Director of Partnerships

We're working with an established B2B software provider that is looking to appoint a Director of Partnerships, North America to build and scale its partner-led revenue strategy.

Interested in this role You can find all the relevant information in the description below.

This is a senior commercial role with responsibility for turning partnerships into a predictable source of pipeline, new customer acquisition and recurring revenue.

For this search, we are particularly interested in speaking with candidates who have built partnerships or channel revenue within the procurement, Accounts Payable or wider financial automation software market.

Relevant backgrounds include:

Accounts Payable Automation | Procure-to-Pay (P2P) | Source-to-Pay (S2P) | Procurement Technology | Invoice Automation | Spend Management | ERP / Financial Automation Software

Experience within this ecosystem will be a major focus of the search.

The Opportunity

This is not a traditional partner-management position focused primarily on maintaining relationships.

The successful candidate will be expected to build and operate a commercially accountable partnerships function, with clear ownership of partner-sourced pipeline and revenue.

You'll develop a scalable go-to-market model across a variety of partner types, potentially including:

• ERP ecosystem partners
• Technology and integration partners
• Systems Integrators
• Referral partners
• VARs and resellers
• Strategic channel partners

You'll own the partner lifecycle from strategy and recruitment through activation, joint selling, pipeline creation, forecasting and performance management.

The primary measure of success will be the commercial contribution generated through the channel.

Key Responsibilities

You'll take ownership of the North American partner revenue strategy, including:

• Developing and executing a scalable partner-led go-to-market strategy
• Building partner-sourced pipeline and recurring revenue
• Identifying, recruiting and contracting strategically important partners
• Creating partner segmentation and tiering across technology, ERP, SI, referral, reseller and other channel models
• Developing compelling commercial propositions that give partners a clear reason to sell and implement the company's solutions
• Establishing partner-specific pipeline and revenue targets
• Creating quarterly business plans for strategic partners
• Driving joint account mapping and named-account strategies
• Working directly with partners on active opportunities from qualification through to close
• Establishing effective co-selling processes covering discovery, demonstrations, proposals, negotiation and closing
• Managing partner pipeline, attribution and forecasting
• Improving partner productivity, win rates, sales velocity, ACV and time-to-first-deal
• Designing commercial models across referral, reseller, SI and technology partnerships
• Building effective partner onboarding and enablement programmes
• Running formal QBRs against agreed commercial targets and business plans
• Establishing clear rules of engagement between direct sales and partner channels
• Building partner dashboards, scorecards and ROI reporting
• Working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Revenue Operations, Finance and Services
• Maintaining executive relationships with priority strategic partners
• Leading and developing members of the channel sales organisation
• Making data-led decisions around where to invest in, expand, remediate or exit partner relationships

What We're Looking For

We're looking for an experienced partnerships or channel sales leader who combines strategic thinking with strong commercial execution.

Crucially, we are particularly keen to hear from candidates who understand the procurement, AP automation or financial process automation technology market.

You may currently work for a software business operating across areas such as:

AP Automation | P2P | Procurement | S2P | Invoice Management | Spend Management | ERP Financials | Finance Automation

You're also likely to bring:

• 7+ years' experience across channel sales, alliances, partnerships or partner revenue within SaaS or B2B technology
• Experience leading a partnerships or channel function with measurable revenue and pipeline targets
• A proven track record of generating partner-sourced enterprise pipeline and revenue
• Experience building or significantly developing a channel strategy and operating model
• Strong knowledge of partner recruitment, segmentation, activation and performance management
• Experience developing partnerships across ERP, technology, Systems Integrator, referral and reseller/VAR channels
• Strong understanding of partner economics, commercial models, margins and incentives
• Experience creating repeatable joint-selling and co-selling motions
• Strong pipeline management and forecasting discipline
• Hands-on knowledge of Salesforce or a comparable CRM
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to use partner performance and ROI data to make investment decisions
• Experience managing and developing commercial or channel teams
• Confidence operating with senior executives both internally and across strategic partner organisations

This is an opportunity to take meaningful ownership of a strategically important growth channel within an established B2B software organisation. xhyhwjd You'll have the scope to shape partner strategy, develop new routes to market, build scalable operating processes and directly influence new customer acquisition and recurring revenue across North America.

If you have a strong track record in channel sales or strategic partnerships within procurement, Accounts Payable or financial automation software, we'd be very interested in speaking with you.