Overview
The Buffer product seamlessly connects brands to the social media platforms that will help them grow their business and delight their customers.
As we continue to deliver value for our customers, there is an opportunity to proactively build, nurture, and manage relationships with our key partners like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others, as well as seek out new, mutually beneficial opportunities to connect with people and companies with similar goals.
We’re looking for an experienced partnerships manager to guide our efforts and help lead us into the next stage of Buffer growth and success. If this sounds like a challenge you’d be excited to take on, we’d love to meet you.
FULL-TIME · REMOTE
Buffer is an equal opportunity employer with teammates all around the world. Our team is made up of marketers who hail from Idaho to Singapore – we value diverse and non-traditional backgrounds.
We’re united by Buffer’s values, and we celebrate our unique differences. We value creating a diverse and inclusive work environment and are actively working on building a culture where under-indexed groups are truly welcomed and can flourish.
You will collaborate closely with the entire marketing team as well as functionally across Buffer. We value and reward respectful, empathetic discussion and collaboration when creating solutions. This position reports to the VP of Marketing.
What You’ll Do
🔎 IDENTIFY
- Chat monthly with Buffer’s product leaders about company vision and strategy and determine action steps for proactively pursuing partnerships and relationships that align with our overall goals.
- Proactively seek out new opportunities for outside partnerships that can help Buffer acquire new users, reach new audiences, and strengthen our product offerings
○ Find partnerships for new marketing campaigns that meet the bar for audience reach and brand awareness.
○ Oversee product integrations and source new opportunities for product growth.
○ Keep your finger on the pulse of new products and tech news, especially those in the social media space. Be part of the communities at Product Hunt, Hacker News, and tech blogs
○ Monitor high-profile Facebook groups for major news and insights
- Complete semi-annual competitor analysis of major Buffer competition (Sprout Social, Later, Hootsuite, Planoly, etc.)
🔒 SECURE
- Build relationships with contacts at various departments within Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
- Build relationships with third-party product partners and marketing partners like Shopify, Google, MailChimp, Atlassian, and more.
- Build relationships with top social media industry influencers.
- Build relationships at main industry events, which may include:
○ Social Media Marketing World.
○ F8 (Facebook).
○ WWDC (Apple).
○ Shopify Unite.
○ Shoptalk.
🗂 MANAGE
- Maintain strong relationships with existing social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest:
○ Hold monthly calls or check-ins with a contact at each network.
○ Maintain a healthy partner status with each network’s official partner program.
○ Inform product teams of upcoming changes and trends
○ Manage our contracts/agreements with each network and track renewal dates, upcoming changes, etc.
- Manage relationships with existing product partners: Zapier, IFTTT, Feedly, Pocket.
- Manage relationships with existing marketing partners: HubSpot, Trello, Animoto, etc.
○ Maintain a spreadsheet of marketing and business relationships.
○ Keep in touch quarterly with a contact at key partners.
- Field all incoming partnership requests and determine best plan of action for each inquiry.
- Field all communication and requests from existing social networks and ensure that relevant Buffer teams are brought into the loop. Act as liaison between Buffer and third-parties.
- Share regular report with team on the landscape of social and APIs
- Foresee and communicate API changes early
- As a teammate at Buffer, you will agree to uphold our values and code of conduct.
Helpful Skills and Experience
- You have direct experience building relationships with partners, making strategic new connections to drive a company forward, and parsing technical specifications of software products. In many cases, this will mean you have been doing work like this in the tech sector for years; we’re also open to hearing from you if you show a high level of competence, regardless of experience. As a general guideline, a successful candidate will typically have 3+ years of experience.
- You can read API documentation and recognize potential integration opportunities for our product.
- You know enough about product management, product engineering, and APIs to speak with a variety of key stakeholders – CEOs, CTOs, PMs, engineers, advocates, etc.
- You’re analytical and intuitive, considering a variety of important factors before making a decision. You have a proven track record of using data to inform your thinking.
- You love the idea of negotiating and engaging in strategic business conversations.
- You’re comfortable with rejection, thrive in networking situations and love being a connector.
- You’re organized and have great follow-through. The idea of keeping a spreadsheet to make sure you reach out to all your key contacts (internal and external) in a timely fashion resonates with you!
- You’re persistent and are willing to see projects through to the end, especially projects with a long lifecycle.
- You’re confident in Buffer’s features and developments and would be excited to talk them up to others.
- You’re willing to travel a bit more than the average Buffer teammate for work (for major industry conferences and periodic trips to San Francisco to meet with partners and potential partners).
- You’re in a time zone with 5+ hours of daytime overlap with the United States
What We Value
Clear communication, transparency, open-mindedness, empathy and patience are just a few of Buffer’s cultural values. We are looking for a person who understands this culture and will thrive within a team of people passionate about self-improvement, honesty and openness. Here’s a guide on how we strive to communicate with customers.
Working at Buffer is collaborative and positive thanks to our core values. We try to be “No Ego Doers” who are aware of our assumptions, and joining us means you’ll work together with the team in order to test and confirm our ideas. In our career framework, we choose to focus on the journey, the growth and evolution that is a career.
Perks and Benefits
We hope that you’re excited by the possibilities that come with working at Buffer! In addition to our unique culture, we also offer these fun perks and benefits.
💻 Technology: Get hooked up with a laptop to do your best work.
🎼 Learning & development stipend: To encourage our teammates to be their best selves, we offer a small stipend for any course or training they’d like to do.
🤒 Health insurance: We offer health insurance for all of our team members, international or US based.
💰 Salary: Our salary formula adjusts to your cost of living and experience. For this role, the range is $90k – $125k USD per year.
🏝 Work remotely: Live and work from wherever you feel happiest.
📈 Profit sharing: Joining the Buffer journey means you get to be part of the company’s success.
⛺️ Unlimited time off: Our only policy is that you give yourself a break regularly.
✈️ Retreats: Join us on annual international company retreats! Our 2020 retreat will be on the Athens Coast in Greece.
📚 Free books (and Kindle): All you can read, no questions asked.
🍼 Family Leave: If your family grows during your time at Buffer, we recommend taking 3 months of family leave, regardless of when you joined.
Where You’ll Work
Buffer is a fully distributed team, which means that we’re spread across the planet. We have Bufferoos in 15 countries, 11 timezones and 42 cities around the world to build a great culture and product. You’ll work where you’re happiest and most productive, in the place that helps you to become the person you wish to be.