Strategic Partnerships - Senior Manager

Food has lost its soul to modern convenience. And with it, it has lost the power to nourish, inspire, and connect us. So in 2018, CookUnity was founded as the first-of-its-kind platform that connects the world with the source of truly great food: chefs. Today, CookUnity delivers 50 million meals a year from the industry’s best chefs to homes all over the country. Fresh. Ready-to-eat. And crafted with the passion that nourishes body and soul.

Unwilling to stop there, CookUnity is expanding beyond delivery to become an ever-innovating marketplace focused on our singular mission: empower Chefs to nourish the world.

If that mission has you hungry in more ways than one, you’ve found the right job posting.

The Strategic Partnerships team is responsible for building and scaling CookUnity’s most important external relationships — partnerships that extend our reach, unlock new channels, and accelerate our mission to empower chefs to nourish the world. The team operates with an entrepreneurial, owner-operator mindset, blending commercial rigor with cross-functional execution to turn partnerships into durable, high-growth businesses.

This role will report directly to the Head of Strategic Partnerships and will serve as the dedicated business owner of major strategic partnerships.

You will work closely with the Strategic Partnerships team and partner cross-functionally with product, operations, marketing, finance, and supply chain teams to ensure the partnership hits its commercial and operational goals.

As the Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships, you will own the end-to-end performance of CookUnity's full portfolio of strategic partnerships. You are the internal general manager of these partnerships — accountable for their P&L, growth trajectories, and the health of each external relationship.

You will drive the ongoing performance of each partnership — hitting targets, evolving commercial and operational models, deepening relationships with external stakeholders, and orchestrating internal teams to deliver a best-in-class partner experience. Success in this role means every partnership in the portfolio grows, matures, and compounds in value over time.

• →Own full P&L responsibility for the partnership post-launch, including revenue, margin, and growth targets.
• →Serve as the primary day-to-day relationship owner with the external partner’s key points of contact across commercial, operational, and executive levels.
• →Define and execute the post-launch growth roadmap — identifying opportunities to expand scope, volume, geographies, product offerings, or commercial terms over time.
• →Translate partnership goals into quarterly and annual operating plans, with clear KPIs, forecasts, and performance dashboards.
• →Orchestrate internal cross-functional teams (product, operations, supply chain, marketing, finance, customer experience, legal) to deliver on partnership commitments and SLAs.
• →Lead regular business reviews (weekly, monthly, QBRs) with the external partner, including agenda setting, performance reporting, issue resolution, and strategic planning. 
• →Proactively identify and resolve operational issues that could put partnership performance or the partner relationship at risk.
• →Surface insights and feedback from the partnership back into CookUnity’s product, operations, and commercial roadmaps.
• →Negotiate and manage commercial amendments, renewals, and expansions in partnership with legal and finance.
• →Build the internal reporting cadence and executive narrative around the partnership’s performance and strategic value.
• →Represent CookUnity in external meetings, on-sites, and industry events tied to the partnership.

• 5+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, partner/account management, business development, consulting, business analytics, or general management roles with P&L ownership.
• Proven track record of owning and growing a complex commercial relationship or business line, ideally post-launch or post-deal.
• Strong commercial and analytical acumen — comfortable owning a P&L, building forecasts, and using data to drive decisions.
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership skills; able to influence without authority and align product, ops, marketing, and finance around shared outcomes.
• Outstanding relationship management and executive communication skills, including experience as the face of a business to senior external stakeholders.
• Operator’s mindset: willing to get into the details, unblock issues, and build the plane while flying it.
• Experience in food, CPG, marketplaces, retail, hospitality, or other operationally complex industries is a plus.
• Entrepreneurial and adaptable to evolving partnership dynamics and shifting priorities.

We believe great leadership starts with alignment on vision, values, and ways of working. To give you deeper insight into who we are and what we’re looking for, we invite you to explore: CookUnity’s Leadership Principles – The values and behaviors that guide how we operate, collaborate, and scale.

We hope this provides valuable insight into our culture and product vision. If this excites you, we’d love to connect!