Partner Manager, Franchise

The role

You will recruit and sign franchisors and manage the full partnership lifecycle for managed partners. You will drive franchisee adoption and manage partner performance and operations.

What you will do

• Recruit franchisor partners by identifying, qualifying, and signing brands.
• Run discovery on new partner applications and serve as the main point of contact through onboarding.
• Build outbound campaigns using prospect lists, referrals, and industry associations.
• Represent Gusto at franchise industry events and trade shows.
• Place new partners in program tiers based on expected growth and engagement.
• Structure and negotiate partner agreements with Legal and Revenue Operations.
• Own the full lifecycle for managed partners including onboarding, planning, reviews, and renewals.
• Work with sales and marketing teams to drive franchisee awareness and adoption.
• Meet or exceed monthly and annual goals by managing a partner pipeline.
• Use Salesforce and partner management tools to track results and report metrics.

Required qualifications

• 5–7 years of relationship management, partnerships, business development, sales, or channel management experience.
• Experience closing and structuring partnership or vendor agreements.
• Track record of building a pipeline through outbound prospecting.
• Comfort with data for setting goals, forecasting, and reporting.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills with senior executives.
• AI fluency to use tools for research, outreach, and analysis.
• Ability to manage a high volume of work.
• Ability to be self-directed, resourceful, and work in a fast-paced environment.

Nice to have

• Franchise industry experience, such as working with franchisors, franchisee associations, or franchise sales organizations.
• Experience with Salesforce.
• Experience with Outreach, partner management platforms, or fintech, HR, or payroll.

Benefits

• Competitive base pay
• Benefits
• Equity (RSUs)

Before you apply

• AI experience will be assessed during the interview process.

About the company

Gusto handles payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR for small businesses. They have teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York.