Manufacturing Partnerships Manager

About the Job

I’m hiring a Manufacturing Partnerships Manager for MFG.inc.

The standard job information you expected is actually at the bottom of the post. Do scroll down to read it. But before we get to the responsibilities, qualifications, and all the usual job-posting machinery, I thought it would be better to start with the things that matter most.

The rest matters. This matters more.

You will help shape our first commercial team— the group that will teach the market about MFG.inc, who we are, who we serve, what we believe, and how we build trust before asking for anything in return.

That’s big.

We’re small. You won’t inherit a large department. You’ll help set the standard for one. The way you listen, follow up, build trust, and represent MFG.inc will become the foundation for how we operate.

We’ll look to you to develop authentic, meaningful, caring relationships across the spectrum of U.S. manufacturing. With association executives looking for partners who will help their members feel understood. With leaders in growing manufacturing companies who are stressed out, stretched thin, and still optimistic. With pragmatic business owners looking for real solutions, not jargon or transformation theater.

So, you have to love manufacturing and care about U.S. manufacturers.

And you have to love people. Really love them.

MFG.inc exists to help manufacturers grow without the grind. That is why this role matters. You’re not joining us to “sell partnerships.” You’re joining MFG.inc to help us build trusted pathways through the associations and industrial networks manufacturers already rely on, so they can find practical help, real relief, and a stronger foundation for healthy growth.

If that sounds energizing—and uncomfortably close to how you already think—read on.

About MFG.inc

MFG.inc helps strengthen U.S. manufacturers.

Our team comes from manufacturing. We’ve spent thousands of hours inside real shops, from operator to owner, on every shift, and we understand what it takes to improve the business without slowing production down. We’re not building a traditional consultancy. We’re building practical operating infrastructure — tools, content, training, and the Run Improve Grow® method — for the people running manufacturing companies every day.

We believe manufacturers deserve better than constant firefighting, unclear priorities, stalled decisions, and improvement efforts that unravel when pressure rises. A company that only runs well when a few people sprint doesn’t really run well. MFG.inc helps manufacturers build clearer priorities, faster decisions, problems solved where they happen, and confident leaders at every level.

Run Improve Grow® is the method behind our work: Run today. Improve tomorrow. Grow on purpose.

Our goal is simple: fewer fires, better decisions, visible progress, and real growth — so manufacturers can grow without the grind.

The Role

We’re hiring a Manufacturing Partnerships Manager to help MFG.inc build trusted relationships with the manufacturing and industrial associations that serve U.S. manufacturers. Reporting to Jamie Bryant, MFG.inc’s founder and commercial strategy lead, you’ll help create one of the company’s first repeatable paths into the market.

The job has four parts: build genuine relationships with association leaders, understand their members’ challenges and opportunities, translate MFG.inc into practical member value, and move promising conversations toward programs, referrals, and revenue. You’ll be developing true partnerships, not chasing logo swaps or one-off webinars that everyone forgets by Friday. This role is about helping trusted industry organizations bring useful, credible support to U.S. manufacturers who are already dealing with intense pressures.

That requires someone who listens closely, follows up with discipline, and sees the difference between a pleasant conversation and a relationship with real potential. You’ll need enough experience with associations to know how to create value for their executives, programming leaders, member engagement teams, and sponsors — and enough experience in manufacturing to know what will resonate with owners, operators, frontline leaders, and teams under pressure.

The standard is warmth, rigor, usefulness, and follow-through. When a partner trusts us with their members, this role helps make sure the path into MFG.inc is thoughtful, credible, and worthy of that trust.

What You’ll Own

• Researching, prioritizing, and prospecting into manufacturing and industrial associations where MFG.inc can create real member value.
• Building prospect lists and relationship maps across executives, programming leaders, member engagement teams, sponsors, and other decision influencers.
• Opening relevant, useful conversations with warmth, clarity, and discipline.
• Leading early partnership conversations and qualifying fit, need, timing, and commercial potential.
• Translating MFG.inc into practical partnership opportunities: member programs, workshops, cohorts, referral paths, campaigns, sponsorships, or other models that make sense.
• Developing proposals, including the value story, scope, next steps, and commercial structure.
• Moving qualified opportunities forward through clear follow-up, useful notes, CRM discipline, and steady momentum.
• Collecting and sharing marketing feedback about which offers, messages, and partner paths are gaining traction.

This is not a founder-led sales role. You will lead the commercial partnership motion. Jamie will collaborate on proposals and join key moments where founder context, judgment, or credibility helps move the right opportunity forward.

What This Delivers

Over time, this role should deliver dozens of high-trust partnerships with manufacturing and industrial associations across the U.S. — partnerships that create value for their members, revenue for both sides, and practical, proven help for manufacturers working to grow with less turbulence.

Who We're Looking For

• A manufacturing relationship-builder who knows this world is smaller, more connected, and more trust-based than it looks from the outside.
• Has real experience working with or around manufacturers, trade associations, MEPs, economic development groups, workforce organizations, industrial networks, or other groups that serve U.S. manufacturing.
• Understands the concerns manufacturers carry every day: labor pressure, leadership gaps, production demands, customer expectations, quality, cash, growth, and the constant pull of the urgent.
• Can sit with an association executive and quickly understand what matters to them: member value, credibility, programming, sponsors, retention, reputation, and the need to bring their members something useful.
• Commercially disciplined without sounding like a salesperson. You know how to move a relationship forward, ask for the next step, shape an opportunity, and keep good notes without making people feel worked.
• Strong at translating. You can take what MFG.inc does and make it clear to different audiences: association leaders, manufacturers, partners, sponsors, owners, operators, and frontline leaders.
• Low ego, high follow-through. You do what you said you would do. You remember the details. You make the next step easy.
• Warm, practical, and credible. You like people, but you are not just “good with people.” You can build trust that turns into programs, referrals, revenue, and long-term partnership.
• Comfortable building from an early stage. You will not inherit a finished channel strategy or infrastructure. You will build the path by walking it.
• Has enough love for U.S. manufacturing to care whether this work actually helps. That matters here.

The Usuals

Role: Manufacturing Partnerships Manager

Reports to: Jamie Bryant, Founder / Commercial Strategy Lead

Location: Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky preferred. We do not currently have a physical office, so this is a remote-based role with regular in-person working sessions and travel for association meetings, manufacturing events, and partner development.

Employment type: Full-time

Compensation: Competitive base salary

Benefits: Flexible work, vacation time, autonomy, and the chance to help build a strong team from the beginning

To apply: Send your resume or LinkedIn profile and a brief note about why this role feels like a fit to careers@mfg.inc.

MFG.inc is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome qualified applicants from all backgrounds.