Senior Business Development & Partnerships Manager

About the role

onX is seeking a Senior Business Development & Partnerships Manager I to play a key role in accelerating how we build and scale strategic partnerships. This role exists to increase the speed and quality of our partnership pipeline by owning early- to mid-stage partner development—identifying opportunities, initiating relationships, and driving conversations forward. The role will initially focus heavily on partnerships within the automotive ecosystem, while also supporting broader strategic partnership opportunities over time.

Responsibilities

• Identify, prioritize, and pursue high-impact partnership opportunities aligned with company priorities
• Build and actively manage a pipeline of prospective partners within the automotive ecosystem and other strategic partnership areas
• Translate broad goals into concrete outreach strategies and partnership opportunities
• Proactively initiate and lead external conversations with prospective partners
• Own the progression of partnerships from initial outreach through mid-to-late stage discussions
• Maintain momentum across multiple opportunities by driving next steps, aligning stakeholders, and navigating obstacles
• Partner with senior leadership to support final negotiation and closing
• Proactively identify obstacles, surface risks to senior leadership, and propose solutions to keep partnerships moving forward
• Synthesize partner conversations, market signals, and internal context into clear insights and recommendations
• Use structured thinking and data to evaluate opportunities and inform decisions
• Identify patterns and opportunities that help shape partnership priorities over time

Qualifications

• Eight (8) or more years of experience in business development, partnerships, or a related role in a tech-forward, fast-moving environment
• Demonstrated ability to independently source and progress partnerships, creating momentum and driving work forward in ambiguous environments without defined playbooks
• Experience developing partnerships that created meaningful customer-facing value through software, platform, product, or distribution integrations — particularly within consumer technology (B2C, B2B2C), mobile app, connected device, or ecosystem-driven environments, rather than solely traditional enterprise sales or channel management relationships
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders internally and externally, build trust quickly, and navigate complex organizations
• Ability to translate broad strategic direction into concrete partnership opportunities and actions, balancing big-picture thinking with hands-on execution
• Strong internal execution skills, including structured thinking, sound judgment, and comfort using data to evaluate opportunities and inform decisions
• Ability to quickly learn technical and product concepts and apply that understanding in external conversations and partnership development
• Demonstrated curiosity and initiative—you actively seek information, ask questions, and pursue opportunities without being prompted
• A strong curiosity for exploring new technologies, including AI, and identifying practical ways to apply them in workflows, partnership development, and decision-making
• A shared passion for and ability to demonstrate onX’s Company Values
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Marketing, a related field, or equivalent practical experience

What you’ll bring

• Permanent US work authorization is a condition of employment with onX
• Ability to travel quarterly for multiple days to a corporate office, partner meetings, industry events, or other onX strategic locations

Added Bonuses

• Experience navigating complex external organizations or multi-stakeholder partnership environments
• Familiarity with ecosystems where consumer technology, connected products, software platforms, distribution partnerships, and external integrations intersect — including areas such as automotive, mobility, mapping, navigation, or connected devices
• Experience helping drive partnership opportunities from sourcing and relationship development through execution and launch
• Experience working in high-growth or rapidly evolving technology environments
• A personal passion for outdoor recreation, adventure, or technology-enabled consumer experiences