Director, Global Partnerships & Channels - Percona

Percona is seeking a Director of Channels & Alliances to spearhead our transition from a direct-led go-to-market model to a partner-amplified strategy. This role is crucial for extending our reach, enhancing delivery capacity, and enabling transactions in new markets. Percona is a fully open source database software and services company, helping organizations run MySQL, PostgreSQL, Valkey/Redis, Maria DB, and MongoDB at scale, both on-premises and in the cloud.

You will own the entire partner portfolio across two primary categories:

• Hyperscalers: Focus on cloud distribution, easy procurement, on-prem referrals, and hyperscaler-sourced and funded deals. This includes marketplace listings, private offers, co-sell initiatives, and enabling customers to apply committed cloud spend to Percona.
• VARs: Build out VARs as a contracting and sales vehicle for regions where direct transactions are challenging, such as Asia, EMEA, and LATAM, facilitating local paper, currency, and relationships.

This is a builder role, emphasizing fewer, deeper relationships built on a shared operating foundation, with a focus on partner productivity over partner count. The role reports directly to the Chief Revenue Officer.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Portfolio Management

• Develop and execute the Channels & Alliances strategy, managed as a quarterly plan with defined targets.
• Prioritize partnerships based on clear customer need and economic value.
• Manage partner lifecycle: add, tier, and exit partners based on pipeline and bookings contribution.

Hyperscaler Partnerships

• Lead the team responsible for the end-to-end AWS relationship, collaborating with AWS partner and field teams, as well as Percona's sales and customer success teams.
• Drive Marketplace listings and private offers to facilitate customer purchases using committed cloud spend.
• Scale co-sell efforts, including opportunity registration and joint account planning with hyperscaler field teams.
• Secure partner funding, proof-of-concept support, and co-marketing opportunities.

VARs and SIs Regional Expansion

• Establish VARs as the primary contracting and sales channel in Asia, EMEA, and LATAM.
• Pair VARs with regional SIs to enhance delivery and customer access.
• Deliver local enablement, joint marketing, and packaged plays tailored for each region.
• Negotiate partner co-funding for in-region resources where feasible.

Partner Operating Foundation

• Design and implement a robust partner intake and approval process.
• Accurately track and attribute partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline and bookings within Salesforce.
• Standardize deal registration processes.
• Develop packaged plays, comprehensive partner enablement materials, and a partner marketing toolkit.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Secure and manage commitments from Services, RevOps, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Product, and Engineering teams, ensuring accountability.
• Foster collaboration between direct sales and partners through clear rules of engagement and deal registration.

What You Will Bring

Required Experience

• Proven experience building or rebuilding a partner program from inception, including intake, tiering, economics, and deal registration.
• Demonstrated success in driving measurable revenue through hyperscalers, SIs, and VARs.
• Hands-on experience with hyperscaler ecosystems, including marketplaces, private offers, co-sell, and partner networks.
• Track record of building VAR partnerships in Asia, EMEA, and LATAM, including local contracting and currency.
• Expertise in defining partner attribution in Salesforce and reporting on partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline.
• Understanding of the open source model and its value to cloud providers and SIs.
• Ability to lead programs across Services, Finance, Legal, Product, and Marketing without direct authority.

Preferred Experience

• Background in database, data infrastructure, and/or open source technologies.
• Exposure to AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud partner ecosystems.
• Experience running partner programs across multiple regions and time zones.

Personal Attributes

• Builder: You create structure where none exists and consistently complete initiatives.
• Focused: You strategically decline partnerships that do not yield results.
• Analytical: You manage partners based on pipeline and bookings, not just activity.
• Global: You are effective across North America, India, Asia, EMEA, and LATAM.
• Influential: You secure commitments from peers without direct authority and ensure follow-through.
• Direct: Partners and internal teams trust you for transparent communication.
• Self-directed: You thrive and move quickly in ambiguous environments.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means significantly expanding Percona's capacity beyond direct sales. You will grow partner-sourced and partner-influenced bookings, as well as partner-transacted revenue across all categories, without a proportional increase in direct sales and marketing spend. Additionally, you will establish a robust and repeatable partner operating foundation to sustain this growth.

Why Percona?

At Percona, we believe in an open world and empowering innovation through open source database software, support, and services. Our mission is to help organizations run MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB more effectively through our expertise and community-built open source software.

Percona is a remote-only and globally dispersed company with colleagues in over 50 countries. We offer a collaborative, highly-engaged culture where your ideas are valued.

Our generous benefits include:

• Flexible work hours and various paid time off programs.
• All necessary equipment for your remote office.
• Funds for career development (external training, certifications, conferences).
• Ongoing connectivity allowances.
• Opportunity to participate in our equity incentive plan.
• Benefits supporting work/life balance, such as The Percona Adventure Team, Work-from-Anywhere, FlowDays, and FryDays.
• Support for social responsibility through our PAVE volunteering program and Women Transforming Technology initiatives.

If you are passionate about working with a high-growth tech company recognized globally as a leader in the open-source database space, we encourage you to connect with us. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay updated.