Strategic Partnership Manager

Who we are

Polar is the complete data platform for omnichannel commerce. We connect every data source a brand runs on – Shopify, Amazon, Net Suite, Meta, Google, Klaviyo – into a single Snowflake warehouse, layer a commerce semantic layer on top, then add AI so operators can ask questions, get answers, and automate workflows without writing SQL.

Our founders came from Turo and Airbnb in Silicon Valley. They built data platforms at scale and wanted to bring that level of sophistication to fast-growing commerce brands. We support 4,000+ merchants, and zero direct competition with a better solution. We serve brands like Quadlock, gorjana, Joseph Joseph, and ARMRA Colostrum.

We shipped MCP integrations with Claude and ChatGPT, AI automations, and an AI Data Engineer that builds connectors on demand. Our positioning: the data layer to build agent workflows for commerce. Customers tell us things like "this is a dream come true – it feels like the first time they showed me Shopify".

We publish our operating principles internally and we mean every word. Here are the ones that matter most if you're thinking about joining:

• Customer Obsession. Every decision starts with: does this make our users' lives better? If the answer isn't clear, go talk to a customer before you build anything.
• Own the Number. Every metric has an owner. If it's yours, know it cold – the trend, the why, the plan. Don't wait for someone to ask. If it's off track, you should be the first to say so.
• Raise the Pace. Always ask: what would it take to do this in half the time? Speed is our edge. We try 100 things while the competitor tries one.
• Don't Fail Silently. If it's broken, say it. If you're stuck, raise your hand. Hiding problems is the one thing that will actually get you in trouble.
• Here to Win, Not to Be Right. Quiet ego, loud standards. Don't fight to be right – fight to win together. Be ruthless on quality, never rude about it.
• Optimize for Polar, Not Your Function. "Not my scope" doesn't exist here. If it makes us win, it's your scope.

We're a remote-first team that runs daily standups, ships weekly, and holds ourselves to a standard most companies talk about but don't enforce. We're transitioning from founder-led intensity to systematic company intensity – which means we need people who can maintain the pace autonomously, not just when someone's watching.

Partnerships are our highest-performing channel. One partnership manager has generated $1.1M in revenue since July 2025, with a Q1 run rate approaching $2M annually. Partner-referred deals close at 52% vs 37% for direct sales. Partnerships now account for 36% of total company revenue.

The opportunity is massive and barely tapped. The Shopify ecosystem alone has 80 Platinum partners globally (each managing 50-150 brands), 950 Premier/Plus partners (each managing ~20 clients), and a total addressable market north of $100M just from the platinum tier. We've proven the model works – now we need to scale it.

This is part founder-energy relationship building, part systems thinking at scale.

• Partner enablement and training – getting agency teams to understand Polar's value prop, demo the product themselves, and refer qualified brands. You'll create the "Polar operating system" for partners.
• Full-funnel partner pipeline from identification through activation to revenue. 43% of current partners have referred at least one deal – your job is to push that number significantly higher.
• Partner economics and deal structure – you'll work with a 20% discount model (commission or client discount), master agency accounts, and bi-directional lead sharing. You need to make the math work for both sides.
• AI and MCP as a partnership differentiator – our MCP integrations are a major draw for technical agencies. You need to demo this confidently and help partners position it to their clients.
• In-person relationship building at Shopify events, industry conferences, and agency visits. This role requires travel and face time – partnerships close on trust.
• Tech-enabled scale – building automated workflows, partner nurture sequences, and systems that let you manage…