AI Partnerships & Frontier Surfaces Lead

Apollo.io is the leading go-to-market solution for revenue teams, trusted by over 500,000 companies globally. Founded in 2015, Apollo.io provides sales and marketing teams with verified contact data for over 210 million B2B contacts and 35 million companies worldwide, along with tools to engage and convert prospects into customers.

Apollo is deeply integrated into the AI agent ecosystem, reachable through platforms like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. This role focuses on deepening Apollo’s relationships with foundation model companies, agent harnesses, and AI-native platforms, identifying new integration surfaces, and driving monetization strategies.

What You’ll Do:

1. Own and Deepen Apollo’s Frontier AI Partnerships

• Lead Apollo’s relationships with foundation model companies, agent harnesses, and AI-native platforms—both existing and emerging.
• Enhance current partnerships by expanding surface area, improving integration, and securing a strategic seat at the table during roadmap discussions.
• Continuously scan the AI ecosystem for new opportunities and build a case for future investments.
• Oversee partner review, certification, and compliance processes, resolving feedback loops and stalled submissions.
• Develop monetization strategies to grow usage, credit consumption, and connector adoption, converting platform reach into revenue.

2. Build the Next Generation of Apollo Surfaces

• Collaborate with platforms and ISVs to design and ship plugins, skills, and tools that make Apollo useful for headless adoption, not just API access.
• Work with Apollo’s R&D team to translate partner capabilities into actionable product decisions.
• Treat each new surface (MCP server, skill, plugin, agent tool) as a standalone product, defining its purpose, audience, and discovery strategy.

3. Stay on the Frontier

• Track rapid developments in foundation models and agent ecosystems, adapting Apollo’s partnership strategy as capabilities evolve.
• Translate market changes into actionable insights for Apollo’s strategy before they become industry standards.
• Serve as the internal expert on AI ecosystem trends, explaining their impact on Apollo’s partnership roadmap.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years in technology/API partnerships, developer relations, or technical partnerships, ideally within foundation model, agent, or AI-native ecosystems.
• Technical fluency in API documentation, MCP concepts, and integration architecture discussions with both partners and Apollo’s R&D team.
• Ability to track and analyze fast-moving, emerging categories, explaining recent changes and their significance.
• Experience coordinating multi-party partnerships involving platforms and ISVs.
• Background in building processes and strategies for uncharted categories.

Preferred Qualifications

• Existing relationships or experience with foundation model companies, agent platforms, or AI-native ecosystems.
• Experience designing or shipping MCP servers, skills, or plugins.
• Background in developer relations, technical partner management, or product-adjacent partnerships at a SaaS or platform company.