Director of Global Channel Partnerships

Director of Channel Partnerships

About Arango

At Arango, we believe the first generation of enterprise AI missed something essential: context. LLM models are powerful, but they didn’t understand the context needed to deliver accurate answers.

Arango provides a trusted data foundation for the next wave of Enterprise AI with graph-based Contextual AI — transforming enterprise data into a System of Context that truly represents the business, so LLMs can deliver better outcomes with unlimited scale and cost efficiency.

The Arango AI Data Platform gives developers a single, integrated environment to build and scale AI-powered applications without the complexity of stitching together multiple databases and tools. At its core is a massively scalable multi-model database that unifies graph, vector, document, and key-value data with full-text, geospatial, and vector search — creating the System of Context, the bridge between enterprise data and LLMs.

We’re a global team based in California and Cologne, united by curiosity, collaboration, and a passion for helping developers, data engineers, and technology leaders innovate faster and smarter with AI. Trusted by NVIDIA, HPE, the London Stock Exchange, the U.S. Air Force, NIH, and Articul8, Arango powers enterprise AI with context, confidence, and scale..We are a proud member of the NVIDIA Inception Program and the AWS ISV Accelerate Program.

If you’re excited about shaping the future of Contextual AI, come build with us.

Location: US (Remote, with frequent travel — up to 50–75%) - prefer East Coast

Reports to: VP of Sales

Compensation: Base + Variable (Quota-Carrying Role)

About the Role

We’re entering a new phase of growth, expanding our global go-to-market through strategic partners, technology alliances, and channel ecosystems. We’re seeking a Director of Channel Partnerships to build, lead, and scale our partner strategy — driving measurable, quota-carrying revenue through collaboration with technology vendors (e.g., NVIDIA, AWS, Azure), OEMs, VARs, and cloud marketplaces.

This role is both strategic and hands-on — ideal for a high-energy, technically fluent leader who can build relationships, evangelize technology, and deliver results. You’ll own a defined revenue goal tied to both existing partnerships and new ecosystem expansion, while building scalable frameworks for co-selling, enablement, and joint go-to-market execution.

You’ll work cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and RevOps to ensure partner-led growth becomes a consistent driver of pipeline and closed revenue.

Key Responsibilities

Partner Strategy & Leadership

• Build and execute a global partner strategy that contributes directly to ARR and pipeline goals.
• Own a quota tied to revenue generated from partner-sourced and partner-influenced opportunities.
• Define and operationalize frameworks for VARs, OEMs, cloud marketplaces, and strategic alliances.
• Act as the internal and external executive sponsor for the partner ecosystem.

Strategic Alliances

• Manage executive relationships with AWS, NVIDIA, Azure, GCP, and other key technology vendors.
  Launch and manage joint go-to-market initiatives, including co-selling, co-marketing, and co-development programs.
• Negotiate partnership terms, co-funding (MDF), and incentive programs that align to revenue outcomes.
  Collaborate with Product and Engineering to identify integrations that expand partner value and stickiness.

Partner Recruitment, Enablement & Evangelism

• Identify and recruit high-impact VARs, OEMs, and regional SIs to expand coverage in North America and EMEA.
• Develop and deliver scalable onboarding, certification, and enablement frameworks.
• Represent the company at industry conferences, executive briefings, and partner summits, evangelizing with confidence and technical fluency.
• Serve as a technical ambassador — able to demo, enable, and communicate platform capabilities to both technical and business audiences.

Selling, Co-Selling, GTM Execution

• Quota, sales commission..
• Drive joint pipeline generation and partner-influenced deal acceleration.
• Collaborate with field sales and SE teams to ensure seamless co-sell motions.
• Oversee deal registration, routing, and attribution processes, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Partner with Marketing on joint campaigns, partner spotlights, and ecosystem launch initiatives.

Operational Excellence

• Align systems and processes with RevOps (CRM, PRM, tracking, and partner dashboards).
• Establish and manage partner performance metrics, QBRs, and executive reporting cadence.
• Continuously improve partner efficiency, responsiveness, and field enablement maturity.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in partnerships, channels, or alliances, ideally within B2B SaaS, data, or AI infrastructure.
• Proven success in building and scaling partner ecosystems that drive measurable pipeline and revenue.
• Experience managing quota-carrying partner or alliance programs with clear accountability to ARR or influenced bookings.
• Strong network and experience working with global technology vendors such as AWS, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.
• Technical fluency — able to demo, explain, and enable partners on product capabilities and integrations.
• Exceptional communicator and relationship builder with strong executive presence.
• Energized by travel, field enablement, and in-person partner collaboration (50–75% global travel).
• Multilingual (especially French or Italian) is a plus.

Success Metrics

Quota attainment: Partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue contribution.
Pipeline growth: Volume and quality of new opportunities driven through the ecosystem.
Partner expansion: Number of new active partners, alliances, and OEM relationships.
Enablement success: Partner certification, activation, and participation rates.
Operational maturity: Launch of scalable frameworks (tiering, portal, deal reg, enablement cadence).
Field impact: Increased AE collaboration and reduced friction in co-sell motions.

Why Join Us

If you're ready to make a massive impact, come own and build our global partnerships and alliances function from the ground up! This is a high-impact role where you will carry a quota and directly influence revenue through ecosystem-led growth. You'll work closely with a world-class leadership team across Sales, Product, Marketing, and the Executive suite to define our global Go-to-Market expansion strategy. Expect to collaborate with top-tier partners like NVIDIA and AWS to co-develop cutting-edge solutions. If you thrive in a high-energy, entrepreneurial environment where your execution directly shapes company growth, this is the place for you.

Our headquarters is in San Francisco (US) and we have an office in Cologne (Germany), but most of our diverse team works remotely worldwide. So, do you prefer your desk at home or do you want to join us at one of our locations? Your choice.

The global minds of Arango come from 5 different continents and more than 20 countries. Diverse backgrounds enable us to see new solutions. We invite people from every culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and of every age to apply to our positions. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications. Arango is committed to a workplace free of discrimination and harassment based on any of these characteristics. We love this diversity and encourage everyone curious and visionary to join the multi-model movement.