Cars.com is seeking a dynamic, self-motivated business professional to join the Strategy and Business Development (SBD) team and lead partnership management for traffic distribution partners. This newly created role will report to the Senior Manager in Strategy and Business Development and has high visibility to external partners as well various internal stakeholders (Marketing, Legal, Operations, and Technology teams). It presents a lucrative opportunity for the ideal candidate to make an immediate impact, and build a long-term career as a business development professional in the online automotive industry.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage a portfolio of partners that drive incremental traffic, audience activity and strategic business value for Cars.com. Responsibilities include building strong relationships with partners, processing requisite month-end reports, authorizing and processing invoices, and resolving issues, and removing roadblocks to value creation.
• Work in collaboration with internal stakeholders to ensure that partnership terms are adhered to and contract execution matches plan.
• Forecast and manage partnership activities as per goals and keep internal stakeholders informed.
• Conduct analytics by bringing together web metrics and business performance data to evaluate partnership enhancement opportunities and support long-term growth of strategic partnerships.
• Be the primary point of contact for existing partners and deliver superlative experience through clear communication, effective management of expectations, and drive for business results.

 REQUIRED SKILLS

• Strong understanding of creating process workflows, and discipline for methodical execution to get things done in most efficient way while maintaining focus on high priority items
• Candidate should have strong customer focus, negotiation skills, and knowledge of business contracts.
• This position requires attention to detail and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Candidate should be able to work well under pressure in dealings with internal and external stakeholders
• The ability to keep key internal and external participants informed is critical, as the individual will be interacting regularly with co-workers and external partner teams. These interactions will occur via phone, email, and in-person, therefore requiring strong professional verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong analytical skills and structured approach to problem solving are pre-requisites for the position.
• Strong networking and relationship building skills to uncover new opportunities and market intelligence.
• Candidate must be comfortable with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel. Exposure to Business Intelligence tools (SAP Business Objects), Web analytics (Omniture), basic statistical analysis will be preferable. Exposure to CRM (Salesforce.com), LinkedIn, etc. would be beneficial.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics etc. with 2-4 years of relevant professional experience (partnership management, account management, other client-facing roles) is required
• Past experience in Project and Partnership or Client management is required.
• Past experience in digital industry is required. Experience in online automotive category would be preferred.