Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager

Introduction

meets customers right where their search for car and home insurance begins: online. We provide easy-to-use tools and services, plus friendly, licensed agents who offer advice and guidance at any point along the way. The Zebra has helped customers compare over 74 million quotes since 2012. At its heart, both insurance and tech industry veterans collaborate together to simplify insurance shopping for customers.

In today's digital world, The Zebra's customer-centered approach offers people the choices they want and simplicity they need.

The Zebra was recently named Austin Business Journal's 2026 Best Place to Work. Our motto is "All Stripes Welcome." Building the best product, the best teams, and the best company comes from inviting a diverse array of voices, backgrounds, and perspectives to contribute, making everyone feel welcome. Our Zeebs are passionate about learning, growing, and working together to tackle exciting problems.

We're seeking a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to identify, negotiate, implement, and grow high-impact partnerships that drive mutual value for The Zebra and our external partners.

This role requires cross-functional collaboration across internal teams and senior leadership to align partnership strategies with broader business goals. The ideal candidate has a strong background in strategic partnerships and a proven ability to structure and manage complex, high-value deals.

Location

Our company headquarters are in Austin, TX, but our employees work remotely across the US. For folks who live around Austin, we offer the option to join us in our office or opt for a hybrid setup. Whether you prefer the structure of an office, the convenience of remote work, or a mix of both, we support what works best for you!

Please note:

at this time we are not able to hire in Massachusetts & California.

The Role

Our Strategic Partnerships team is growing, and we're looking for a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager to help us continue the growth. Reporting to the Manager of Strategic Partnerships, you'll be responsible for developing and growing new partnerships within our SMB segment.

This is a hands‑on partnerships role. You’ll be responsible for an inbound pipeline of partnership inquiries as well as developing fresh strategic partnership opportunities with other SMBs. In this role you will identify which opportunities add the right strategic value, negotiate terms with the external partners, support implementation, and manage the partnership through its ramp to a stable scale.

Doing this well requires internal and external cross‑functional collaboration with Product, Legal, Finance, Marketing, and others, as well as occasional executive alignment check‑ins.

What You’ll Do

You will drive our best‑in‑class strategic partnerships function with SMB partners, leveraging our industry‑leading capabilities. Even more importantly, you will collaborate cross‑functionally at The Zebra to develop and iterate a process for fluidly identifying, qualifying, and implementing partnerships of all types.

• Source, build, negotiate and maintain strategic relationships with partners to drive high-quality user traffic to The Zebra

• Develop and maintain mastery in positioning the benefits of The Zebra’s product offerings to potential partners

• Create and implement a prospecting strategy for growing our strategic partner pipeline

• Create and iterate on a process to properly include the right functional teams (product, engineering, marketing, etc.) in partnership discussions and implementation

• Vet new companies through phone calls and face‑to‑face meetings

• Monitor the competitive landscape and share findings with The Zebra’s leadership team and other relevant departments

What We’re Looking For:

• 3-5+…