Alliances & Channels Leader

Alliances & Channels Leader

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office-based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

We have new senior leadership opportunities in our Global Alliances and Channels organisations, to lead business development and partnership with some of the most important actors in the global technology sector. As the publisher of Ubuntu and a leading provider of open source to major technology firms globally, Canonical works across a broad partner ecosystem that includes global system integrators, value-added resellers, regional distributors, independent software vendors, independent hardware vendors, silicon companies, public clouds and other strategic technology brands.

These partners shape the platforms, solutions, marketplaces, hardware and delivery motions through which enterprises adopt open source at scale. We are looking for exceptional partner leaders who can build durable, mutually valuable relationships, develop joint solutions, drive global go-to-market programmes, and convert partner potential into measurable customer impact, revenue growth and market expansion for Canonical.

Opportunities are available for both people leaders and senior individual contributors. In these roles, you will lead, build or scale one or more strategic partner motions for Canonical, either by managing a team or by directly driving high-impact partner initiatives. You will work closely with partners throughout their sales, product, delivery and executive planning cycles to make Canonical their trusted partner for enterprise open source solutions. Depending on your experience and Canonical’s business priorities, your focus may include Channels, GSI, ISV, IHV/OEM, Silicon, Cloud or cross-ecosystem partnerships.

Our Alliances and Channels teams build trusted relationships with partners at executive level, increase Canonical market share and attach rate, evangelise the partnership, and lead business interactions from engineers to CxO level. This role will own strategy, sell-to, sell-through and sell-with motions across assigned partners or sectors, as well as promotion of partner-related activities, from campaigns, enablement and executive engagement, to strategic opportunities and partner events.

Location: These are globally remote positions.

The role entails

Own and drive partner strategy, forecast, bookings and revenues for Canonical across one or more indirect routes to market

Lead and evolve a team or strategic partner portfolio towards accelerated revenue growth and market impact

Build strategic relationships with global and regional partners at executive levels

Design and execute joint go-to-market plans with partners, sales, product management, product marketing and engineering teams

Develop partner capability through sales engagement, technical enablement, joint marketing and disciplined business planning

Guide our offering from product management, to product marketing, and scale it through the support of our global sales organisation

Establish operating cadence, pipeline governance and data-driven accountability across complex partner relationships

What we are looking for in you:

10+ years of experience in alliance, channel, partner, ecosystem or indirect sales management roles

Experience in one or more of GSIs, VARs, distributors, ISVs, IHVs/OEMs, silicon, public cloud, marketplaces or strategic technology alliances

Deep commercial experience encompassing revenue, margins, pipeline, forecasting and partner economics

Proven leadership and presentation skills, with the ability to engage confidently from engineer to CxO level

Ability to build trusted executive relationships while aligning product, sales, marketing, engineering and operations teams

Insight into open source, Ubuntu, enterprise infrastructure, cloud, AI, security and Canonical’s competition and opportunities

Track record of data-driven decision-making and disciplined execution across complex, global relationships