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Hire the best Heads of Partnerships in Germany matched in minutes from over 15,000 CVs with the power of AI

Build partner strategy, negotiate commercial terms, and turn alliances into pipeline, integrations, and market access. From SaaS and platform partnerships to channel and ecosystem programs, get fast, precise matching with vetted, available freelancers.

About the role

Partnership Strategy

A Head of Partnerships shapes how a company grows with other businesses. The work starts with clear partner fit, target segments, and a plan for how each alliance should create value. In Germany, this often means working across SaaS, industrial tech, fintech, mobility, and B2B services where credibility and execution matter.

Typical Deliverables

  • Partner strategy and market map
  • Outreach and qualification of potential partners
  • Commercial terms, deal structures, and joint business plans
  • Launch plans for channel, referral, or technology partnerships
  • Internal alignment with sales, product, legal, and marketing
  • Performance reviews and partner reporting

Core Skills

Strong Heads of Partnerships combine commercial thinking with relationship management. They can open doors, run structured negotiations, and keep deals moving without losing sight of long-term fit. Common tools and methods include CRM systems, partner pipeline tracking, joint planning docs, and clear governance for follow-up.

They also need a good feel for adjacent roles such as a Partnerships Lead, VP Partnerships, or Business Development lead. The title may change, but the work still centers on building and managing high-value external relationships.

When Freelancers Help

Companies bring in freelance partnership leaders when they need focus fast. That can be a new market entry, a partner program that is not gaining traction, a temporary gap in leadership, or support for a specific deal cycle.

  • Launching a new alliance or channel motion
  • Fixing an underperforming partner funnel
  • Preparing for strategic negotiations
  • Covering an interim vacancy
  • Building partner operations for a scale-up stage

What Good Looks Like

A strong Head of Partnerships is precise, calm, and commercially sharp. They know when a partner creates real leverage and when a deal only adds noise. They write clearly, manage stakeholders well, and keep commitments visible.

In Germany, this role often involves working with local decision-makers, mixed English and German communication, and coordination with teams that may sit on-site and remote. Good freelancers adapt quickly to that setting and keep the partnership process moving.

Tools And Outcomes

The best professionals do more than close introductions. They design repeatable partner motions, improve handoffs to sales and product, and make sure each relationship has a clear owner and next step.

  • CRM and partner pipeline management
  • Partner scorecards and review cadences
  • Joint go-to-market planning
  • Revenue or adoption tracking
  • Executive communication and stakeholder updates

Meet FRATCH Heads of Partnerships

Dr Daniel Steinberg

Director of Partner & Alliances, AI Use Cases, EMEA

Düsseldorf

Last position:

Director of Partner & Alliances, AI Use Cases, EMEA at Teradata Deutschland GmbH / Teradata Corporation EMEA

  • Define EMEA ISV Go-to-Market strategy to push indirect SaaS sales
  • Solve customer problems with AI embedding into new use cases and solutions
  • Build partner ecosystem and sell partner solutions to drive platform consumption
  • Enable cross-functional teams on AI use cases implementation
  • Manage a cross-functional team of 7 FTE
  • Built EMEA partner originated pipeline from scratch with 70 mn€ TCV and 20 mn€ ARR growth sales with cloud-based and hybrid solutions
  • Increased co-sell rate from 20% to 40% and co-delivery rate from 25% to over 50%
Dr Daniel Steinberg

Oliver Hickfang

Head of Partnerships

Berlin

Last position:

Head of Partnerships at Berlinale

  • Strategic and operational management: strategy, marketing, communications, sponsorship, lead management, growth campaigns as well as customer success, partly AI-supported

  • Setup and process design in CRM and customer journey

  • Design and implementation of proactive targeting strategies as well as innovative marketing initiatives based on market and KPI analyses

  • Stakeholder management with internal/external interfaces and agencies

  • Steering and monitoring of SEO/SEA campaigns as well as website relaunches, email automation, PR and content campaigns as well as various performance marketing and social media campaigns

  • Creation of the product value proposition as well as further development of the UX/UI of website and print materials

  • Selection, leadership and development of teams (up to 17 staff)

  • Participation in conferences and trade fairs as speaker and moderator

  • Tripled lead numbers through digitization of marketing and sales processes

  • Significant increase in profitability through optimization of the customer journey and marketing automation

  • New customer acquisition and business development through product extension and funnel optimization

Oliver Hickfang

Lars Studt

Commercial Growth Lead | Head of Marketing | Head of Partnerships

Hamburg

Last position:

