Partner Operations Manager

About the role

Smartly's Global Partnerships team is responsible for growing and strengthening our strategic relationships with the world's leading advertising and technology platforms. As Smartly continues to expand as a multi-platform solution, operational excellence is critical to ensuring our partner programs, product initiatives, and cross-functional collaboration scale effectively.

As Partner Operations Manager, you will report to the VP of Partnerships and partner closely with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Marketing, Sales, and Partner teams to drive operational excellence across our strategic platform partnerships. You will be responsible for creating visibility into key initiatives, coordinating cross-functional execution, managing partner-related technical escalations, and delivering operational insights that help the Partnerships organization scale. This is an ideal role for someone who thrives on bringing structure to complex programs, enjoys working across multiple stakeholders, and is energized by solving operational challenges in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Operational Program Management: Own and maintain critical operational trackers that keep partner initiatives on track, including marketing event planning, product build milestones, and other strategic initiatives. Coordinate updates across multiple stakeholders, identify risks and dependencies, and ensure teams remain aligned on priorities and timelines.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Serve as the operational connective tissue between Partnerships, Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Marketing, and other internal teams. Drive accountability across workstreams, facilitate regular project reviews, and ensure initiatives move forward efficiently.
• Partner Bug & Escalation Management: Manage the intake, prioritization, and coordination of partner-related bugs and technical escalations, particularly those involving product integrations and platform partners. Work closely with Customer Success, Product, Engineering, and Partner Platform teams to ensure issues are communicated clearly, resolved efficiently, and tracked through completion.
• Analytics & Reporting: Perform operational analysis using Excel or Google Sheets to identify trends, monitor key initiatives, and support business decisions. Build and maintain dashboards in Looker that provide visibility into operational health, project progress, partner issues, and team performance.
• Process Improvement & Operational Excellence: Continuously identify opportunities to improve workflows, documentation, reporting, and cross-functional collaboration. Develop scalable operational processes that enable the Partnerships organization to execute more efficiently as the business grows.

Requirements

• 3–5+ years of experience in Partner Operations, Business Operations, Program Management, Customer Success Operations, or a similar operational role within a SaaS or technology company.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills, including pivot tables, formulas, reporting, and data analysis.
• Experience building and maintaining dashboards in Looker or similar business intelligence tools.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and driving accountability across multiple stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complex operational information for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience managing technical bugs, customer escalations, or operational support processes is highly preferred.
• A proactive, detail-oriented mindset with a passion for building scalable processes and improving operational efficiency.
• Experience working with advertising technology, marketing technology, APIs, or platform partnerships is a plus.

Benefits

• Five weeks paid time off (PTO), 11 company paid holidays, and unlimited sick days.
• Generous healthcare packages and mental health benefits.
• Monthly wellness benefit and learning reimbursement opportunities.
• 401(k) plus matching and equity grants for all new Smartlies.
• Volunteer time off days and company donation matching opportunities.

Pay

Salary in USD: $110,000–$140,000 per year, plus annual bonus. Total rewards also include stock options, medical, dental, and vision insurance, retirement savings benefits, parental leave, five weeks of vacation, unlimited sick days, life insurance, and disability benefits.