Senior Partnership Manager

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way. The Community You Will Join: Distribution Partnerships team’s mission is taking Airbnb out to the world; working with a range of partners to embed Airbnb in highly trusted and contextually relevant environments to meet guests where they already plan and book their travel, experiences, and services. The team owns partnerships end to end, from initial ideation, strategy, engagement, and agreement through product launch and ongoing relationship management. Within it, the Business Development (BD) segment owns the front end of the partnership lifecycle: defining strategy, identifying and recruiting partners, structuring commercial agreements, and setting the foundation for long-term partnership success. BD works hand in hand with Partner Management, which grows, measures, and continuously improves each partnership after launch. This role owns partner management for a portfolio of live distribution partners, with approximately 70% of time on day-to-day management and strategic development of existing partners and 30% supporting the team on new partners and renewals, and is growing to become an end to end partnerships leader. The Difference You Will Make: We are looking for an experienced, proactive Senior Partnerships Manager to join our Distribution Partnerships team, reporting to the Director, Distribution Partnerships. You will manage a portfolio of live distribution partners across our verticals, such as financial services, airlines and loyalty programs, and business travel platforms (the mix may change as priorities shift), and support new partner deals and renewals as you grow into the role. In the future, you will have an opportunity to contribute to the distribution strategy, help define which segments and partners to target, and support negotiations and deal structuring on individual partnerships. You will carry each deal through launch and into long-term growth, establishing the measurement, forecasting, and feedback loops that let the wider team scale the program globally. Our partnerships are powered by a portfolio of products that are still being built (embedded booking, points earn and pay with points, embeds, and a partner portal), so you will work closely with Product and Engineering on what partners need and what we can ship. This is a highly cross-functional, high-ambiguity individual-contributor role suited to someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy, product, dealmaking, and partner development, and who can build a business from zero to one and one to ten with limited guidance. The role also includes project management and operations, often where processes are not yet defined, so we need someone scrappy and proactive who finds ways to unblock problems we have not identified yet. A Typical Day: Partner management. Own the day-to-day relationship with your partners. Run regular partner reviews and QBRs, review funnels, track performance against targets (bookings, revenue, conversion), resolve escalations, and give early warning on at-risk partners. Success is measured by revenue growth and conversion improvement across your portfolio. Keep a feedback loop between partners and Product, Engineering, Marketing, and other cross-functional teams to shape the roadmap. Partnership strategy. Contribute to and execute the BD strategy for your partner categories, within the wider distribution strategy. Identify the highest-value partners and use cases, and bring a clear, well-supported point of view on how each category should grow, including commercial models, incentive structures, and the sequencing of partners needed to prove and scale it. Deal execution. Support the BD process for new partners and renewals, and progressively lead it on priority partnerships, from initial outreach and scoping through needs assessment, negotiation, term sheet, and contract execution. Help structure referral, revenue-share, points and rewards, and co-funded marketing agreements that balance short-term value with long-term scalability and create win-win outcomes for Airbnb, partners, Guests, and Hosts. Launch and ongoing growth. Lead each partnership through launch, then own ongoing performance. Set launch plans with Product and Marketing, track performance against targets, and optimize offers, placements, and experiences to grow results over the lifecycle of the partnership. Measurement and forecasting. Build the KPIs, ROI model, and reporting cadence for your partners using the team's measurement methodology. Forecast partner-sourced bookings and revenue; report results and financials to the Director, Finance, and senior stakeholders. Cross-functional leadership. Work closely with Finance, Legal, Product, Engineering, Payments, and Marketing to define partner requirements, model revenue opportunities, set success metrics, and develop contracting frameworks. Anticipate partner needs, build consensus, and represent the opportunity clearly to senior internal stakeholders so priority deals move quickly. Market and category expertise. Build deep expertise in the partner landscapes relevant to your categories. Monitor competitor activity and market shifts, including how other travel marketplaces approach B2B distribution, and bring well-developed recommendations to leadership. Program development. Capture learnings from early launches to build the playbooks, commercial templates, and partner onboarding processes that allow these categories to scale globally. Internal advocacy. Serve as the internal voice for your partners. Synthesize partner feedback and market insight for Product, Engineering, and Marketing to inform the roadmap, and help stakeholders understand the commercial opportunity and strategic importance of the categories you manage. Your Expertise: 8+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, partner management, or distribution, with a track record of independently owning complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships and deals Experience managing a portfolio of live strategic partners and growing their performance over time through relationship development, partner business insights and expertise, funnel analysis, regular business reviews, and ongoing optimization of offers, placements, and experiences Ability to spot at-risk partnerships early, work through escalations, and build trusted, long-term relationships with partner teams at every level Experience managing or building partnership programs from scratch, including defining strategy, recruiting early partners, and developing commercial frameworks Strong commercial instincts and experience structuring and negotiating deals with diverse partner types, including referral, revenue-share, and loyalty or rewards models Strong analytical mindset; able to build ROI models and forecasts, use data to identify underlying trends, and make informed decisions. Comfort with Excel, Google Sheets, and AI tools Strong product and technical fluency; able to work closely with Product and Engineering on integrations and roadmap trade-offs Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with limited precedent; able to make sound decisions with incomplete information and flourish with minimal guidance Experience working cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, and Marketing to align on strategy and move deals forward Exceptional communication, presentation, and influence skills; able to develop a compelling point of view and bring senior stakeholders along Ability to manage complex projects and operations, and to build process where none exists, while attending to both det