Partnerships Lead, Specialty Manufacturing

Job Overview

Deploying the first billion robots for manufacturing.

Location

San Francisco, CA, US

Experience Level

• 6+ years of experience in sales, partnership development, or commercial leadership in industrial automation, specialty manufacturing, defense supply chain, or industrial software.

Competencies and Skills

• A track record of closing complex commercial agreements with multi-stakeholder buyers on long sales cycles.
• Familiarity with defense industrial base procurement, prime contractor subcontracting, or PE portfolio company dynamics.
• Comfort on a factory floor, able to communicate effectively with machinists and other operators.
• Sharp written communication skills for writing pilot proposals, LOIs, partner briefs, and forwardable introduction emails.
• Operational maturity, understanding that this is a long-term partnership development effort with a 12–24 month horizon.

What You'll Do

• Build and run the top-of-funnel for Relling's partner manufacturer pipeline.
• Identify specialty manufacturers that meet Relling's criteria and develop relationships from first contact to signed pilot.
• Scope and structure pilot engagements, working with the engineering team to translate customer pain into pilot scope and pilot outcomes into refined positioning.
• Manage commercial relationships with PE owners, family principals, and corp dev executives.
• Run conferences, industry events, and direct outreach campaigns into the Tier-2/Tier-3 specialty manufacturing base.
• Develop prime contractor relationships that produce subcontract work and strategic optionality.
• Work closely with the engineering team to translate customer pain into pilot scope and translate pilot outcomes back into refined positioning.
• Build the early version of Relling's partner playbook: materials, references, case studies, and commercial frameworks that future hires inherit.

Benefits

Salary range: $120K - $170K

Compensation: 0.10% - 0.30%