Partnerships Lead

ABOUT US Lorikeet is redefining what customer support looks like — and we're just getting started. We build AI that handles complex, high-volume support for fintechs, healthtechs, marketplaces, and delivery services. Not chatbot-tier AI. The kind that actually resolves tickets, gives support teams their time back, and raises the bar for what software can do. We're backed by over $50M USD from QED, Blackbird, and Square Peg, with backing from operators like Claire Hughes Johnson (ex-Stripe COO) and Cristina Cordova (Linear COO), plus founders of Canva, Atlassian, and Airwallex. We're the first company since Canva to be funded at early stage by all three of Australia's top VC funds — which tells you something about the calibre of people who've looked closely at what we're building and said yes. Our customers include some of the largest telehealth, fintech, and marketplace companies in the US and Australia — many handling over a million support tickets a year. The problems are real, the scale is real, and the work matters. If you want to build something that genuinely changes how businesses and customers interact — this is the place. ABOUT THE ROLE Partners already bring Lorikeet deals. Zendesk referrals, helpdesk and CCaaS platforms, and PE/VC portfolio networks have all brought us customers. But the program is still early: there's no tiering, no playbook, and no repeatable engine behind what's working. You'll turn those early wins into a partner channel that drives a real share of our pipeline, starting in the US and scaling across EMEA and APAC. You'll report to our CRO and work closely with our AEs, Marketing and Forward Deployed teams. You'll own the partner program end to end, from design to signed partners to sourced revenue. ABOUT YOU You're a builder. You've stood up a partner program before, with tiers, terms, recruitment and attribution, at a company where nobody handed you a playbook. You have strong commercial instincts. You can tell a partner that will drive deals from one that just wants a logo swap, and you'd rather go deep with five good partners than collect fifty. You have deep experience in partnerships, channel or alliances at B2B startups. AI or customer support and CX tech experience is a big plus. Partnering on AI products works differently from traditional SaaS, and knowing the helpdesk, CCaaS, SI and BPO landscape will get you moving faster. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design the program. Define partner tiers across referral partners, helpdesk and CCaaS platforms, consultancies and SIs, and PE/VC portfolio networks. Set what each tier gets and owes: referral fees or margins, enablement, co-marketing and certification. - Double down on what's working. Turn our Zendesk referral motion, platform partners and investor portfolio networks into repeatable channels. Build the data to show which partners add value, and wind down the ones that don't. - Make marketplaces a growth lever. Own our presence on the Zendesk, Salesforce and HubSpot marketplaces, including listings, reviews and co-marketing, so buyers find Lorikeet where they already shop for support tools. - Co-sell with our AEs. Set the rules of engagement for deal registration, account mapping and handoffs, so partner deals speed up our sales cycle instead of slowing it down. - Build the engine and own the number. Stand up the playbook, contracts, enablement kit and CRM attribution. Own a partner-sourced pipeline target of $2M–$3M in your first 12 months, and report on it to leadership every month. YOU MIGHT BE A FIT IF YOU: - Bring 5+ years in partnerships, channel or alliances at B2B SaaS companies, including at least 2 years owning a partner program or a partner-sourced revenue target - Have built a partnerships program from the ground up - Thrive at early-stage companies, and would rather build the system yourself than inherit a big partner team at an established software company - Know the customer support ecosystem, including helpdesks, CCaaS platforms, SIs, BPOs and marketplaces, or have partnered on AI products and want to go deeper - Are comfortable making strategic calls with data, even when it means saying no to partners that won't move the needle - Have negotiated partner agreements yourself: referral fees, reseller margins, revenue share and co-sell terms - Have launched or grown an app marketplace listing on Zendesk, Salesforce AppExchange, HubSpot or a similar platform, and know what makes buyers install - Have co-sold alongside an AE team, using deal registration, account mapping (Crossbeam, Reveal or similar) and clean handoffs that sellers actually trust - Can enable a partner's team to sell and deliver a technical AI product, through pitch materials, certification and joint customer calls - Are hands-on with CRM: you've built partner attribution and reporting in Salesforce or HubSpot, not just consumed it - Can earn credibility with senior stakeholders: platform partner leaders, consultancy principals and PE/VC operating partners - Have run partners across more than one region, or are excited to build a program that spans the US, EMEA and APAC WHAT'S UNIQUE ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY? A culture that's genuinely different. Low ego, high trust, no tolerance for talented jerks. We work efficiently, keep hours flexible, and actually mean it — because life outside work matters. We're committed to building a diverse team and actively encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds. We care far more about user obsession and eagerness to learn than traditional credentials. A front-row seat to building something meaningful. We're Series A and moving fast. You'll have real scope to shape the product and the company — not just execute someone else's vision. Performance recognized in real time, not on a calendar. Promotions happen when you're ready — leadership meets every six weeks specifically to identify and recognize strong performers, so you're never waiting for an arbitrary review window to move up. We're AI-native, and we'll make you AI-native too. Every person at Lorikeet uses AI in their day-to-day work (current favourite: Claude Code), with unrestricted access and no usage limits. You'll leave with skills that matter for the next decade of work. Twice a year, the whole company flies to Hawaii. Headquartered in Sydney, with teams spanning the US and UK — which means getting everyone in the same place is something we invest in seriously. We spend the time hacking on ideas, building things together that wouldn't otherwise exist, and making memories that remind you why you joined a startup in the first place. A recruitment process built on respect, not hoops. We keep it simple: a couple of informal chats to share our story and hear yours, followed by a paid ~two-day work trial. The work trial is genuinely the best part — you'll work on real problems alongside the actual team, get a true feel for how we operate, and we'll both come out of it knowing whether this is the right fit. No trick questions, no take-homes that disappear into a void. Just real work, done together. If you're from an underrepresented background and don't tick every box, please reach out anyway. We know firsthand that diverse teams perform better, and we're proud that our team reflects a broad spectrum of identities and lived experiences.