Startup Partnerships Manager

Job Description

Manager, Startup Partnerships - Zendesk for Startups AMER-East

Zendesk for Startups is a business initiative at Zendesk focused on helping startups drive growth and prepare for scale by creating great customer experiences with Zendesk products. Zendesk has more than 160,000 customer accounts globally, and we’ve been working with the world’s most disruptive startups since their early stages, like Slack, Uber, Instacart, Coinbase, Nubank, Limebike, and Deliveroo.

As the Manager, Startup Partnerships, you’ll be responsible for driving adoption among startups by building strategic partnerships with Venture Capital Firms, Accelerators, and Technology Ecosystem partners on the East Coast. This role will focus on customer acquisition results in the region and will require collaboration from internal stakeholders and support from our cross-functional Startups team. 

As part of your responsibilities, you will evangelize our partners, drive incoming applications, source and connect startups to our sales organization, execute events and other activities to strengthen our relationships with our partners and grow the share of startups using Zendesk in the region. 

The successful candidate will be comfortable building external relationships with both VCs and founders, navigating the internal teams at Zendesk, and advocating for our customers and partners across the greater organization.

Responsibilities:

• Nurture partner relationships to generate signups and understanding of Zendesk across their portfolio companies through a variety of activities like thought leadership events and finding ways to bring value to founders in their communities

• Drive and review incoming startup applications that will eventually convert into paying customers, report on results and own contribution of startups from the region, as well as seat usage and referrals to account executives. 

• Assist portfolio companies throughout the lifecycle of the program, from initial interest through to graduation by answering questions on product and pricing, ensuring they get proper onboarding and sales support, and connecting founders across our startup community 

• Lead/leverage internal cross-functional teams and coordinate with internal resources across the region to align our go-to-market motions in the region

• Help define the growth strategy for the Startups team in the region

Requirements:

• Based in the New York Area

• 5+ years of relevant experience

• A passion for technology, startups, and supporting other businesses as they grow

• Immersed in the regional startup ecosystem with an understanding of key players and emerging trends within the region

• Deep experience in a customer or partner-facing role, with a track record of top performance

• Demonstrated analytical skills, particularly the ability to measure program impact/success

• A proactive and highly independent self-starter who works well in a high-growth environment where things change quickly

• Superior verbal and written communication skills 

• Experience explaining business concepts and giving presentations

Nice to haves:

• Subject matter expertise managing customer support and/or sales teams

• Experience implementing and configuring Zendesk 

• Experience as a founder, at an accelerator or venture capital firm

• Experience with Airtable and Salesforce

Who you are:

• Passionate about startups and the venture ecosystem 

• Have a strong network with the General Partner/Limited Partner/Founder community

• Able to innovate in rapid cycles and test solutions to learn what works, then feed insights into a long-term foundation

• Be comfortable working in a dynamic, fluid working environment

• Authentic relationship-building skills and extremely self-motivated and success-driven

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

The intelligent heart of customer experience
Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love. We advocate for digital first customer experiences—and we stick with it in our workplace. Over 5,000 employees worldwide are collaborating from kitchen tables, home offices, coworking spaces, and Zendesk workspaces to make one team.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.