Head of Marketing at 1000 Satellites GmbH

  • Responsible for the strategic realignment and development of the marketing function in a growth phase; led a team of five direct reports

  • Doubled media output with the same budget; increased Marketing Qualified Leads by 50% within six months

  • Sharpened brand positioning for new locations and offerings and incorporated it into an integrated go-to-market strategy

  • Designed and managed integrated demand generation initiatives to boost utilization and demand

  • Closely aligned marketing and sales to optimize the customer journey and conversion

  • Built a scalable digital marketing and systems landscape to support sustainable growth

Lars Studt

Sarah-Ly Lohmann

Strategic Partner for Brands | Global Event & Project Expertise | Driving Growth & Partnerships

Düsseldorf

Last position:

Senior Project Lead - global at Blome & Pillardy Event GmbH

  • Leading global events & live communication including planning, budget, contracts and supplier management
  • Strategic advice for clients, developing creative concepts and coordinating international teams
  • Ensuring quality, deadlines and budget, direct contact for clients and partners
Sarah-Ly Lohmann

Bernd Schmidl

Head of IT Business Applications & Partnerships

Groß-Gerau

Last position:

Head of IT Business Applications & Partnerships at Software AG

  • Strategic overall management of the global IT application landscape and further development of the roadmap for core applications (Salesforce, SAP, Workday, OpenAir, Jira)
  • Realignment of the IT architecture towards cloud-native (IaaS/SaaS) and establishment of an agile DevOps culture and process automation
  • Leading the IT application workstream for the successful separation of four business units (carve-outs)
  • Acting as a strategic business partner for C-level functions (COO, CRO, CHRO) to ensure IT-business alignment
  • Representing IT interests to employee representative bodies and ensuring compliance
  • Reduced maintenance effort by 66% by designing and rolling out a new customer portal
  • Implemented a fully automated CPQ self-service to accelerate sales processes
  • Successfully went live with critical business platforms to support the target operating model (e.g., Dayforce for HR/payroll, Coupa for P2P, Zuora for billing)
  • Replaced legacy custom software with scalable SaaS standard solutions (legacy modernization)
Bernd Schmidl

Sham Sara

Freelance strategic communications, project managerment, operations, stakholder partnerships, and events.

Berlin

Last position:

Office Director, Office of the EGM Strategic Communications & Engagement at Victorian Government

  • Chief of Staff and operational lead, helping scale a division from 6 to 57 staff, establishing structures, workflows, workforce planning, and internal communications to support growth.
  • Oversaw day-to-day operations, budget management (AUD $10M), executive briefings, and problem-solving across teams, removing operational pressure from senior leadership.
Sham Sara

Julia Jauß

Business Coach & Workshop Facilitator for IT Executives

Brannenburg

Last position:

Business Coach & Workshop Facilitator for IT Executives at Self-employed

  • Business coaching for founders and executives who have lost their drive, to help them develop clarity, vision, and motivation
  • Systemic coaching approach to empower leaders and teams to remove blocks and fully implement new strategies
  • Workshops and talks to define vision, values, and strategic realignment for IT SME leadership teams
  • Programs on mental health and burnout prevention specifically for the IT industry
  • Workshops on the topic of "quiet quitting"
Julia Jauß

Usman Latif

Senior Manager Brand Partnerships (GSA)

Berlin

Last position:

Senior Manager Brand Partnerships (GSA) at Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH

  • Management of cross-functional and independent KPI-based digital marketing campaigns and strategic collaborations between brands and Sony Music artists.
  • Established and maintained relationships with key clients such as Sony Electronics, Porsche and many more, resulting in increased customer loyalty.
  • Apache207 x Sony Electronics
  • Tate McRae x MCM
  • Anfisa x Gentle Monster
  • Liaising with the Vice President of Brand Partnerships to craft, execute, and monitor strategic plans and actions to achieve continuous improvement and drive sustainable business development.
Usman Latif

Juergen Sommer

Founder

Baunach

Last position:

Founder at SUSTAINact.de

  • Extend and co-innovate infrastructure solutions for SAP workloads with Open-Source software in Public-, Hybrid- and Multi Cloud environments
  • Sustainability consultancy - from workshops to reporting
  • Managing the SAP Alliance Team(s) and LinuxLab Team for ongoing success
  • Supporting customers in their sustainability journey, from strategy to implementation to reporting
  • Main focus on IT and Sustainable Business Development
Juergen Sommer

Sven Westermann

Head of Sales & Partnerships

Hamburg

Last position:

