Director, Channel & Distribution

Optro; United States; On-site; USD 156,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

Optro is seeking a Director, Channel & Distribution to lead the North America resale and distribution strategy, building a repeatable engine for sourcing and transacting with partners. You will recruit, enable, and manage resellers, drive revenue, and shape the systems that scale the channel.

The role requires deep experience in multi-partner ecosystems, strong negotiation skills, and the ability to operate in a fast-growing GRC platform environment.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of channel and partner sales experience.
• Established relationships across multiple North American resellers such as SHI, WWT, Optiv, CDW, Presidio, and GuidePoint.
• Proven track record taking a partner ecosystem from early stage to repeatable revenue.
• Knowledge of two-tier distribution, reseller buying processes, deal economics, services wrappers, and margin structures.
• Familiarity with SLED procurement through resale and distribution, including cooperative contracts.
• Base familiarity with cloud go-to-market and how it intersects with resale/DSOR models.
• A closer: able to negotiate complex partner and customer transactions and close deals.

Responsibilities

• Drive and own the North America resale and distribution strategy, delivering quarterly and annual targets for partner-sourced pipeline and bookings.
• Recruit, onboard, enable, and activate resellers aligned to Optro's Partner Profile.
• Lead and accelerate distribution relationships via a two-tier motion with joint business plans and QBRs.
• Drive SLED resale through partners leveraging cooperative contracts and recruit SLED-focused resellers.
• Lead strategic deals with partner negotiations, deal structuring, margins, and closing alongside sales teams.
• Establish rules of engagement between partners and Optro direct sales, including deal registration and co-selling.
• Own partner economics for the region, including discount and margin structures.
• Collaborate with Partner Ops, RevOps, and Deal Desk to scale systems (registration, quoting, order flow, renewals, forecasting).
• Coordinate with marketing to deploy partner marketing programs and demand generation.
• Coordinate with international and advisory-partner leaders on multi-partner motions.
• Serve as executive point of contact for partner organizations and report results to Optro leadership.

Skills

Channel sales

Partner relationships

Two-tier distribution

Negotiation

Executive presence

Revenue growth

Strategic planning

Job description

Who We Are

Having surpassed $300M ARR and continuing to grow, Optro helps enterprises transform risk into opportunity through its AI-powered GRC Intelligence Platform. More than 50% of the Fortune 500, including 7 of the Fortune 10, leverage our award-winning technology to move their businesses forward with greater clarity and agility. And our customers love us: Optro is top-rated on G2.com and Gartner Peer Insights.
At Optro, we inspire each other to innovate and are proud of what we are producing. We spend each day thinking of new ways to help our customers and contribute to the greater good of our company and our surrounding communities. We are all about assisting each other and breaking through barriers to create the most loved audit, risk, ESG, and InfoSec platform by our customers. This is how we have become one of the 500 fastest-growing tech companies in North America for the seventh year in a row, as ranked by Deloitte!

Why This Role is Exciting

Optro has crossed $340M in revenue as a leading GRC and connected risk platform, and our partner ecosystem is the next major lever for growth. We are looking for a strategic, hands‑on channel leader to take a budding North American ecosystem and turn it into a repeatable engine for sourcing and transacting business.

As Director, Channel & Distribution, this individual will lead a resale and distribution team, building on the launch of the Optro Partner Connect Program and new strategic resale and distribution partnerships. This is a builder's role, ideal for a candidate with a mix of strategic and execution acumen to set, maintain, and be accountable to the program strategy, drive revenue, and help shape the systems and processes that enable channel scale by bringing Optro's GRC Intelligence platform to more customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive and eventually own the North America resale and distribution strategy, and deliver quarterly and annual targets for partner-sourced pipeline, partner‑transacted bookings, and partner activations.

• Turn an early‑stage partner base into a repeatable sourcing and transaction engine by identifying, recruiting, onboarding, enabling, and activating the resellers most aligned to Optro's Ideal Partner Profile.

• Lead and accelerate Optro's distribution relationships via a two tier motion and ensure accountability through joint business plans, executive sponsorship, and QBRs.

• Drive SLED resale and distribution through partners leveraging cooperative contract vehicles (NASPO ValuePoint, OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell, Texas DIR), and recruit SLED‑focused resellers to drive sourced opportunities.

• Roll up your sleeves on strategic deals: partner negotiations, deal structuring, margin decisions, and closing transactions alongside Optro sales teams.

• Establish rules of engagement between partners and Optro direct sales, including deal registration, conflict resolution, and co‑selling best practices.

• Own partner economics for the region, including discount and margin structures

• Partner with Partner Ops, RevOps, and Deal Desk to scale the systems and processes that accelerate the channel (e.g. registration, quoting, order flow, renewals, and forecasting)

• Collaborate with Partner marketing leader to deploy budget towards partner marketing programs, events, campaigns, and demand generation

• Coordinate with International and advisory‑partner leaders on multi‑partner motions.

• Serve as the executive point of contact for leadership at partner organizations, and report results and recommendations to Optro leadership.

Attributes for a Successful Candidate

• 12+ years of channel and partner sales experience, including leadership roles on both the vendor side and the reseller or distributor side.

• Established, multi‑threaded relationships across multiple North American resellers, such as SHI, WWT, Optiv, CDW, Presidio, and GuidePoint vs. dependence on a single partner.

• Proven track record taking a partner ecosystem from early stage to repeatable, measurable revenue.

• Command of two‑tier distribution, reseller buying processes, deal economics, services wrappers, and margin structures.

• Working knowledge of SLED procurement gained through resale and distribution, including cooperative contracts, flow‑down agreements, and fiscal‑year buying patterns.

• Base familiarity with cloud marketplace go‑to‑market (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) and how it intersects with resale/DSOR models

• A closer: comfortable negotiating complex partner and customer transactions and getting deals across the line.

• Experience helping design channel systems and processes (deal registration, partner relationship management, CRM workflows) in partnership with operations teams.

• Thrives in ambiguity and finds ways to win without a full playbook, taking calculated risks.

• Strong executive presence, with the ability to influence and build consensus internally and externally.

Preferred

• Experience transacting through cloud marketplaces via private offers or channel‑partner private offers
• Federal channel experience, including FedRAMP‑related motions
• Channel experience in security, risk, or GRC software
• Experience building partner programs, tiers, and incentives from the ground up

Compensation

For this role, the target salary range is $156K - $234K

At Optro, we provide a fair and competitive salary based on a variety of factors, including:

• The scope and responsibilities of the role

• Your relevant skills, experience, and certifications

• Where you are physically located (based on our regional tier system)