Partner Sales Manager

Kong; Pune District; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong is seeking a Partner Business Leader in India to own and develop their partner ecosystem. Key responsibilities include recruiting partners, building go-to-market strategies, and driving incremental revenue. The ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience in partner sales and existing relationships with system integrators in India.

The role requires a proactive approach to managing partnerships and understanding the business needs of partners. Join Kong to be part of a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in partner, channel, or alliances sales with a proven track record.
• Existing relationships with India's regional and national system integrators.
• Experience running many partners and activities without losing focus.

Responsibilities

• Own the India partner number and sell Kong's full portfolio through partners.
• Build joint GTM plans with the India sales team and identify new partners.
• Drive partner-sourced pipeline and set targets for partner performance.

Skills

Partner, channel, or alliances sales

GTM across channel, GSI, and hyperscaler partners

Selling infrastructure, developer platforms, or API/AI technology

Managing multiple partners and activities in parallel

Job description

Overview

Are you ready to unlock intelligence? If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others.

About The Role

You'll own Kong's partner business in India. That means recruiting the right partners, building real go-to-market motion with them, and driving sourced incremental revenue — not slideware pipeline. You'll be the single point of contact for anything partner-related: for our field sellers who need partner help on a deal, for partners who need a path into Kong, and for leadership setting the regional strategy. The ecosystem spans channel resellers, technology partners, GSIs, and hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP). You'll work across all four. This is a senior individual contributor role. You'll run India as your own business, in close partnership with the India sales leader.

What You'll Do

• Own the India partner number. Sell Kong's full portfolio — products, renewals, professional services, support — through and with focus partners.
• Build the joint GTM plan with the India sales team. Identify and sign new partners where there are gaps.
• Drive partner-sourced pipeline. Set targets, run the cadence, hold partners (and yourself) to them.
• Build joint assets with focus partners — reference architectures, blueprints, solution briefs that field teams on both sides actually use.
• Run joint marketing events that generate pipeline, not just logos on a banner.
• Get inside your partners' business. Understand how they make money, where Kong fits, and what it takes to win together. Then pull in the right cross-functional support — enablement, CX, marketing, ops — to make the projects land.
• Build a focus partner plan for India and execute it with sales engineering, SDRs, customer success, and marketing alongside you.

What You Bring

• 8+ years in partner, channel, or alliances sales, with a track record of driving GTM across channel, GSI, and hyperscaler partners.
• Existing relationships with India's regional and national system integrators. You can name the partners you'd start with on day one.
• A bias toward net-new, sourced business — not just tagging partners onto deals you'd close anyway.
• Comfort running many partners and many activities in parallel without losing the thread on any of them.
• Experience selling infrastructure, developer platforms, or API/AI technology to enterprise buyers in India.

Nice To Have

• Prior PSM or partner leadership experience at an API, integration, or open-source-led company.
• Hyperscaler co-sell experience (AWS ISV Accelerate, Azure IP Co-sell, GCP Partner Advantage).
• Network across India's GCC / capability-center buyer base.

About Kong

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.