Data Partnership Specialist

Join Handshake AI as a Data Partnership Specialist, where you'll be responsible for sourcing, pitching, negotiating, and closing data partnerships with companies and institutions. You'll work closely with frontier lab researchers and enterprise leaders, translating their needs into signed, recurring, compliant partnerships. This is a senior, high-ownership role with clear KPIs and the opportunity to make a significant impact in the AI industry.

• Identifying, pitching, negotiating, and closing data partnerships with companies and institutions.
• Translating between frontier lab researchers and enterprise leaders to turn data requirements into target-partner profiles.
• Managing senior stakeholder relationships, often at the C-suite, through long and technical sales cycles.
• Background at a data or AI company
• Structured problem-solver: you can break an ambiguous mandate into a plan, build the analysis behind it, and drive it to a decision
• A record of owning outcomes against a number or a quota (revenue, deal value, or client targets) with concrete results you can point to
• Driven by measurable impact and high standards; you thrive under pressure rather than fold under it
• Strong commercial and structuring instinct, with the judgment to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder deals
• Sharp written communication and the polish to represent Handshake AI to its most demanding partners
• An existing network among enterprise data, CIO, or CDO buyers
• Background at a top-tier strategy consulting firm (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) or investment bank, especially with deal or client-leadership exposure
• Working understanding of data privacy, security, and compliance, or the ability to get there fast
• Comfortable in the room with senior executives, and able to earn their trust quickly. You can run a C-suite conversation and a technical one with lab researchers in the same week
• Experience in data licensing, data sourcing, or selling data, or direct work with frontier AI labs
• Familiarity with Salesforce, Outreach, Gong, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or ZoomInfo
• 1-4+ years in a high-performance, client-facing environment: management consulting (MBB or equivalent), investment banking, partnerships, business development, enterprise sales, or strategic/data deals.