Strategic Partner Development Lead, Suncatcher

About the job

As a Strategic Partner Development Manager, you'll open doors with potential partners, lead exploratory discussions and evaluate/develop business opportunities. You will lead cross-functional teams, provide thought leadership and serve as a mentor to managers and associates. You are comfortable escalating and presenting business development strategies and key issues to senior management. You'll work closely with Google Product, Engineering, Legal and Sales teams on new product initiatives and key strategic relationships that support our online advertising business.

As a part of the Global Research and Tech and Society Partnerships team, you will drive hundreds of partnerships required to support a vast array of initiatives impacting almost every Google Product Area. These agreements are highly negotiated, bespoke agreements involving complex IP considerations in highly regulated environments. You will engage strategically, spending significant time upfront to understand the technology and develop thoughtful partnership strategies before executing.

As a part of Project Suncatcher, Google’s moonshot initiative embedded across Google Tech and Society and the AI Infrastructure organization to scale machine learning compute by developing space-based, solar-powered data centers, you will deploy Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) hardware into low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations interconnected via high-speed optical links. The project aims to harness abundant solar energy and overcome terrestrial power and thermal scaling limits. In this role, you will help shape the external aerospace and technology ecosystem critical to executing this goal.

This role may involve working with technical information that is export-controlled. Non-US persons would require an export license to do so (US citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain protected individuals are considered “US persons” under applicable law).

The Global Partnerships organization is responsible for exploring new opportunities with Google's partners. Google’s Global Partnerships team works with a wide range of partners to bring the best of Google to power their business. The Global Partnerships team supports Google’s own Product teams with essential partnerships to help Google’s user experiences in advertising, Search, Assistant, Maps, Travel, Shopping, Payments and more. Teams create product-enabling partnerships, go-to-market strategies and incubate business growth for a variety of products.Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $140000 - $203000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Manage overall agreement flow and own the end-to-end execution process from initial scoping and partner identification to final agreement signing using Google's internal systems.
• Scope, draft, and close key Suncatcher agreements, covering component supply, equipment purchases, IP licensing, trusted tester setups, and vendor staffing.
• Build and maintain strong business partnerships to secure favorable pricing, optimal parts availability, and reliable service delivery.
• Coordinate across internal divisions to synchronize Suncatcher initiatives with Google's broader supply chain and procurement efforts.
• Partner closely with Engineering, Product Management, Legal, and Finance to review agreements, align on strategic goals, and mitigate risk points.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 7 years of experience in a partner-facing role at a technology company or start-up.
• Experience in agreement negotiation, partner management or product management in the satellite or technology development environment.
• Experience building internal and external senior-level relationships.

Preferred qualifications:

• Proven experience collaborating with frontier technology partners, supply chain vendors, and academic research institutions.
• Ability to balance big-picture strategic thinking with highly detailed, tactical execution.
• Strong communication, and problem-solving skills to navigate ambiguity and lead cross-functional initiatives.
• A background in technology development or entrepreneurship, ideally supported by education or experience in science, engineering, or AI/ML.
• Background in space systems development, satellite manufacturing, aerospace, or optical communications.