Strategic Partnerships Manager

About this role

Company Overview:

We are building Protege to solve the biggest unmet need in AI — getting access to the right training data. The process today is time intensive, incredibly expensive, and often ends in failure. The Protege platform facilitates the secure, efficient, and privacy-centric exchange of AI training data.

Solving AI’s data problem is a generational opportunity. We’re backed by world-class investors and already powering partnerships with some of the most ambitious teams in AI. The company that succeeds will be one of the largest in AI — and in tech.

We’re a lean, fast-moving, high-trust team of builders who are obsessed with velocity and impact. Our culture is built for people who thrive on ambiguity, own outcomes, and want to shape the future of data and AI.

The Role

We are hiring a Strategic Partnerships Manager to convert sourced healthcare data partners into active deals and grow value across Protege's live partner portfolio.

This role is the connective layer between sourcing and operations. You will take promising partners from early qualification through sample evaluation, activation, and ongoing engagement, while helping the team get more value from active partners and keep lower-activity partners warm and commercially ready. Beyond execution, this is a strategy seat. As a close partner to the Head of Healthcare Partnerships you will help define portfolio growth by identifying new market opportunities, identifying high value partners, and designing innovative partnerships structures, data acquisition strategies and collaborations that expand overall data capabilities within Protege’s portfolio.

You will partner closely with the Head of Healthcare Partnerships, Data Lab, Commercial, and Healthcare Operations to move new partners through the middle of the partnership lifecycle and build a more scalable, durable operating model for the healthcare partnership portfolio.

What You'll Do

- Lead qualification of newly sourced healthcare data partners and determine where deeper engagement is warranted.

- Run new partner discovery and due diligence calls to assess dataset quality, modality relevance, partner sophistication, licensing posture, and commercial potential.

- Coordinate NDA execution, sample intake, and the handoff into Data Lab for sample evaluation and feedback.

- Synthesize partner, modality, and market insights so internal teams have a clear view of new opportunities and industry trends –– owning a refreshed view of the full scope of each partner’s data capabilities

- Recommend partner tiering based on dataset quality, uniqueness, scale, licensing and technical experience, and strategic value.

- Support deal structuring with Commercial and help move partners into activation, including strategic pricing and coordination around SOWs.

- Proactively socialize partner data assets with internal teams (Commercial, Data Lab, Solutions) so data assets remain top-of-mind when customer demand emerges.

- Drive transition planning into Healthcare Operations and Solutions so partners are positioned for smooth onboarding and execution.

- Translate customer feedback and market signals into value-creation initiatives and improved delivery through partnership with Healthcare Operations.

- Support growth planning across the portfolio, including QBRs, MBRs, and other structured partner engagement forums.

- Help develop creative partnership structures and internal proposals for larger strategic opportunities.

- Independently manage lower-tier partners, maintain regular engagement, and ensure colder partners remain commercially ready when opportunities arise.

- Serve as an escalation point for portfolio partners when issues, ambiguity, or cross-functional coordination needs arise.

- Systemize workflows where needed – partner documentation, tracking and engagement cadences without losing the ability to move fast.

- Bring a data-driven lens to the portfolio –– use partner deal activity, delivery outcomes, and market signals to build insights on what works, what’s being delivered, and how to make partnerships business more repeatable and scalable.

What Success Looks Like

- Learn the portfolio - Within 30 days, you have built a clear view of the current healthcare partner portfolio, active sourced opportunities, and the qualification-to-activation workflow, and you are independently running qualification conversations and managing NDA and sample coordination with strong internal follow-through.

- Drive partner progression - Within 60 days, you are consistently moving partners through evaluation, tiering, and activation support with clear communication and tight cross-functional coordination, while helping Data Lab, Commercial, and the Head of Healthcare Partnerships make faster, better-informed prioritization decisions.

- Deepen partner value - Within 90 days, you are building stronger, more collaborative relationships with partners across the portfolio, helping drive deeper engagement and commercial readiness, and contributing meaningful insight to Protege's strategic roadmap for where and how to grow healthcare partnerships, including owning the internal view of partner data capabilities and launching at least one strategic initiative for partners with low current deal activity.

You Might Be a Fit If

- You have experience in strategic partnerships, partner management, business development, or deal execution in a fast-moving environment.

- You are strong at moving external relationships from early interest into structured execution.

- You prioritize strong, trusted partnerships, working collaboratively with partners rather than viewing them as transactional vendors.

- You have excellent judgment in qualification, prioritization, and stakeholder management.

- You are organized and execution-oriented, with the ability to coordinate multiple cross-functional workstreams at once.

- You can translate ambiguous partner information into c

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