Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager

About Us At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. At Cloudflare, we’re not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we’re looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you’re the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you’ll fit right in. Available Locations: Austin Texas, New York, San Francisco About the Team The Strategy organization operates as a high-velocity engine at the intersection of business, technology, and go-to-market execution, driving enterprise growth, global expansion, market innovation, and strategic execution. Our multi-disciplinary team spans seven core strategic pillars: Network & Infrastructure Strategy, Industry Solutions, Strategic Partnerships, International Expansion, Executive Customer Engagements, Corporate Development & M&A, and the new business model of the Internet. As primary connective tissue across the enterprise, we collaborate closely with Sales, Product & Engineering, Finance, Legal, and Policy to translate corporate vision into measurable, real-world execution. Role Summary As a Senior Strategic Partner Manager, you will work directly with Product, Engineering, and executive leadership to identify, build, and launch key partnerships that accelerate our product roadmap and drive platform adoption. The initiatives you own will span strategic co-build integrations, OEM relationships, and complex GTM alliance build-outs. This is a hands-on execution role for a versatile problem-solver—you will own partnerships end-to-end, moving from initial strategic alignment through technical scoping, contract negotiation, integration, and go-to-market launch. You will flex across different technology domains as company priorities shift, diving into technical details, validating integration use cases, and bringing cross-functional teams (Legal, Security, GTM, Finance) together to deliver real outcomes. Role Responsibilities • Identify, evaluate, and structure strategic partnerships (technology integrations, ecosystem plays, and go-to-market alliances) across Cloudflare's product areas, prioritizing based on where the business needs it most. • Partner directly with Product and Engineering leaders to assess technical fit, integration approach, and roadmap alignment for prospective partnerships. • Build the business case for each partnership: sizing the opportunity, validating the underlying use case, and making a clear, evidence-based recommendation on whether to pursue it. • Lead negotiation and execution end-to-end, from initial scoping through signed agreement and launch. • Act as the connective tissue between partner organizations and internal stakeholders (Product, Engineering, Legal, Marketing, Sales) to ensure both organizations deliver outcomes. • Move fluidly across product areas and partner types as priorities shift, ramping up on new technical domains quickly and independently. • Demonstrate deep technical fluency. You must be able to independently evaluate technical documentation and engage credibly with engineers, rather than relying on others to translate how a partner’s technology works. Role Requirements (Must-Have Skills) • 8+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, product management, strategy or consulting; ideally within a technology or cybersecurity organization. • Prior exposure to cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, networking, developer platforms, or AI markets. • Technical fluency: able to understand product architecture and engineering trade-offs well enough to independently evaluate partnership and integration opportunities, not just relay them. • Proven ability to navigate unstructured, open-ended problems with an attention to detail to close and launch complex deals. • A track record of aligning senior stakeholders across product, engineering, legal, GTM and partner organizations around competing priorities, keeping teams accountable, and pushing projects across the finish line. • Experience structuring, negotiating, and closing non-standard commercial and technical agreements. • Ability to pick up new technical domains quickly and shift focus as business priorities evolve. • Executive-level written and verbal communication, with the ability to influence cross-functionally without formal authority. • Bachelor's degree required. Nice-to-Have Skills • MBA or equivalent advanced degree. Compensation Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location and level. San Francisco Estimated Base salary $161,000 - $221,000. New York Estimated Base salary $153,000 - $210,000. Austin Estimated Base salary $125,000 - $172,000. What Makes Cloudflare Special? We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’r