Partner Development Manager - US Public Sector

Who are we?

Our mission is to scale intelligence to serve humanity. We’re training and deploying frontier models for developers and enterprises who are building AI systems to power magical experiences like content generation, semantic search, RAG, and agents. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI.

We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. We like to work hard and move fast to do what’s best for our customers.

Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are passionate about their craft. Each person is one of the best in the world at what they do. We believe that a diverse range of perspectives is a requirement for building great products.

Join us on our mission and shape the future!

Why this role?

Public sector adoption of GenAI is moving rapidly from pilots to production. Federal and state agencies are investing in generative-AI programs, creating a once-in-a-decade market inflection point. Policy tailwinds demand trusted and secure AI partners, which uniquely positions Cohere. Our SOTA foundational models are multilingual, enterprise-grade, and architectured for secure on-prem and air-gapped deployments—exactly what federal integrators and mission owners now require.

As the Partner Development Manager, you’ll build a public-sector practice with leading System Integrators, distributors and resellers, as well as consulting firms, influencing how GenAI is deployed across government, defense, civilian, and state/local and education departments

As our Partner Development Manager - Public Sector, you will:

• Define and execute Cohere’s public-sector partner-go-to-market plan, focusing on system integrators, distributors, resellers, ISVs, and cloud providers serving U.S. government and allied customers.

• Recruit, onboard, and certify partners to deploy and manage Cohere’s North platform and foundational LLMs.

• Own joint pipeline generation: create co-sell motions, solution plays, and capture strategies that map Cohere capabilities to agency mission needs and procurement cycles.

• Drive partner enablement through sales and technical workshops

• Run QBRs and joint business planning, tracking sourced and influenced ARR against targets.

• Serve as the voice of the partner back to Cohere Product, Engineering, and Legal—including feedback on security controls, export-compliance, and AI-ethics requirements.

• Navigate government AI policy to advise partners on risk management and responsible-AI best practices.

• Evangelize Cohere at partner and industry events and briefings to build thought leadership in responsible GenAI for the public sector.

The Partner Development Manager - Public Sector role is a good match for you if you have:

• 8+ years in public-sector partner, alliances, or capture roles within AI/ML, cloud, or cybersecurity domains, with a track record of enterprise ARR contribution.

• Deep knowledge of U.S. federal procurement and contracting vehicles, plus experience negotiating teaming agreements and managing proposal responses.

• Understanding of the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy in Canada and experience in FVEY and NATO partner GTM motions

• Working understanding of GenAI (LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, agentic workflows)

• Familiarity with AI policy and ethics frameworks and how they translate into secure development life-cycles.

• Existing relationships and/or a DoD Secret (or ability to obtain) clearance—critical for classified GenAI engagements

• Technical fluency and storytelling: you can demo a chatbot prototype, sketch a data-flow diagram, and brief executives

• Growth mindset and bias for action. You thrive in a start-up-speed environment and enjoy building programs from zero to one.

If some of the above doesn’t line up perfectly with your experience, we still encourage you to apply!

We value and celebrate diversity and strive to create an inclusive work environment for all. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please submit an Accommodations Request Form, and we will work together to meet your needs.

Full-Time Employees at Cohere enjoy these Perks:

🤝 An open and inclusive culture and work environment

🧑‍💻 Work closely with a team on the cutting edge of AI research

🍽 Weekly lunch stipend, in-office lunches & snacks

🦷 Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget to take care of your mental health

🐣 100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months

🎨 Personal enrichment benefits towards arts and culture, fitness and well-being, quality time, and workspace improvement

🏙 Remote-flexible, offices in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, London and Paris, as well as a co-working stipend

✈️ 6 weeks of vacation (30 working days!)