B2B Partnership consultant

B2B Partnerships Consultant — Build Our Partnership & Channel Strategy for a UK SaaS Startup About the Company We are an early-stage UK SaaS company helping small businesses manage their regulatory and compliance obligations through a simple digital platform. We are building a scalable compliance solution for UK sole traders and micro-businesses operating in sectors such as trades, beauty & wellness, food & hospitality, fitness, childcare, property and other regulated or higher-risk industries. We are now looking for an experienced B2B Partnerships Consultant to help us develop and execute our partnership strategy. This is not a generic sales role. We are specifically looking for someone who understands how to build B2B2B distribution, referral, reseller, strategic alliance and channel partnerships that can create a repeatable source of customers. What We Need Help With We want to understand: * Which types of organisations are the strongest potential partners * Why those organisations would partner with us * What commercial model should be offered to each partner type * How the partnership should be structured * How partners should refer, resell, embed or distribute our platform * What the partner journey should look like from initial contact through to revenue * Which partnerships we should prioritise first * How we can create a scalable partnership programme rather than relying on one-off relationships Potential Partner Categories We are particularly interested in exploring partnerships with organisations such as: * Accountancy firms * Bookkeeping firms * Insurance brokers and commercial insurance intermediaries * Trade associations and professional bodies * Business consultants * HR and employment advisory firms * Health & safety consultants * Compliance consultants * Sector-specific software platforms * Payment and business service providers * Industry networks and membership organisations * Franchise or multi-location business networks * Other SaaS companies serving UK small businesses We are open to other partnership opportunities if you can demonstrate a strong strategic rationale. Your Role You will work directly with the founder to help develop the company’s B2B partnership function. Your responsibilities may include: 1. Partnership Strategy Develop a practical partnership strategy covering: * Ideal partner profiles * Partner segmentation * Partnership prioritisation * Partnership value propositions * Commercial models * Referral structures * Reseller models * Strategic alliances * Potential embedded/API partnership opportunities * Partner acquisition strategy * Partner onboarding and enablement 2. Partnership Opportunity Mapping Research and identify high-value potential partners within the UK market. We don’t simply want a large spreadsheet of companies. We want to understand which organisations are genuinely capable of distributing our platform to their existing customer base and why. For priority partner categories, we want you to assess: * Customer overlap * Commercial incentive * Distribution potential * Strategic fit * Ease of integration * Expected sales cycle * Potential customer volume * Partnership complexity 3. Partnership Proposition Help us develop compelling propositions for different partner types. For example: Accountants: A way to provide additional compliance support to their small-business clients without having to build an internal compliance service. Insurance brokers: A potential mechanism for helping commercial clients organise and evidence compliance-related documentation. Trade associations: A member benefit that provides practical compliance support to their members. The consultant should be able to translate our product into a commercially compelling partner proposition, rather than simply describing product features. 4. Partnership Commercial Models Help us determine appropriate models such as: * Referral partnerships * Revenue share * Commission * Reseller partnerships * White-label opportunities * Co-branded partnerships * Embedded partnerships * Strategic alliances We want commercially realistic recommendations based on your experience, not theoretical frameworks. 5. Outreach & Partnership Development Where appropriate, help us develop: * Partner outreach messaging * Partnership pitch decks * Email sequences * LinkedIn outreach * Discovery-call structures * Partnership proposals * Negotiation frameworks * Follow-up processes We may also ask you to participate in selected partner conversations. What Success Looks Like The goal is to build a repeatable partnership acquisition channel. A successful engagement could result in: 1. A clearly defined partner strategy 2. Prioritised partner categories 3. A strong partner value proposition 4. Recommended commercial models 5. A target partner pipeline 6. Partnership outreach systems 7. Initial conversations with qualified organisations 8. Signed pilot or referral partnerships 9. A repeatable process that our internal team can continue operating Who We’re Looking For You should have genuine experience in B2B SaaS partnerships, channel sales, strategic alliances or business development. Strong candidates will have experience with one or more of: * SaaS partnerships * Channel partnerships * Referral programmes * Reseller programmes * B2B2B distribution * Embedded SaaS partnerships * Strategic alliances * Partnership-led growth * Indirect sales channels Ideally, you have personally taken partnerships from: Strategy → Target Identification → Outreach → Negotiation → Agreement → Onboarding → Revenue We are particularly interested in people who have worked with SME-focused SaaS products or business services. Experience within the UK market is highly desirable. What We Are NOT Looking For This is important. We are not primarily looking for: * A generic lead-generation specialist * Someone who only sends cold emails * A traditional commission-only salesperson * Someone who produces theoretical strategy documents without execution * Someone who simply provides lists of potential partners We need someone who understands how partnerships actually work commercially. You should be comfortable challenging our assumptions and telling us when a partnership idea is unlikely to work. Initial Engagement We are an early-stage company, so the initial engagement will be project-based/consulting-focused. We are open to extending the relationship if there is a strong fit and the consultant demonstrates the ability to create meaningful partnership opportunities. You will work directly with the founder and have significant influence over how our partnership function is built. To Apply Please tell us: 1. What B2B SaaS partnerships have you personally built? 2. What types of partners have you worked with? 3. Have you built referral, reseller, channel or embedded partnerships? 4. Give us one example of a partnership you created and the commercial outcome. 5. How would you approach building the first 10–20 strategic partnerships for an early-stage UK SaaS company serving small businesses? 6. What partnership models would you initially consider for a UK compliance SaaS product serving small businesses? 7. Please provide examples of relevant work, case studies or results where possible. We care more about demonstrated partnership-building experience and commercial judgement than impressive job titles.