Sr. Director of Partnerships

The opportunity

We're seeking an experienced Sr. Director of Partnerships to own and scale Crux's partnerships program as a partner-sourced deal-flow engine. This leader will build and manage Crux's most important institutional advisor relationships — primarily law firms and tax/accounting firms (Big 4 and AmLaw, plus mid-market and regional firms) — and turn them into a structured, measurable source of referred pipeline.

Crux's partnerships function has grown from early relationship-driven motions into a program with real commercial velocity that helps deepen Crux’s connectivity to capital, particularly with tax investors in the Fortune 1000. This role will take what's working and scale it into a repeatable, tiered engine: systematized referral tracking, tiered partner activation, and intelligence- and events-led enablement that gives partners a reason to bring Crux into their client work.

Importantly, this is a services-and-relationships motion, not a software sale into partners. The offer to partners is Crux's expertise, deal flow, market intelligence, and reputation — so this leader must operate as a peer to partner-level counterparts at the most sophisticated legal and tax firms in the country.

You'll lead a team of two direct reports, with plans to grow, and orchestrate extensively across commercial, research, content, events, legal, policy, and operations. This is a high-impact, senior leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of enterprise relationship management, program architecture, and commercial strategy in a fast-growing company operating at the frontier of climate finance.

Key responsibilities

Partnership program architecture & scaling

• Own and evolve Crux's partnerships program as a partner-sourced referral and lead-generation engine focused on legal and tax/accounting advisors
• Build tiered partner frameworks with clear activation criteria, enablement programs, and performance metrics for each tier and persona
• In partnership with Operations, operationalize partner management in HubSpot — building the infrastructure to track referrals, attribution, partner health, and ROI, replacing ad hoc tracking

Partner acquisition & portfolio expansion

• Build and run a repeatable partner acquisition program to systematically expand the portfolio of law and accounting firm relationships — identifying, qualifying, and activating target firms
• Develop standardized outreach, qualification criteria, and onboarding motions so new partners ramp to active referral status quickly
• Maintain a portfolio view of all partnerships — knowing when to double down, restructure, or exit

Enterprise relationship management

• Personally build and deepen relationships with institutional partners, carrying key accounts as the senior point of contact and earning peer-level trust with partners at Big 4 and AmLaw firms
• Develop partner enablement, co-branded campaigns, and joint GTM motions tailored to each partner persona
• Negotiate and manage commercial terms including referral agreements, revenue share, and co-marketing commitments
• Establish creative, compelling commercial structures with partners that are unable to accept revenue share incentives

Intelligence and events-led engagement

• Own the strategic direction of the market intelligence briefing series and related thought leadership that uses Crux's market and legal intelligence as the door opener with institutional partners, with a clear path from enablement → referral → closed deal
• Identify new opportunities to provide partners additional value through Crux’s growing market intelligence verticals
• In partnership with the Events team, architect and scale a robust events program — partner briefings, co-hosted receptions, conference activations, and regional roadshows
• Drive partner-facing presence at key conferences with a clear strategy for each

Cross-functional orchestration

• Coordinate extensively across research (market intelligence requests), content (co-branded materials, white papers), events (program logistics), commercial teams (deal support), legal and policy (subject-matter input), and RevOps (infrastructure and reporting)
• Act as the strategic coordinator of partner programs at Crux, ensuring partner insights flow back into commercial strategy

Team leadership

• Lead a team of two direct reports across relationship coverage, events/operations, and enablement
• Develop career paths for the team and hire additional headcount as the program scales
• Build a team culture of operational rigor, commercial accountability, and creative partner engagement
• Partner with other Marketing Team leadership on scaling the team, improving team processes, and building a top-class culture

Required qualifications

• Deep experience building and managing enterprise relationships with large, complex institutional partners, particularly law firms and tax/accounting firms (Big 4, AmLaw) with an understanding of their internal BD dynamics, compliance constraints, billing sensitivities, and client referral behavior.
• 12+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, or alliance management, with at least 6+ years leading and scaling a partnership team.
• Demonstrated experience building a partnership program from growth stage into a structured, tiered operation, not just inheriting a mature one
• Track record of owning a revenue number tied to partner-sourced pipeline, with experience building attribution models and managing commercial terms (referral agreements, rev share, joint GTM)
• Experience running partnerships built on services and relationships rather than a software product sold into partners
• Executive presence and seniority to be treated as a peer by partner-level counterparts at the most sophisticated legal and tax firms
• Strong cross-functional leadership: proven ability to orchestrate across teams you don't directly manage (research, content, events, legal, commercial)
• Experience running content-led, events-driven, or thought leadership-driven partner engagement programs (briefing series, co-branded research, regional events)
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for using AI to accelerate and enhance a partnerships program and eager to combine deep relationship expertise with an AI- and tech-forward way of working

Preferred qualifications

• Financial services, structured finance, tax, or capital markets adjacency, understanding how law firms and accounting firms operate within deal structures
• Clean energy finance knowledge, or demonstrated ability to learn complex technical domains quickly and translate that into partnership strategy
• Familiarity with emerging partner personas in energy transition: commodity brokers/traders, financial intermediaries, cost segregation & appraisal providers, independent engineering firms

What we bring

• Total Cash Compensation: $250,000 - $350,000+, depending on experience
• Performance bonus: Discretionary annual performance bonus
• Equity: Meaningful offering in the form of stock options
• A note on title & comp: we are flexible on leveling and compensation for the right candidate
• Fully covered Employee Healthcare benefits, including partial dependent coverage.
• Remote first company. Optional offices in NYC, DC, and SF.
• $77mm VC raised, a phenomenal team, and mission driven work.