ABOUT OPENROUTER
OpenRouter is the open AI routing and infrastructure layer that enterprises use to access, manage, and optimize the best large language models across providers—without lock-in, capacity constraints, or unnecessary cost. We power some of the most advanced AI teams in the world by giving them the flexibility to move fast, scale confidently, and stay future-proof as models evolve.
As enterprise adoption of AI accelerates, OpenRouter sits at the center of how organizations operationalize LLMs across research, product, and production workloads.
ABOUT THE ROLE
As Senior Manager, Product Partnerships, you'll own strategic deals end-to-end—from sourcing and structuring through launch—while driving critical workstreams within our largest, most complex partnerships. This is a hands-on role at the intersection of business development, product, and engineering. You'll lead technical conversations with partners on APIs and integration architecture, structure creative commercial agreements (revenue share, usage-based, and per-seat models), and translate partner needs into insights that shape our product roadmap.
You'll work directly with the VP of Partnerships on a small, fast-moving team where your perspective on the AI/ML ecosystem will inform every deal. Beyond individual wins, you'll build the repeatable playbooks and processes that transform one-off successes into a scalable partnerships engine.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Analyze the AI/ML ecosystem to identify priority partners, competitive dynamics, and emerging opportunities while maintaining expertise in AI infrastructure and partnership trends
- Represent OpenRouter is discussions with prospective partners to understand their product, business models and goals and identify opportunities to create mutual value through integrations and other partnerships
- Lead partner-facing technical conversations (account models, APIs, integration architecture) to translate them into implementation plans and deal terms
- Shape commercial structures across revenue share, usage-based billing, and per-seat models depending on partner business models
- Closely collaborate with product and engineering teams to create specs for new features and products based on feedback from the partner ecosystem
- Help build the repeatable machinery: packages, playbooks, and templates so deal ten costs a fraction of deal one
- Negotiate complex partnership agreements, including technical integrations, data privacy terms, GTM commitments, and commercial structure, while building scalable onboarding frameworks.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Legal to prioritize partner integrations, develop co-marketing initiatives, and balance partner needs with product strategy.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- 8+ years in partnerships and business development
- Proven track record scaling consumption-based or usage-based partnership models in API platforms, developer tools or infrastructure companies with measurable impact on product adoption and revenue ($10M+ in influenced consumption/revenue).
- Fluency with API platforms, developer tooling, and cloud infrastructure, able to engage credibly with engineering teams on integration architecture, authentication patterns, and data flows. Able to hold your own in a technical scoping conversation about provisioning, key management, and data flows
- Strong commercial and legal acumen with experience negotiating complex agreements involving data governance, SLAs, consumption economics, and technical integration commitments.
- Strategic thinker who can balance long-term ecosystem building with short-term execution, comfortable with ambiguity and building from zero to one.
- Fluency with APIs, authentication, and developer platforms;
- Comfortable as a hands-on individual contributor working directly with the execs and department leaders on a small, fast moving team
If you don't think you meet all of the criteria below but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we're looking for someone who is excited to join the team.