, Dubai, Jakarta, London, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo.

BRAZE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

At Braze, we strive to create equitable growth and opportunities inside and outside the organization.

Building meaningful connections is at the heart of everything we do, and that includes our recruiting practices. We're committed to offering all candidates a fair, accessible, and inclusive experience – regardless of age, color, disability, gender identity, marital status, maternity, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran. When applying and interviewing with Braze, we want you to feel comfortable showcasing what makes you you.

We know that sometimes different circumstances can lead talented people to hesitate to apply for a role unless they meet 100% of the criteria. If this sounds familiar, we encourage you to apply, as we'd love to meet you.

OUR AI-POWERED BRAZE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

At Braze, we're committed to a fair and transparent candidate experience. To help our recruitment teams focus on what matters most — the person behind each application — we use AI-assisted tools at certain stages of our recruitment process.

This includes using AI to analyze the experience, skills and qualifications in your application materials to help with screening and prioritizing candidates. Such screening may amount to a form of solely automated decision-making. We also use AI for administrative support, like scheduling and recording interviews and summarizing interview notes. Our recruiting teams remain responsible for all hiring decisions and are involved throughout the process.

Depending on where you are located, you may have the right to request further information about how AI is used in our recruitment process, to opt out of AI-assisted review, to request a manual review of any decision made or to contest a decision.

Please contact us at talentdata.privacy@braze.com for any requests or questions. To find out more about our hiring process, check out this page.

Notice Regarding Automated Employment Decision Tool (NYC Local Law 144)

Our use of AI during the application review process may include the use of automated employment decision tools. Pursuant to New York City Local Law 144, for roles based in New York City, or if you reside in New York City, you have the right to request an alternative selection process or a reasonable accommodation instead of AI-assisted review. Please submit any such request to our Talent Acquisition team at talentdata.privacy@braze.com promptly after applying. A summary of the most recent bias audit results for such tool is available here.

Please see our Candidate Privacy Policy for more information on how Braze processes your personal information during the recruitment process and, if applicable based on your location, how you can exercise any privacy rights.