Partner Manager

Partner Manager

San Francisco, CA | Hybrid (3 days in office) |Full-Time

OTE: $175,000 – $225,000 + Equity Included

About the Company

We are not here to blend in. We are here to redefine what observability means and how it is delivered.

This is a fast-growing Series B startup that has built a radically different approach to cloud-native observability. Powered by eBPF and designed for Kubernetes from day one, the platform delivers full-stack observability — metrics, logs, traces, and profiling — at dramatically lower cost and complexity than legacy vendors like Datadog, Dynatrace, and Grafana Labs.

The Opportunity

You will be the second hire on the partnerships team, working directly alongside the Head of Partnerships to build the ecosystem from the ground up. This is not a role where you inherit a playbook — you will help write it.

You will own a portfolio of CSP alliances and GTM partners, carry a revenue target, and play a foundational role in shaping how the partner ecosystem is built as the company scales toward its next major growth milestone. The company is at an inflection point — transitioning from early-stage chaos into structured, deliberate scale — and this hire is central to that journey.

If you are commercially minded, technically curious, and energized by building something from scratch, this is the role for you.

What You'll Do

Strategic Partnership Leadership

• Serve as the primary global point of contact for a strategic CSP partnership and a portfolio of GTM partners, carrying a revenue target
• Identify, recruit, and onboard new partners; grow and deepen existing partner relationships
• Develop and execute joint partner business plans including co-sell, co-marketing, and co-building elements
• Lead regular business reviews, ensure executive alignment, and drive accountability on shared goals

Go-to-Market Execution

• Drive pipeline and revenue through joint field engagement and enablement of partner sales, customer success, and pre-sales teams
• Represent the company at industry events, partner meetings, and ecosystem programs
• Track, measure, and report partner performance and revenue impact

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Solution Architect teams to ensure alignment in the development and execution of partnership plans
• Collaborate with internal teams to create partner programs, co-marketing initiatives, and sales enablement tools to drive awareness, thought leadership, and demand generation

Operational Excellence

• Own partner governance, documentation, and CRM / PRM tracking
• Support contract negotiations and execution of partnership agreements
• Collaborate with Legal and Finance to ensure compliance
• Advocate internally for partner-driven opportunities, escalations, and initiatives

What We're Looking For

Must Have

• 2–5+ years of experience in strategic alliances, partner management, business development, or channel sales within a technical SaaS company — cloud, DevOps, data, infrastructure, security, or developer tools
• A commercial edge — this is a quota-carrying role and we want someone who fights for their pipeline
• Strong understanding of enterprise technology stacks and partner go-to-market strategies
• Ability to influence without authority and lead cross-functional initiatives in a fast-paced environment
• Technically curious — you don't need to be an engineer but you need to be able to speak credibly to engineering and operations buyers
• Metrics-driven mindset — you know your numbers, you can speak to your track record, and you have the receipts
• Builder mentality — comfortable with ambiguity, capable of creating structure where none exists

Nice to Have

• Experience with cloud provider co-sell programs (AWS, Azure, GCP) or ISV / channel partnerships
• Familiarity with observability concepts — metrics, logs, traces, profiling, reliability practices
• Startup experience — you have been part of a team that had to figure it out as they went
• Experience or strong interest in AI-powered systems and LLM-based applications
• Background on the channel side (reseller, MSP, SI) transitioning to a vendor role is welcome

Compensation & Benefits

• OTE: $175,000 – $225,000 (base + variable), with flexibility for exceptional candidates
• Commission split structured for a build role — weighted toward base
• Equity package
• No channel conflict — AEs are compensated when deals move through partnerships
• Hybrid in San Francisco (3 days per week in office)

Why This Role, Why Now

The observability market is being disrupted. Legacy vendors built their platforms for a world that no longer exists. This company is not chasing the category leaders — it is redefining the category. The partner ecosystem is a central pillar of how the company plans to win, and this hire will be at the center of building it.

If you want to be part of something bold, technically meaningful, and genuinely differentiated — and you have the commercial horsepower to help get it there — we want to hear from you.