Partnerships Manager — Commission & Variable Comp System
Purpose: Define how Brainforge pays variable compensation for the internal Partnerships Manager role: what counts, how credit splits work, cadence, and how this differs from a pure quota-carrying AE or a conversion-only closer role.
Audience: Leadership, Finance, whoever owns Sales Ops / CRM truth, the hire, and recruiting (for offer letters and OTE modeling).
Last updated: 2026-04-12
1. Role context at Brainforge
- Partnerships are a primary growth channel (historically a large share of revenue has been partnership-attributed; treat the exact percentage as internal finance fact, not a public recruiting claim unless verified for the current period).
- The role has been described externally as partnerships manager with some “founding AE” expectations: own relationships, build pipeline, and advance partner-sourced or partner-influenced deals—not only program administration.
- Design implication: Variable comp should be meaningful (enough to matter quarter to quarter) but still governable: clear numeric hooks where possible, MBOs for strategic work that does not land in the same quarter as revenue.
Boundary — different role: A commission-based GTM close partner (conversion + close alongside leadership, deal-stage ownership) is a separate comp design. This document is for the partnerships / channel / alliance owner. If one person combines both hats later, use two weighted scorecards with explicit % of variable assigned to each hat—do not blend silently.
2. Design principles
- At least one slice of variable ties to a numeric revenue or pipeline outcome (e.g. partner-attributed booked revenue, or “through partner” ARR/SOW value—Finance picks the recognition definition).
- MBOs cover the rest: certifications, tier status, new strategic partners onboarded, joint marketing, case studies, AE propagation, CRM hygiene for partner SQLs.
- Pay variable quarterly (with optional small monthly “draw true-up” only if legally/payroll appropriate—default is quarterly).
- Crediting rules are written, versioned, and agreed by Finance + Sales Ops before the quarter starts; disputes use that doc, not Slack threads.
- Caps and floors: Use caps on pure % of revenue to avoid runaway payouts on a single whale deal; use a small guaranteed MBO pool floor only if needed for retention in year one (optional).
3. Typical market structure (calibration, not the offer)
Useful benchmarks for BD / strategic partner roles (agencies, holding companies, vendor alliance roles):
| Dimension | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Base vs variable (total comp) | Often ~70–85% base / 15–30% variable when the role is not a full quota AE; higher variable if they own a hard revenue number. |
| On-target variable (illustrative by level) | Manager: ~40k OTE variable · Director: ~75k · VP: ~150k+** (geo and quota ownership swing this heavily). |
| If paid as % of revenue | Often ~1–3% of eligible revenue (sometimes on margin or agency fee, not gross pass-through media); frequently capped per deal or per year. |
Brainforge can sit above the light-agency variable band if the hire truly owns partner pipeline + co-sell like a founding AE—then model closer to 30–50% of cash comp as variable only if Finance is comfortable with forecast risk and definitions are tight.
4. Recommended variable mix (scorecard)
Split 100% of the target variable across three buckets (adjust percentages per offer letter):
| Bucket | % of target variable (example) | What it rewards |
|---|---|---|
| A — Revenue / booking outcomes | 40–60% | Dollars (or recognized revenue) that meet partner attribution rules (§6). |
| B — Pipeline & conversion quality | 20–35% | Partner-sourced SQLs, qualified joint opportunities, win-rate / stage advancement on attributed opps (leading indicators). |
| C — Strategic MBOs | 15–30% | Partner program health: onboarding top-tier partners, tier upgrades, certifications, joint GTM artifacts, executive cadence, agreed proof points. |
Rule of thumb: If A is below 40%, the role will feel like operations, not ownership—fine for a pure program manager, not aligned with “founding AE” framing.
5. MBO library (pick 4–6 per half; score 0–100% each)
Assign each MBO a weight within bucket C (weights sum to 100% for that bucket).
Examples:
| ID | MBO | Example measure |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Strategic partner activation | N partners moved from “testing” to “active” with signed joint plan + 90-day goal (repo + CRM evidence). |
| C2 | Hyperscaler / platform dials | Snowflake-class: PM cadence, cert inventory, AE brief freshness, consumption narrative accuracy (per hyperscaler approach). |
| C3 | Joint pipeline | $ or # of qualified joint opps logged with partner field + stage rules (HubSpot). |
| C4 | Co-marketing & proof | Case studies, webinars, joint one-pagers shipped with partner logo and agreed distribution. |
| C5 | Internal enablement | # of AE/SA sessions run, rep-facing assets adopted, rep intro velocity (aggregate from tracker). |
| C6 | Data truth | Control Centers + digest inputs updated on schedule; partner SQL tagging quality (audits). |
Scoring: Each MBO graded 0 / 50 / 100 or 0–100 with pre-agreed rubric in a one-page QBR scorecard filed in the same folder as this doc (or Notion) within 15 days of quarter end.
