Sr Director, Partnership & Business Development
About this role
SIr Dir/Director, Partnership & Business Development
Enterprise SaaS | Automotive Lifecycle | Remote / Hybrid
LEVELSenior Director
FUNCTIONProduct & Partnerships
REPORTS TOSVP, Product
LOCATIONGlobal / Remote
Who We Are
Solera is a global leader in data and software services transforming every touchpoint of the vehicle lifecycle into a connected digital experience. We process over 300 million digital transactions annually for approximately 235,000 partners and customers in more than 90 countries. Our 6,500 team members drive an uncommon, innovative culture—leveraging cognitive answers, insights, algorithms, and automation to bring the future to bear today.
The Role
As Senior Director, Partnerships & Business Development, you will own and grow Solera's partner and developer ecosystem across two of our most strategically important portfolios: Dealer Solutions (Dealersocket, Spireon) and Repair (Identifix, Hollander). This is a leadership role combining classic BD and alliance management with a modern platform imperative: rebuilding Solera's Certified Developer Program into a thriving, API-first ecosystem on par with the best in automotive technology. You will forge strategic partnerships, lead commercial negotiations, drive GTM motions, and build the infrastructure that enables third-party developers to build, certify, and scale on Solera's platforms.
What You'll Do
Partner & Vendor Relationship Management
- Own the full lifecycle of strategic vendor, partner, and reseller relationships across the Dealer Solutions and Repair portfolios, serving as the primary commercial and operational point of contact.
- Lead contract negotiations including MSAs, reseller agreements, data licensing terms, revenue share structures, and exclusivity provisions across both portfolios.
- Manage integration partnerships end-to-end, working closely with Product and Engineering to ensure technical alignment, roadmap commitment, and successful partner launches.
- Maintain executive-level relationships with key accounts and strategic partners, serving as the escalation point for commercial disputes and performance issues.
- Identify, qualify, and close net-new partnership opportunities that expand Solera's market reach, product surface area, or data network across the repair and dealership verticals.
- Represent Solera at industry conferences, partner summits, and automotive technology forums to build brand equity and recruit strategic partners.
Developer Ecosystem & Platform Enablement
- Own the vision, strategy, and execution of Solera's Certified Developer Program, revitalizing it into a best-in-class third-party developer ecosystem comparable to market leading automotive API platforms.
- Define the program framework including developer tiers, certification requirements, badge and credential structure, renewal policies, and compliance standards.
- Own the developer onboarding experience end-to-end: API documentation, SDKs, sandbox environments, developer portals, integration toolkits, and getting-started resources.
- Collaborate with Engineering and Product to shape the public API roadmap, ensuring external developer needs are represented in platform investment decisions.
- Build and manage API usage tracking, metering, and billing infrastructure in partnership with Engineering and Finance, including tiered pricing, overage handling, and enterprise licensing.
- Establish certification workflows including technical review, compliance checks, security standards, and go-live approvals for third-party integrations.
- Create and maintain a partner marketplace or directory showcasing certified integrations to Solera's dealer and repair shop customers.
- Drive developer community engagement through newsletters, webinars, office hours, forums, and industry events.
- Define and track ecosystem KPIs: registered developers, active certified integrations, API call volume, partner-sourced revenue, time-to-certification, and developer NPS.
Go-to-Market & Partner Success
- Partner with Product Marketing and Sales to build co-sell and co-market motions including joint solution briefs, partner-specific enablement content, and integration showcases.
- Design and execute channel and reseller GTM programs that generate measurable partner-sourced pipeline and revenue contribution.
- Establish partner onboarding programs, technical training curricula, and performance management frameworks that reduce time-to-value for new ecosystem participants.
- Manage the full partner lifecycle from recruitment and activation through performance management, renewal, and expansion.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Synthesize Solera's competitive and strategic position across the Dealer Solutions and Repair portfolios, collaborating with peer Product leads to create synergistic partner offerings across customer segments.
- Lead and mentor a team of partner managers and developer relations specialists; set goals, provide coaching, and build a high-performance, results-oriented culture.
- Track and report partner and developer program KPIs to senior leadership, using data to drive investment priorities and program evolution.
- Influence cross-functionally without direct authority across Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance to advance partner and ecosystem objectives.
Industry & Innovation
- Stay abreast of automotive industry trends, emerging API standards, and platform ecosystem best practices—translating insights into program differentiation.
- Represent Solera at industry conferences, developer events, and partner summits to build brand equity and recruit strategic partners.
What You'll Bring
Experience & Education
- Bachelor's degree required; MBA preferred.
- 12+ years of experience in partner programs, business development, developer relations, or product management within an Enterprise SaaS environment.
- 5+ years in a senior or director-level role with ownership of a partner, channel, or developer ecosystem program at scale.
- Demonstrated track record of building partner programs from early stage to measurable revenue contribution and commercial maturity.
- Experience leading complex, multi-party commercial negotiations including integration agreements, data licensing, reseller structures, and exclusivity provisions.
- Automotive, vehicle lifecycle, dealership technology, or adjacent vertical experience highly desirable.
Skills & Competencies
- Deep understanding of SaaS go-to-market motions, API-led integration strategies, and two-sided marketplace dynamics.
- Experience building or scaling a certified developer or ISV program, including developer portal, documentation, onboarding, and billing infrastructure.
- Comfort with API concepts, developer tooling, and technical documentation standards; you do not need to write code, but you must speak fluently with engineers and developers.
- Proven ability to influence cross-functionally without direct authority across Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Finance.
- Excellent executive communication skills; ability to craft compelling narratives for partners, customers, and internal stakeholders alike.
- Business acumen with the ability to build financial models, business cases, ROI frameworks, and revenue share structures for partner investments.
- High agency, self-starting mindset with comfort navigating ambiguity in a fast-moving, transformation-era company.
- Experience with AI tools and rapid prototyping to accelerate partner tooling, developer experience improvements, and GTM execution.
Why Solera
Scale
300M+ transactions/year across 90+ countries and 235,000 customers & partners.
Transformation Moment
Rapid platform modernization backed by Vista Equity Partners—build programs on a rising tide.
Cross-Pillar Leverage
Unique ability to offer partners access across Claims, Repairs, Fleet & Titles in one ecosystem.
Innovative Culture
6,500 team members passionate about applying AI, data, and automation to the vehicle lifecycle.
It is impossible to list every requirement or responsibility of any position. Solera reserves the right to adjust, add to, or eliminate any aspect of this description and retains the right to require all employees to undertake additional or different job responsibilities when necessary to meet business needs.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
The Solera group is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws.
Originally posted on Himalayas
