Partner Sales Director - IHV Alliances

Canonical; London; On-site; GBP 200,000 +; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company in London seeks an IHV Alliance Sales Director to spearhead strategic partnerships in EMEA and APAC. This role emphasizes collaboration with senior executives in large organizations, negotiating contracts, and increasing market share. Candidates must have a strong background in sales management, excellent communication skills, and a passion for open source technologies. The position is remote with periodic international travel and offers a competitive compensation package.

Benefits

Performance-driven annual bonus

Personal learning and development budget

Annual compensation review

Maternity and paternity leave

Team Member Assistance Program

Qualifications

• Experience in alliance or indirect sales management roles.
• Ability to capture customer requirements and create opportunities.
• Passionate about open source and Ubuntu products.
• Comfortable in fast-paced and high-pressure environments.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Build strategic relationships with IHV partners.
• Grow awareness of open source capabilities.
• Negotiate contracts and business terms.
• Lead partnerships in APAC and EMEA.
• Regular travel to drive partnerships.

Skills

Alliance or indirect sales management

Customer requirement capture

Cloud technologies

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Tools

Linux

Virtualization

Containers

Job description

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Client:

Canonical

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

817707e26ae6

Job Views:

8

Posted:

12.08.2025

Expiry Date:

26.09.2025

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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 + 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 are seeking a highly motivated and experienced IHV Alliance Sales Director to join our strategic partnerships team who will be responsible for leading IHV Alliances in the EMEA or APAC regions. Reporting to the Head of IHV Alliances, the IHV Alliance Sales Director will work closely with IHV and Canonical teams in those geographies to develop and maintain strong relationships with senior executives at strategic partner organizations, fostering collaboration and alignment on joint business objectives. The IHV Alliance Sales Director will manage and grow a team of Business Development Managers and help them identify and pursue new business opportunities with IHVs, driving revenue growth and market expansion, develop and execute go-to-market strategies for joint offerings, oversee the day-to-day management of alliances including contract negotiations and performance tracking, and issue resolution.

The Director is responsible for building trusted relationships with IHV partners, increasing Canonical market share and attach rate, evangelising the partnership and leading all business interactions from engineer to CxO. They will often run customer workshops focused on particular initiatives at that customer, attend sales events, give public presentations and lead executive engagements.

Location: This role will be based remotely in EMEA or APAC regions.

As an IHV Alliance Sales Director you will:

• Build strategic relationships with IHV partners at all levels
• Grow their awareness of open source capabilities on Canonical Ubuntu
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the Linux and cloud software ecosystem
• Negotiate contracts and commercial business terms
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of large and complex organizations
• Lead partnerships in APAC with companies like Lenovo, Huawei, Quanta, Fujitsu, Inspur, H3C, NEC, Asus etc.
• Lead partnerships in EMEA with companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Bull, Siemens
• Lead partnerships in the Americas with companies like Dell, HPE, IBM, Supermicro
• Work closely with marketing, sales engineering and product management
• Deliver on targets, objectives and provide a voice of the partner
• Lead executive interlocks between IHV and Canonical leadership
• Travel regularly - sometimes internationally - to drive partnerships in person

Valued skills and experience

• Experience in alliance or indirect sales management roles
• Ability to capture customer requirements, evaluate gaps, identify and create opportunities
• Passionate about Ubuntu products and mission
• Comfortable in fast-paced and high pressure environments with measurable goals
• Experience with Linux, virtualization, containers, and other cloud technologies.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2, 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