6. Attribution & crediting (bucket A and part of B)
6.1 Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Partner-sourced | Partner rep or program introduced Brainforge to the account (warm intro, partner portal lead, or partner meeting where Brainforge was positioned as services partner) before Brainforge’s first substantive sales meeting, with CRM proof (contact log + partner field). |
| Partner-influenced | Partner materially advanced the deal (exec sponsor, co-sell, workshop, marketplace listing, or partner AE attached) but was not the original source. |
| House-sourced / partner-assisted | Brainforge sourced the deal; partner helped late stage. Default: eligible for smaller split or none for bucket A—Finance decides. |
6.2 Credit split matrix (example — set in offer letter)
| Attribution | % of eligible booking counted toward PM variable pool | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Partner-sourced | 100% of eligible amount | Subject to cap (§7). |
| Partner-influenced | 40–70% | Needs named partner touch in CRM within 90 days of close. |
| House-sourced, partner-assisted | 0–25% | Only if pre-approved list of “assisted” motions (e.g. Snowflake consumption commit). |
Multi-party deals: If AE + Partnerships Manager + CEO all touch the deal, split fixed percentage points of the variable pool for that deal (not double-count full revenue to multiple people). Example: PM gets X% of eligible revenue per §7; AE commission scheme unchanged if AE is on separate plan.
6.3 Eligible revenue
Finance defines eligible revenue (examples: SOW/agency fee, recognized revenue net of pass-through, first-year only vs multi-year). Exclusions should be listed: reseller media, expenses rebilled, affiliates already on separate referral fee, etc.
7. Revenue-based payout mechanics (bucket A)
7.1 Default formula family
Pick one primary model (document in the offer):
Model 1 — % of eligible booking (capped)
[ \text{Payout}\text{deal} = \min(\text{Cap}\text{deal},\ \text{Eligible Booking} \times r) ]
- (r) = 1.0–3.0% for partner-sourced (typical industry); lower for influenced.
- Cap per deal = mandatory unless deal sizes are small (prevents one outlier from blowing the plan).
Model 2 — Tiered accelerator on rolling 4-quarter partner-attributed bookings
| % of annual partner-attributed target hit | Effective rate on incremental eligible $ |
|---|---|
| 0–100% | Base rate (r) |
| 100–120% | (1.25r) |
| 120%+ | (1.5r) (optional hard stop) |
Accelerators apply only after Finance confirms recognized revenue or booked SOW per plan rules.
7.2 Underperformance
- Below 50% of bucket-A target for two consecutive quarters: leadership review (coaching, plan reset, or PIP trigger—HR owns template).
- MBO-only bailouts: Avoid paying 100% variable on MBOs when revenue is near zero unless explicitly a ramp-quarter exception documented in writing.
8. Pipeline metrics (bucket B)
Use HubSpot (or system of record) fields:
- Partner-sourced SQL = source = partner list + meeting held + ICP fit flag (if you have one).
- Qualified joint opp = opp stage ≥ agreed threshold + partner field populated + next step within 14 days.
Pay quarterly as % attainment against targets (e.g. 10 SQLs / $2M joint pipeline)—not per-deal commission, to reduce gaming.
9. Administration & governance
| Item | Owner |
|---|---|
| Quarterly variable worksheet | Finance + Partnerships Manager self-submit; Finance validates |
| CRM field definitions | Sales Ops |
| “Attribution disputes” | CEO or delegated revenue council; ≤ 5 business days after quarter close |
| Plan changes | Written addendum; no retroactive changes mid-quarter |
Artifacts to maintain each quarter:
- Export: opps with partner attribution + stage history.
- One-page scorecard: buckets A/B/C with numeric result vs target.
- Payout memo (internal) with check amount derivation.
10. Offer letter checklist (recruiting + legal)
- OTE split: base ____ + target variable ____
- Bucket weights (A/B/C) = ____% / ____% / ____%
- Partner-sourced vs influenced rates (or table)
- Eligible revenue definition + exclusions
- Per-deal cap ____ and annual variable cap ____ (if any)
- Ramp: Q1 50% targets / pro-rated MBOs (example—customize)
- Separation: variable earned through last day of quarter, paid on normal cycle after validation
11. Related internal docs
| Doc | Why |
|---|---|
| Partnership ops system | Cadence, Control Centers, digest—where MBO evidence lives |
| WBR metric source map | Partner SQL / funnel truth sources |
| Snowflake hyperscaler approach | Example of “platform dials” that become MBOs |
12. Revision history
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-12 | Initial commission system (v0.1) for Partnerships Manager role |