Associate Director - Partnerships, Growth Customer Sales

Job Summary

To scale GCS advertiser acquisition, we are looking for an Associate Director, Partnerships to build and scale the strategic growth charter for JioHotstar Ads across Partner Ecosystem. This role will drive structured acquisition funnels, standardize processes (onboarding, CRM, incentives), and ensure partnerships deliver continuous, measurable SMB advertiser inflows. The leader will also anchor ecosystem visibility and represent JioStar in partner conversations at scale.

About the team

This role sits within the Partnerships team, an emerging business vertical with the ambition of becoming one of the largest growth levers for JioHotstar over the next three years.

The GCS Partnerships team builds scaled, low-touch growth engines for SMB advertisers through Programmatic, Self-Serve, Partnerships, and Performance initiatives. Its mandate is to unlock incremental revenue by expanding reach, simplifying access, and driving measurable outcomes for advertisers at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and execute the partnerships strategy to drive advertiser acquisition and revenue growth for JioHotstar Ads.

• Identify, onboard and grow relationships with high-potential reseller partners including digital agencies, marketing consultancies, commerce enablers, SaaS platforms and ecosystem players serving SMBs.

• Develop joint go-to-market plans with partners, including commercial constructs, sales plays, enablement programs and demand generation initiatives.

• Own key business metrics including partner-sourced revenue, advertiser acquisition, pipeline generation, reseller productivity and partner retention. Drive advertiser acquisition volumes via partners, ensuring funnel contribution targets (e.g., IPL cycles) are met.

• Enable partner sales teams through training, playbooks, pitch collateral and ongoing performance management.

• Work closely with Self Serve, Product, Marketing, Finance, Legal and Operations teams to ensure seamless partner onboarding and execution.

• Analyse business performance, derive insights from data and continuously optimise partner programs and growth initiatives.

• Represent JioHotstar in executive-level discussions with strategic partners and senior stakeholders, building visibility and credibility with partners and SMB communities.

Skills & Attributes for success

• Proven ability to build and scale partner ecosystems (resellers) with measurable impact on advertiser acquisition.

• Strong commercial acumen: able to structure deals, incentives, and joint GTM motions that balance partner and JioStar objectives.

• Strong account planning and consultative selling capabilities with experience managing senior stakeholder relationships.

• Experience developing and executing joint go-to-market motions with enterprise partners.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to leverage data to inform strategy and decision-making.

• Entrepreneurial, with bias for execution and comfort in building 0 to 1 initiatives in high-growth environments.

• Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills.

• High ownership, bias for action, agility and result orientation.

• Ability to thrive in fast-paced and evolving business environments.

Preferred Education & Experience

• 7-10 years of experience across partnerships, business development, enterprise sales, advertising or AdTech.

• Prior industry experience in AdTech, MarTech, digital media or internet businesses.

• Experience working with SMB-focused ecosystems, commerce platforms, digital agencies or D2C brands.

• Exposure to building partner-led growth channels in a high-growth technology environment.

• MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification from a reputed institution is preferred.