Channel Partner Manager

Company: Canonical

About Canonical:

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems, with its platform Ubuntu widely used in enterprise initiatives like public cloud, data science, AI, and IoT. We are a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with over 1200 colleagues in 75+ countries. Canonical is founder-led, profitable, and growing.

About the Role:

Canonical is expanding its channel sales team to meet the growing demand from channel partners. This role requires a blend of farming and hunting capabilities, focusing on achieving assigned annual growth quotas. You will identify, prospect, and engage reseller and distributor partners, build relationships, and grow Canonical’s business within your territory. This is a startup-like environment requiring ownership and leadership in an unstructured setting. You must be comfortable selling open source, cloud, virtualization, and technical software solutions, and capable of participating in initial customer discovery calls and presentations.

The Role Entails:

• Develop and execute channel strategy for distributors and resellers within the assigned territory.
• Increase awareness of Canonical as a lead player in Open Source and Cloud technologies.
• Identify and recruit new potential partners in the assigned territory.
• Leverage personal network and prospecting skills to engage new partners and build on existing relationships.
• Guide partners through onboarding and enablement processes.
• Develop mutually beneficial go-to-market plans and commitments with partners.
• Arrange and execute sales and pre-sales trainings for resellers.
• Drive and manage channel pipeline through recurring partner interactions.
• Support partner satisfaction and act as a trusted advisor.
• Maintain regular contact frequency with priority resellers and distributors.

What We Are Looking For:

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a technology field.
• Experience in software or technology sales within the specified market.
• Fluency in English.
• Understanding of open source, Linux, and Ubuntu.
• Self-starter with a proven track record of achieving sales targets.
• Detail-oriented with strong follow-up skills.
• Effective negotiating skills with the ability to close sales.
• Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills (written and verbal).
• Productive in a globally distributed team through self-discipline and self-motivation.
• Mature approach to long-term relationship development with customers.
• Ability to represent the company at external events.
• Startup experience would be an advantage.

What We Offer Colleagues:

• Compensation is shaped by geographical location, experience, and performance, with annual reviews and performance-driven bonuses or commissions.
• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly in-person team sprints.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.
• Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events.