a job with sb
He had a job with a wine merchant.

Does this sentence mean that he was employed by the merchant or that the merchant was his business partner?

Question

a job with sb
He had a job with a wine merchant.

Does this sentence mean that he was employed by the merchant or that the merchant was his business partner?

Answer

It means that he was he was employed by the merchant.[ "with" gives you the hint]
If he was a partner,  the sentence would read: He was in business with the wine merchant/ He was in partnership with the wine merchant

Answer

He was employed by the wine merchant. The word "job" implies this.