Alliances & Channels Leader

Canonical Ltd.; Wien; Remote; EUR 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Learning budget USD 2,000/year

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Holiday leave

Maternity/Paternity leave

Wellness platform

Travel opportunities

Team sprints

Job summary

Canonical is seeking senior partner leaders to drive strategic alliances, channel programs, and partner-driven revenue globally. You will shape partner strategy, build executive relationships, and design joint GTM plans with sales, product and engineering teams.

The role offers remote work and travel 2–4 times a year, with a focus on GSIs, VARs, ISVs, IHVs/OEMs, silicon and cloud partners. We value an autonomous, data‑driven mindset and a strong open source background, plus the ability to engage

Qualifications

• 10+ years in alliance or indirect sales leadership roles.
• Experience with GSIs, VARs, distributors, ISVs, IHVs/OEMs, cloud and marketplaces.
• Strong revenue, margins, pipeline forecasting knowledge.
• Proven ability to lead teams and present to CxO levels.
• Ability to align product, sales, marketing, engineering and ops.
• Knowledge of Canonical and open source ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Own partner strategy, forecast, bookings and revenues for Canonical across indirect routes to market.
• Lead and evolve a team or strategic partner portfolio towards accelerated revenue growth.
• Build strategic relationships with global and regional partners at executive levels.
• Design and execute joint go-to-market plans with partners, sales, product management, and engineering.
• Develop partner capability through sales engagement, technical enablement, and joint marketing.
• Guide our offering from product management through to scaling with the sales organisation.
• Establish operating cadence, pipeline governance and data-driven accountability across complex partner relationships.

Skills

Alliance experience

Channel sales

Partner ecosystem

Executive stakeholder mgmt

Open source

Global GTM

Leadership

Data-driven

Job description

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office-based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

We have new senior leadership opportunities in our Global Alliances and Channels organisations, to lead business development and partnership with some of the most important actors in the global technology sector. As the publisher of Ubuntu and a leading provider of open source to major technology firms globally, Canonical works across a broad partner ecosystem that includes global system integrators, value-added resellers, regional distributors, independent software vendors, independent hardware vendors, silicon companies, public clouds and other strategic technology brands.

These partners shape the platforms, solutions, marketplaces, hardware and delivery motions through which enterprises adopt open source at scale. We are looking for exceptional partner leaders who can build durable, mutually valuable relationships, develop joint solutions, drive global go-to-market programmes, and convert partner potential into measurable customer impact, revenue growth and market expansion for Canonical.

Opportunities are available for both people leaders and senior individual contributors. In these roles, you will lead, build or scale one or more strategic partner motions for Canonical, either by managing a team or by directly driving high-impact partner initiatives. You will work closely with partners throughout their sales, product, delivery and executive planning cycles to make Canonical their trusted partner for enterprise open source solutions. Depending on your experience and Canonical’s business priorities, your focus may include Channels, GSI, ISV, IHV/OEM, Silicon, Cloud or cross-ecosystem partnerships.

Our Alliances and Channels teams build trusted relationships with partners at executive level, increase Canonical market share and attach rate, evangelise the partnership, and lead business interactions from engineers to CxO level. This role will own strategy, sell-to, sell-through and sell-with motions across assigned partners or sectors, as well as promotion of partner-related activities, from campaigns, enablement and executive engagement, to strategic opportunities and partner events.

Location: These are globally remote positions.

The role entails

• Own and drive partner strategy, forecast, bookings and revenues for Canonical across one or more indirect routes to market
• Lead and evolve a team or strategic partner portfolio towards accelerated revenue growth and market impact
• Build strategic relationships with global and regional partners at executive levels
• Design and execute joint go-to-market plans with partners, sales, product management, product marketing and engineering teams
• Develop partner capability through sales engagement, technical enablement, joint marketing and disciplined business planning
• Guide our offering from product management, to product marketing, and scale it through the support of our global sales organisation
• Establish operating cadence, pipeline governance and data-driven accountability across complex partner relationships

What We Are Looking For In You

• 10+ years of experience in alliance, channel, partner, ecosystem or indirect sales management roles
• Experience in one or more of GSIs, VARs, distributors, ISVs, IHVs/OEMs, silicon, public cloud, marketplaces or strategic technology alliances
• Deep commercial experience encompassing revenue, margins, pipeline, forecasting and partner economics
• Proven leadership and presentation skills, with the ability to engage confidently from engineer to CxO level
• Ability to build trusted executive relationships while aligning product, sales, marketing, engineering and operations teams
• Insight into open source, Ubuntu, enterprise infrastructure, cloud, AI, security and Canonical’s competition and opportunities
• Track record of data-driven decision-making and disciplined execution across complex, global relationships
• An autonomous, disciplined, hands-on, get-it-done mentality
• An exceptional academic track record from high school and university.
• Business level written and spoken English.
• Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission.
• International travel 2-4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long.

In addition we expect that you will match our values, by being:

• Precise, taking care to deliver correctness and clarity.
• Reliable, delivering high quality work that builds trust and confidence.
• Accessible, collaborating to build products and systems that are usable.
• Adroit, blending enthusiasm, knowledge, adaptability, style and character.

What We Offer Colleagues

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open-source projects and the platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since our inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.