Head of Partner Development, North America

Overview

Lead a high-performing sales team to advance partnerships in North America.

You have:

• Master's or Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, International Relations, or a relevant related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience, including at least 5 years in business development, consultative sales, or partnership management roles.
• Proven experience leading teams and driving revenue growth in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrated success engaging senior executives and closing high-value partnerships.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex business and industry dynamics.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Agile, collaborative, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, international context.
• Willingness to travel (up to 50%) across North America.

Please Note: This role requires the ability to work on site 3 days per week per company policy.

The annual salary range for this role is $200,000-$240,000 in New York and San Francisco.

About the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.

Why We Are Recruiting

As a partnership organization, the Forum engages leading businesses to tackle industry, regional, and global challenges. The Partner Development (Sales) team is central to this mission - expanding the Forum’s community by identifying, engaging, and onboarding new companies that can both contribute to and benefit from its platforms and initiatives.

To strengthen this function in North America, the Forum is seeking a Head of Partner Development (Sales) to lead a small, high-performing team. This role will drive new business growth and build long-term strategic partnerships that advance the Forum’s impact and community.

Main Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Team Management

• Lead and manage a team of three Partner Development Leads based in the United States.
• Set and execute the North America partner acquisition strategy in line with relevant macro-trends and Forum priorities and growth targets.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and high performance.
• Provide coaching and professional development to strengthen consultative sales and executive engagement capabilities.

Sales and Business Development

• Drive regional growth by developing and implementing a targeted strategy for new partner acquisition.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of potential partner organizations across priority industries.
• Lead high-level engagements with senior executives to shape value propositions and close partnership agreements.
• Translate company strategic priorities into meaningful participation opportunities within the Forum’s ecosystem.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders across Regional and Industry teams to ensure coherence of outreach efforts and alignment of partnership objectives.
• Represent the Forum’s mission and value proposition to C-suite and senior-level executives.
• Cultivate trusted, long-term relationships with prospective partners to ensure mutual value and sustained collaboration.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee forecasting, budgeting, reporting, and tracking of new partnership performance.
• Ensure consistent use of CRM tools, data integrity, and disciplined sales methodologies.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the Forum’s partner development processes, materials, and messaging to enhance effectiveness.

Preferred Requirements and Experience

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, International Relations, or a relevant related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience, including at least 5 years in business development, consultative sales, or partnership management roles.
• Proven experience leading teams and driving revenue growth in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Demonstrated success engaging senior executives and closing high-value partnerships.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex business and industry dynamics.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Agile, collaborative, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, international context.
• Commitment to the Forum’s mission of improving the state of the world.
• Willingness to travel (up to 50%) across North America.

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 9 months ago - Updated 4 months ago - Source: weforum.org