Business Development Manager (Industry Partners)

About the Role We’re looking for a Partnerships Manager (Industry & Associations) to own and scale our ecosystem of industry partners—trade associations, unions, peer groups, and non‑profits across the commercial MEP trades.This role sits at the intersection of go‑to‑market, marketing, and business development. You’ll be responsible for turning industry relationships into brand visibility, pipeline, and revenue by driving local chapter engagement, co‑hosted events and webinars, speaking opportunities, and referral motions with our AEs and segment leaders.
You’ll work closely with Revenue, Marketing, and the broader BD team to build repeatable motions that AEs and SDRs can run in their territories—backed by playbooks, clear processes, and simple, measurable goals.
Key Responsibilities 1. Industry & Association Partnerships: - Own day‑to‑day relationships with national and regional trade associations, unions, and peer groups (e.g., local NECA/ABC/SMACNA/IEC chapters and similar organizations).
- Evaluate and prioritize which organizations and chapters we should join, sponsor, or engage based on ICP fit and revenue potential.
- Negotiate and manage memberships, sponsorships, and benefits packages, ensuring BuildOps is positioned as a strategic, long‑term partner—not just a vendor.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for association staff and leadership, representing BuildOps with professionalism and clarity.   2. Pipeline & Revenue Generation:
- Partner with SDRs, AEs and Revenue leadership to build territory‑level association plans that translate into meetings, opportunities, and sourced/influenced pipeline.
- Design and support co‑marketing programs (webinars, workshops, chapter meetings, panel discussions, sponsor spots, etc.) that align to each organization’s goals and member pain points.
- Define and track simple, transparent KPIs for each partner (e.g., events run, attendees, sourced opportunities, influenced deals, attach to strategic/enterprise targets).
- Work with RevOps to ensure association‑sourced and ‑influenced opportunities are
properly tagged, tracked, and reported.
3. AE Enablement & Playbooks
- Maintain and iterate the Industry Partners hub and the Chapter Association Playbook so Revenue has one clear, self‑serve source of truth for:
- Which associations/peer groups we work with
- Who the internal/external points of contact are
- How to engage them (process, messaging, event calendars, do’s/don’ts)
- Introduce AEs to chapter leaders and coach them on how to run the play (discovery with the chapter, event evaluation questions, follow‑up, and measurement).
- Build light‑weight enablement assets (blurbs, one‑pagers, email templates, talk tracks) that chapters can use in newsletters, social posts, and event promotions.
- Partner with Marketing on content and speaker prep so sessions are educational, aligned to chapter “hot‑button” issues, and not product demos in disguise.
4. Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Marketing (events, brand/comms, field/ABM) to:
- Prioritize speaking opportunities
- Align topics to campaigns and segment strategy
- Ensure we show up with consistent, on‑brand materials
- Coordinate with Channel, ISVs, and Product Partnerships where it makes sense to feature joint stories (e.g., co‑sponsored events with integration partners or VARs).
- Ensure association and peer‑group motion is aligned to Rev leadership priorities (target segments, key accounts, and annual/quarterly GTM plays).
5. Operations, Budget & Reporting
- Own the budget and ROI view for industry and association programs:
- Track spend by organization, chapter, and event
- Report on meetings, opportunities, and revenue generated or influenced - Build simple, regular reporting for Rev and Marketing leadership on:
- What’s working (plays, topics, formats, orgs)
- What we should stop doing
- Where we should double down next quarter/year
- Keep internal systems up‑to‑date (Confluence, Google Docs, basic CRM fields) so GTM
teams can quickly see where and how we’re engaged.   What We’re Looking For
- 3+ years in B2B SaaS business development, partnerships, field marketing, or GTM—ideally with exposure to construction, skilled trades, or industrial sectors.
- Experience owning external relationships (associations, peer groups, consultants, or channel partners) and turning them into real pipeline—not just logo slides.
- Proven ability to plan and run programs end‑to‑end:
- Identify the right orgs and opportunities
- Structure a plan with clear goals
- Execute alongside Sales and Marketing
- Measure and communicate results
- Comfortable working directly with AEs, Rev leaders, and marketers, and able to “speak the language” of each.
- Strong project manageme