Strategic Partnerships Lead

About Tiki Ai

Tiki AI builds the infrastructure that teaches frontier AGI systems how to think, not just predict. We turn top-tier human expertise in STEM, code, and other domains into high-signal training data through cognitive extraction, going far beyond basic labeling. With eight years of profitable operations and embedded partnerships with leading frontier labs, we help stabilize complex reasoning and fix long-horizon agent failures in production-scale systems.

We are expanding our US presence and hiring the team that will define how the world's most advanced AI models are trained and evaluated. If you want to work at the infrastructure layer of AGI, not the periphery, this is where that happens.

About The Role

This is a role rooted in building and nurturing relationships, not generating pipeline volume. Tiki AI's target customers, the research, post-training, evaluation, and data acquisition teams at frontier AI labs, are deeply technical, skeptical of vendor outreach, and do not respond to volume-based sales tactics. They respond to credibility: to someone who has been in the room with them, who understands their internal procurement constraints, and who can have a peer-level conversation about why a specific dataset design matters for a specific model failure.

Our bottleneck is trust, not outreach volume. We have already closed and expanded multiple programs with several of the top-5 frontier labs, generating over $10M in revenue in Q2 2026. The accounts we are targeting next require a different kind of entry. We need someone who already has standing with these teams, whether from the vendor side, the lab side, or both.

You will operate in a Special Operations model: small team, high stakes, no wasted moves. Every outreach is bespoke. Every conversation is built on genuine research into the person's work, priorities, and organizational context. You are not managing a quota; you are building the relationships that become multi-year programs.

What You Will Do

• Build and deepen peer-level relationships with ML engineers, research leads, post-training teams, data acquisition leads, and AI procurement stakeholders at target organizations
• Construct bespoke outreach for each contact based on genuine individual research, their recent publications, stated priorities, organizational context, and the specific data challenges implied by their work
• Own a focused portfolio of frontier lab and enterprise AI accounts; develop and maintain a living account strategy for each: current stakeholder maps, relationship status, trust level, and next-move hypothesis
• Lead technical discovery to map each stakeholder's actual challenges in data quality, annotation infrastructure, coding evaluation, RLHF workflow, and safety evaluation to Tiki's specific capabilities
• Contribute to the full commercial cycle alongside the team: from initial relationship through pilot scoping ($50K–$100K) and expansion toward multi-million-dollar annual programs
• Build and deliver tailored proposals and technical capability narratives in close collaboration with the Director of Sales, COO, and technical team
• Surface real-time market intelligence (personnel changes, published research, procurement signals, competitive moves) and adapt account strategy accordingly
• Mentor SDRs on research quality and outreach construction; review and improve drafts before they are sent
• Maintain CRM discipline in GoHighLevel: stakeholder maps, interaction history, inferred motivations, and next-step hypothesis updated after every meaningful interaction
  
  

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN THE FIRST 6–12 MONTHS

• You have established confirmed champion or coach relationships at two or more priority target organizations; relationship maps are documented and transferable
• At least one target account has advanced to an active pilot, proposal stage, or commercial conversation
• The Director of Sales and COO consistently treat you as the account intelligence owner for your portfolio and pull you into strategic deal conversations
• Your outreach approach has been adopted as a model by the broader team
  
  

What We Are Looking For

• 5 years in enterprise B2B partnerships, business development, or commercial roles with direct, documented exposure to frontier AI lab accounts (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR, xAI, or equivalent)
• A real network inside frontier lab data, research, post-training, or evaluation teams, not just names on a list, but relationships with standing that you can activate
• Deep understanding of how AI data procurement actually works: how research leads identify and evaluate vendors, how pilots get scoped, how legal and compliance create friction, and what kills deals at each stage, from either the buy or sell side
• Technical fluency sufficient to hold a credible conversation with ML engineers about RLHF, annotation quality, inter-annotator agreement, benchmark design, coding dataset construction, and data pipeline architecture
• Experience navigating complex, multi-stakeholder commercial processes: shadow procurement, framing small pilots as research collaborations, and building the internal business case a researcher needs to sign off on a project spend
• High-ownership operating style; comfortable contributing across the full commercial cycle in an environment where the playbook is still being written
  
  

THIS ROLE IS A STRONG FIT IF YOU HAVE

• Spent time as a senior partnerships lead, strategic account manager, or enterprise AE at an AI data vendor, and you built or managed relationships at frontier labs
• Held a data procurement, research operations, vendor management, or RLHF program management role inside a frontier lab and understand the process from the buying side
• The ability to walk into a conversation with a research lead at Anthropic or a post-training team at Meta and be recognized as a peer, not a vendor pitching features
• A genuine interest in being part of a founding commercial team: shaping how relationships are built, how deals are structured, and how the sales motion develops as the company grows
  
  

THIS ROLE IS NOT A GOOD FIT IF

• You need a fully built process, a large established territory, or a clean individual quota to execute against
• Your AI experience is primarily in deployment, product, or engineering roles rather than data sourcing, procurement, or commercial partnerships
• You would describe your frontier lab exposure as general industry familiarity rather than direct working relationships with named individuals at named labs
• You are primarily motivated by individual deal attribution and are not comfortable with a collaborative, pod-based commercial model
  
  

Compensation And Benefits

• Base salary $160,000–$175,000 plus variable compensation. OTE $220,000–$260,000, with uncapped upside tied to deal performance. Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401k matching, transit supplement, and gym reimbursement.
  
  

A note on commission structure: Tiki operates a pod-based commission model tied to collected revenue. Variable comp is a real component of this role and grows as deal volume increases. Commission plan terms including structure, targets, and payout mechanics are provided at offer. Candidates are encouraged to ask specific questions about commission structure during the interview process so expectations are clear on both sides.

Who Should Apply

This role is relevant to candidates currently holding or recently holding titles including: Strategic Partnerships Lead, Enterprise Partnerships Manager, Strategic Account Executive, Senior Account Executive (AI/ML or AI Data), Data Partnerships Lead, AI Data Vendor Manager, ML Data Procurement Lead, Research Operations Manager, Technical Account Manager (AI/ML), Frontier Lab Account Lead, RLHF Program Manager, Engagement Management Lead, Head of Strategic Accounts, Forward Deployed Engineer (GTM), Founding AE.

To ensure a fair and consistent hiring process, Tiki AI does not accept hard-copy resumes, in-person applications, unsolicited drop-ins, or telephone inquiries regarding open positions. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please contact Human Resources at jobs@tikiai.co.

Tiki AI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age (40 ), marital status, pregnancy, medical condition, disability (physical or mental), genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, California, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Tiki AI will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable law.