Global Partner Lead

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.

When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Global Partner Lead (GPL) owns the global strategy and success of a named portfolio of Global Systems Integrator (GSI) partnerships. This is a strategic and hands-on role for a partnerships leader who can set direction at the executive level while staying close enough to the day-to-day relationship to drive real pipeline and revenue outcomes.

Each GPL is assigned a set of named GSI partners and is fully responsible and accountable for establishing, onboarding, and scaling those partnerships against goals set in collaboration with the Head of GTM Partnerships. GPLs also work closely with their Regional Partner Lead (RPL) counterparts to ensure the global strategy translates into effective regional execution.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Named GSI Partner Ownership (~80% of time)

• Serve as the global executive owner for a named portfolio of GSI partners - fully responsible and accountable for establishing, onboarding, and ensuring the success of each partnership

• Set global partner-level strategy, joint business plans, goals, and expectations for each named partner, and track progress against those goals on a regular cadence

• Segment and prioritize named partners within the portfolio, establishing an investment framework that reflects each partner's stage, strategic value, and growth potential

• Allocate GTM, technical, and executive resources across the named partner portfolio based on where they will have the highest impact

• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with partner-side leadership across sales, delivery, and alliances functions, engaging customer-side executives as needed

• Adjust strategy and plans as needed based on partner performance and market feedback

• Partner with Regional Partner Lead(s) to translate global strategy into regional plans, ensuring alignment and consistent execution across regions

• Drive co-selling, joint go-to-market, enablement, and pipeline-generation programs with named partners

• Establish a strong operating cadence with named partners - business reviews, governance models, pipeline tracking, executive updates, and escalation management

• Enable partner organizations through training, readiness programs, certifications, and solution alignment to build and strengthen the company's practice within each named GSI

• Support development of repeatable joint solution offerings, implementation motions, and industry-specific use cases with partner delivery teams

• Represent the company in executive and customer-facing engagements alongside partner stakeholders, including partner briefings, QBRs, joint customer pursuits, and relevant industry events

Ecosystem Expansion (~20% of time)

• Assess and - where appropriate and as directed by the Head of GTM Partnerships - establish new partnerships with other strategic GTM partner types (e.g., hyperscalers, data/lake platforms, foundation model/AI labs, lab instrument providers)

• Feed market and competitive intelligence back into overall partner strategy

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with internal teams - including Sales, Professional Services, Customer Success, Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, and Marketing, and more as needed - to ensure partner strategy supports company-wide GTM goals

• Build repeatable frameworks, playbooks, and enablement materials that regional teams can leverage

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of experience in partnerships, alliances, channel, or business development, including meaningful experience managing large, complex GSIs or similarly matrixed global partners

• Experience in life sciences, biotech, or pharma required

• Demonstrated ability to build and execute partner strategy at a global/enterprise scale

• Track record of driving measurable partner-sourced or partner-influenced pipeline and revenue

• Experience structuring and negotiating partnership agreements (e.g., joint business plans, MSAs)

• Executive presence, with the ability to build trust and influence senior stakeholders - including CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CSOs, Managing Partners, and other senior business leaders - internally, at partner organizations, and with customers as needed

• Track record of influencing cross-functional and partner-side stakeholders without direct authority

• Strong understanding of how large consulting and transformation organizations operate globally - practice structures, incentive models, and delivery organizations

• Technical and product fluency, with the ability to engage credibly with technical, delivery, and architecture stakeholders without needing to be hands-on technical

• Strong program-management and cross-functional collaboration skills

• Comfort operating in ambiguity and building process where none exists yet

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; MBA a plus
  

HOW WE WORK

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

#LI-Hybrid

#BI-Hybrid

Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.