Enterprise Partnerships Manager

Overview Inferact's mission is to grow vLLM as the world's AI inference engine and accelerate AI progress by making inference cheaper and faster. Founded by the creators and core maintainers of vLLM, we sit at the intersection of models and hardware, a position that took years to build. About the Role We're looking for an Enterprise Partnerships Manager to own and grow Inferact's strategic relationships across the hardware and infrastructure ecosystem. Inferact works closely with major GPU and semiconductor partners, including organizations such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel, through commercial relationships that are strategically important to the company and require dedicated ownership beyond the technical work itself. You'll serve as the commercial owner for a focused set of complex enterprise partnerships, coordinating across partner stakeholders and Inferact's engineering, product, legal, finance, and leadership teams. This role requires someone who understands open-source software, can navigate GPU and infrastructure ecosystems, and can operate comfortably between large enterprises and a fast-moving startup. The goal is to keep strategic partnerships moving, make the relationships easier to operate, and ensure they create leverage rather than drag for the core business. Existing partnerships are the immediate priority. Over time, you'll proactively reach out to new potential partners, including emerging accelerator companies, to build relationships and gather market intelligence even when no immediate formal partnership is planned. Skills and Qualifications Minimum qualifications: - Experience owning strategic partnerships, business development, enterprise accounts, or ecosystem relationships with large technology companies. - Strong commercial judgment with experience managing complex agreements, partner economics, multi-stakeholder negotiations, and ongoing relationship execution. - Experience working with GPU providers, hardware companies, cloud infrastructure partners, AI infrastructure vendors, or closely adjacent technical ecosystems. - Understanding of open-source software and the commercial dynamics that emerge when open-source technology sits at the center of a broader hardware and infrastructure ecosystem. - Ability to navigate complex enterprise organizations, identify the real decision-makers and dependencies, and maintain momentum across technical, legal, procurement, finance, and executive stakeholders. - Ability to operate with high autonomy in a startup where partnership structures, internal processes, and strategic priorities are still evolving. You should be comfortable researching prospects and initiating outreach yourself, without relying on an SDR. - Strong written and verbal communication with the ability to synthesize complex partner context into clear decisions, recommendations, and action plans. Preferred qualifications: - Direct experience managing relationships with companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, hyperscalers, GPU clouds, semiconductor companies, or infrastructure providers. - Experience in AI infrastructure, model serving, developer infrastructure, open-source platforms, cloud computing, semiconductors, or enterprise technical partnerships. - Prior startup or high-growth company experience, especially where enterprise partners were materially larger and more complex than the company itself. - Experience coordinating commercial partnerships that also involve meaningful technical delivery, engineering dependencies, or joint product work. - Strong executive communication skills and the ability to represent a highly technical company credibly with senior external stakeholders. Bonus points if you have: - Managed a major hardware or cloud partner from initial commercial agreement through delivery, expansion, and executive relationship management. - Worked in an open-source company where partners, customers, contributors, and potential competitors frequently overlapped. - Built operating cadences, account plans, and internal coordination mechanisms for a small set of strategically critical enterprise relationships. - Negotiated or managed high-value commercial agreements with technically complex deliverables and multiple internal stakeholders. - Successfully moved from a larger technology company into an early-stage startup and demonstrated comfort with ambiguity, speed, and broad ownership. Logistics - Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California and is on-site. - Compensation: Compensation will be determined based on background, skills, and experience. Offers include equity. - Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas on a case-by-case basis. - Benefits: Inferact offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits as well as 401(k) company match.