Motional
Senior Partnership Development Manager, Direct Procurement
Job Summary
The role involves building and nurturing high-value strategic partnerships with external stakeholders to support Motional's autonomous vehicle technology. It requires extensive experience in sourcing, procurement, or supply chain management, with strong relationship-building and communication skills. The candidate will collaborate across engineering, product, legal, and business teams to align partner activities and develop innovative collaboration models. Fluency in Korean and English, along with a strategic mindset and experience managing complex stakeholder environments, are essential for success in this position.
Required Skills
Benefits
Job Description
Mission Summary
At Motional, we’re building the future of autonomous mobility—and we recognize that our success relies not just on cutting-edge technology, but on the strength of our strategic partnerships. As a Senior Partnership Development Manager, reporting to the Director, Direct Procurement, you will play a key role in identifying, building, and nurturing high-value relationships with external partners that enable Motional to bring innovative vehicle hardware and systems to market.
This role is ideal for a relationship-focused professional with a background in sourcing, procurement, or supply chain who thrives on cross-functional collaboration and long-term business alignment. You won’t just manage vendors—you’ll develop partnerships that deliver innovation, reduce risk, and unlock long-term strategic value.
**Seeking West Coast based applicants who are fluent in Korean & English**
What you'll be doing
- Build Strategic Business Partnerships: Identify and cultivate meaningful, trust-based relationships with key external partners—focusing on long-term collaboration, co-innovation, and shared goals beyond transactional supply.
- Act as a Relationship Leader: Serve as the main interface between Motional and selected partners, guiding engagement across technical, commercial, and operational workstreams to ensure mutual success.
- Drive Alignment Across Teams: Collaborate internally with Engineering, Product, Program Management, and Legal to align partner activities with Motional’s roadmap, requirements, and timelines.
- Facilitate Early Engagement: Proactively involve partners in early stages of technology or product development to ensure design feasibility, accelerate development, and create mutual investment in outcomes.
- Shape Commercial Collaboration Models: Work with internal stakeholders to define partnership structures—development agreements, joint initiatives, risk-sharing models—that go beyond traditional sourcing or procurement approaches.
- Monitor Relationship Health: Track and assess the performance and health of key partnerships using structured frameworks, feedback loops, and strategic reviews. Address friction points constructively to preserve long-term value.
What we're looking for
- 8+ years in strategic partnerships, sourcing, procurement, supply chain, finance roles, ideally within automotive, technology, or advanced manufacturing sectors
- Fluency in both Korean and English (required)
- Proven success building high-value, cross-functional external relationships
- Experience navigating complex stakeholder environments across engineering, business, and legal teams
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Supply Chain, International Studies or a related field
- Advanced degree (MBA, MS) is a plus
- Exceptional relationship-building and communication skills
- Strategic mindset with the ability to see and articulate shared value
- Strong commercial acumen and understanding of how technical and business goals intersect
- Comfortable working across ambiguous, evolving technical programs
Bonus points (not required):
- Experience with autonomous vehicles, EVs, or advanced hardware ecosystems
- Familiarity with co-development, licensing, or joint venture structures
- Ability to translate technical concepts into business impact
- Background in innovation partnerships or ecosystem development
Why should you join us?
- If you’re energized by the idea of shaping strategic partnerships that drive transformational technology, we’d love to hear from you—even if your background doesn’t match every bullet point. We value potential, passion, and a collaborative spirit.
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.
Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.
Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more.
Our journey is always people first.
We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move.
Higher purpose, greater impact.
We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do.
Scale up, not starting up.
Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges.
Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.
Motional
Motional harnesses deep industry experience in our mission to develop and deploy autonomous vehicles and to make driverless technology safe and reliable.
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