Director, Startup Partnerships – AMER (US, CAN, LATAM)

Job Description

Zendesk for Startups empowers startups to scale and thrive by delivering best-in-class customer experience solutions. With over 160,000 customers globally, we’ve supported trailblazing companies such as Slack, Uber, Instacart, Coinbase, Nubank, Limebike, and Deliveroo from their earliest stages. Our mission is to drive sustainable startup growth through strategic partnerships, vibrant community engagement, and innovative go-to-market programs.

About the Role

As the Director of Startup Partnerships for the Americas at Zendesk, you will lead and oversee the regional Partnership Managers and drive the overall business strategy across the US, Canada, and Latin America. You will build and manage a high-impact team responsible for cultivating strategic alliances with venture capital firms, accelerators, Zendesk Partners, and tech communities to accelerate startup adoption. Comfortable speaking on behalf of the company, you will represent Zendesk in various external forums and foster strong relationships with key ecosystem stakeholders. 

Focusing on customer acquisition, pipeline growth, and market expansion, you will design innovative partnership models, launch impactful programs, and ensure comprehensive support for portfolio companies throughout their lifecycle. Given that this is a new role, you will thrive in ambiguity, navigating evolving priorities while collaborating closely with internal stakeholders and external partners to drive engagement, growth, and lasting relationships within the startup ecosystem across the region.

What You’ll Own & Lead

• Develop and execute a comprehensive startup partnerships strategy tailored to the US, Canadian, and LATAM markets, aligned with global business priorities.

• Build, lead, and inspire a team of partnership managers dedicated to fostering trusted relationships with VCs, accelerators, partners, and ecosystem leaders.

• Establish and grow strategic partnerships that create valuable channels for startup engagement, growth, and Zendesk adoption.

• Design, develop, and launch innovative go-to-market products and exclusive membership benefits that add clear value to startups through their growth journey.

• Partner closely with Partner Marketing to design and execute co-marketing motions that amplify strategic alliances, extend ecosystem reach, and accelerate startup engagement and pipeline growth.

• Collaborate with sales, marketing, and product teams to create aligned, integrated partnership programs that fuel pipeline growth and customer success.

• Represent Zendesk at key industry and ecosystem events, delivering thought leadership and strengthening brand presence.

• Continuously identify and prioritize a dynamic pipeline of high-potential startups to spotlight in regional narratives and public initiatives, enhancing their visibility and positioning Zendesk as a key partner within the ecosystem.

• Track partnership program success through visible metrics and feedback, using insights to enhance and evolve engagement models.

• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and external partnership excellence within your team.

What You Bring

• 12+ years of professional work experience, expert technical knowledge.

• 5+ years of management experience,

• Proven experience in startup partnerships, ecosystem engagement, or business development—especially across North and Latin American markets.

• Proven success managing and scaling diverse teams in multi-country settings with deep regional knowledge of US, Canadian, and LATAM startup landscapes.

• Strong network and credibility with venture capitalists, accelerators, Zendesk Partners, tech hubs, founders, and ecosystem stakeholders in the Americas.

• Strategic mindset with demonstrated ability to translate vision into clear objectives, actionable plans, and measurable business outcomes.

• Excellent cross-functional leadership and influencing skills, comfortable engaging senior executives internally and externally.

• Excellent external-facing communication skills with the ability to engage senior partners and represent Zendesk with authority and authenticity.

• Entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable operating in ambiguity, and experienced at building programs and processes from the ground up.

Nice to Haves

• SaaS or enterprise software ecosystem experience focused on startup or innovation markets.

• Familiarity with Zendesk product suites or customer experience technology.

• Background in venture capital, startup acceleration, or as a founder/operator.

• Experience working across distributed teams and managing multi-market programs.

Who You Are

You are a visionary ecosystem builder and connector, passionate about helping startups succeed through meaningful partnerships. Agile and highly strategic, you excel at inspiring teams and partners to deliver impact and innovation. You thrive in dynamic environments and bring both tactical rigor and creative problem-solving to your role.

Join us and lead Zendesk for Startups’ partner ecosystem expansion across the Americas.

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $186,000.00-$278,000.00. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.