Head of Sales & Partnerships at aidhere GmbH

  • Responsibility for developing and executing the sales strategy and for the ongoing improvement and optimization of sales processes and activities
  • Disciplinary and technical leadership of the sales team, consisting of 5 field and 6 inside sales staff
  • Conducted job interviews, annual reviews, and training sessions for the continuous development of the team
  • Built and maintained relationships with key opinion leaders, sales partners, and insurance companies
  • Collaborated closely with the marketing team, for example in creating and planning campaigns and materials, as well as in forecasts and reporting
  • Represented the company at trade shows, conferences, and congresses
  • Reported to management on performance metrics and sales results
Sven Westermann

Discover over 15,000 top freelancers

Heads of Partnerships statistics

Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.

Experience

20 years

Position duration

2.8 years

Positions per freelancer

9

Top business areas

Marketing, Sales, Strategy

Top industries

Professional Services, Information Technology, Fashion

Certification focus areas

Quality Assurance, Human Resources, Information Technology

Bachelor's degree or higher

88%

Master's degree or higher

50%

Doctorate

13%

Certifications per freelancer

2

Most common languages

German, English, French

Speak two or more languages

100%

Daily Rate Distribution

0 1 2 3 4
<€800 €800-1200 €1200-1600 €1600+

The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers in this role are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.

Average rates for Heads of Partnerships & Seniority distribution

Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.

1000
750
500
250
Rate comparison chart
Daily rate avg. 898 €

The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.

1000
750
500
250
Rate comparison chart
Median rate 800 €

The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.

Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions? Learn key details about FRATCH right now

A Head of Partnerships finds, shapes, and runs external relationships that support growth. That usually includes partner strategy, outreach, negotiations, joint plans, and making sure internal teams can execute. The role is hands-on, not just networking.

The best candidates combine commercial judgment, negotiation skills, and strong stakeholder management. They should understand partner types such as channel, referral, technology, and ecosystem partners, and know how to turn an agreement into real activity. Clear communication and structured follow-up matter as much as deal-making.

A Partnerships Lead often focuses on day-to-day execution, while a VP Partnerships may own broader strategy and team leadership. Head of Partnerships usually sits between those levels, with direct responsibility for building and managing key partner relationships. In smaller companies, the titles are often used interchangeably.

A freelance Head of Partnerships makes sense when you need immediate focus for a launch, a strategic deal, or an interim gap. It also helps when the work is project-based or when you want senior expertise before committing to a long-term hire. That is common in scale-ups and teams entering a new market.

In Germany, a Head of Partnerships often works closely with local decision-makers, legal, sales, and product teams. Remote collaboration is common, but on-site workshops can help with alignment, especially for complex deals. English is often enough, but German can be important for local partner conversations.

A Head of Partnerships usually works in a CRM, partner pipeline tracker, and shared planning docs. They may also use dashboards for partner performance, meeting notes, and simple governance documents for reviews and responsibilities. The exact stack depends on whether the company runs channel, referral, or technology partnerships.

Look for proof that the Head of Partnerships has moved deals from first contact to active collaboration. Good candidates can explain how they qualified partners, handled objections, and created a repeatable process. Strong examples include clear commercial impact, clean stakeholder management, and realistic partner plans.

Projects with clear external goals are the best fit: partner program design, market entry support, alliance negotiation, or rebuilding a weak partner funnel. A Head of Partnerships is also useful when product, sales, and marketing need one person to connect the dots. If the work is ongoing and deeply embedded in daily management, a permanent hire may be better.

The average hourly rate for Heads of Partnerships in Germany is 112 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 898 € based on an 8-hour working day.

Of the freelancers working as Heads of Partnerships in Germany, 88% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 50% hold at least a Master's degree, and 13% hold a doctorate.

On average, freelancers working as Heads of Partnerships in Germany have 20 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.8 years.

The most common languages among freelancers working as Heads of Partnerships in Germany are German (100%), English (100%), and French (20%).

The most common industries among freelancers working as Heads of Partnerships in Germany are Professional Services (70%), Information Technology (60%), and Fashion (30%).

The most common business areas among freelancers working as Heads of Partnerships in Germany are Marketing (90%), Sales (90%), and Strategy (90%).

FRATCH Heads of Partnerships main locations

Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.

Berlin Hamburg Munich Cologne Frankfurt Stuttgart Dusseldorf Leipzig Dortmund Essen Bremen Dresden Hanover Nuremberg

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Philipp Thomaschewski

FRATCH CEO

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