Director, Strategic Partner Business Development & Practice Creation

Madrona Venture Labs; Kentucky; Hybrid; USD 259,000 - 324,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus compensation

Equity grants

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Cohesity is seeking a Director, Strategic Partner Business Development & Practice Creation to lead a high-impact team across Elite Tier and Strategic partners including GSI, MSP, and OEM. You will own the charter, roadmap, and executive alignment, driving BD and GTM motions globally to monetize partner ecosystems.

The role demands over 10 years in channel leadership, proven ability to scale practices, and an ability to collaborate across Sales, Product, Marketing, and Finance.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in channel, alliances, partner business development, or GTM with reseller, GSI, MSP, and/or OEM exposure.
• Proven track record building and scaling partner practices, Specializations, or service offerings that drive measurable revenue.
• Experience leading distributed cross-regional teams; strong executive presence and business-case skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the team charter, priorities, and roadmap; secure executive alignment across Sales, Channel, Product, and Marketing leadership.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of two Practice-Creation and BD specialists across Americas and international regions.
• Build and scale the partner Practice-Creation model with defined Specializations and partner enablement to drive adoption.
• Directly support GSI and MSP leadership, driving BD and GTM motions that grow partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline.

Skills

Channel leadership

BD & GTM strategy

Cross-regional leadership

Executive presence

AI productivity tools

Professional English

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

We strongly prefer candidates who are currently located in or near the designated job location. Candidates outside the area should apply only if they are committed to relocating prior to their start date and have the legal right to work in the job location.

Cohesity is a leader in AI-powered data security and management. Aided by an extensive ecosystem of partners, Cohesity makes it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data — across the data center, edge, and cloud. Cohesity helps organizations defend against cybersecurity threats with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, monitoring for malicious behavior, and rapid recovery at scale. We’ve been named a Leader by multiple analyst firms and have been globally recognized for Innovation, Product Strength, and Simplicity in Design. Join us on our mission to shape the future of our industry.

Role Overview

Cohesity is seeking a Director, Strategic Partner Business Development & Practice Creation to lead a single, high-impact team that builds and drives partner practices and Specializations across our Elite Tier and Strategic Resellers, Global System Integrator (GSI), Managed Service Provider (MSP), and OEM partners, while running complex business development (BD) and go-to-market (GTM) motions across our GSI, MSP, and OEM partners.

This is a player-coach leadership role. The Director owns the team charter, priorities, and executive alignment; directly supports GSI and MSP leadership; and drives the cross-functional engagement required to stand up new partner practices and Specializations and monetize them at scale. The role is central to converting elite and strategic partner opportunities into repeatable, revenue-generating practices and Specializations.

Team & Reporting Structure

The Director reports to the VP, Global Channel Programs & Distribution, and leads a globally distributed team that includes:

• AMS Practice Creation & OEM BD - Thought leader and SME driving the Practice-Building/Creation model, partner benefits, and value messaging for the Americas, and owning complex BD & GTM for Embedded and Technology OEM partners globally.
• INTL Practice Creation & Solution Stand-up - Thought leader and SME driving the practice-building model and value messaging for International, and partnering with the VP, MSP & Services Creation to develop and bring service offerings to market.
• (Dotted line) GSI and MSP Dedicated Channel Ops Manager - Embedded from Channel Operations to support GSI & MSP tactical and operational execution.

HOW YOU'LL SPEND YOUR TIME HERE:

• Own the team charter, priorities, and roadmap; set direction and secure executive alignment across Sales, Channel, Product, and Marketing leadership.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of (2) Practice-Creation and BD specialists across the Americas and international regions.
• Build and scale the partner Practice-Creation model - Defining Specializations, partner benefits, enablement, and value messaging that drive partner adoption across Elite and Strategic resellers, GSIs, MSPs, and OEMs.
• Directly support GSI and MSP leadership, driving complex BD and GTM motions that grow partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, ARR, and bookings.
• Own complex BD and GTM for embedded and technology OEM partners and opportunities on a global basis.
• Champion partner adoption directly (partner facing) and through Channel Development Managers (CDMs) and Cohesity field teams.
• Partner with the VP, MSP & Services Creation to develop new service offerings and bring them to market within the Practice-Creation and Specializations initiative.
• Drive cross-functional engagement to remove barriers, operationalize incentives and programs, and ensure opportunity-level tracking and reporting.
• Build the business case for partner investments - Quantifying expected cost, return, and growth targets - And represent it to senior leadership.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE:

• Measurable growth in Elite and Strategic partner-sourced and partner-influenced ARR
• A repeatable, well-adopted Practice-Creation model with defined Specializations live in both AMS and INTL.
• Strong executive and cross-functional alignment, with clear priorities and robust metrics tracked on an ongoing basis.
• Partner Services offerings brought to market with quantifiable pipeline impact.

WE'D LOVE TO TALK TO YOU IF YOU HAVE MANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

• 10+ years in channel, alliances, partner business development, or GTM strategy, with significant experience across Reseller, GSI, MSP, and/or OEM ecosystems.
• Proven track record building and scaling partner practices, Specializations, or service offerings that drive measurable revenue.
• Experience leading and developing distributed cross-regional teams (people-leadership required).
• Strong executive presence and the ability to build and defend a business case with senior leadership.
• Deep understanding of complex BD and GTM motions in enterprise software or data management / cloud infrastructure.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills across Sales, Product, Marketing, Legal, Finance and Channel Operations.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; willingness to travel globally as needed.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and support decision making.
• Professional English language proficiency for customer and internal communication

#LI-HD1

Disclosure Pursuant to Applicable State Equal Pay Transparency Laws - This position has a starting pay range as listed below. Actual salary depends upon many factors, including a candidate’s skills, qualifications and experience, location, and salary expectations, and therefore a starting salary at the low end, high end, or even above the stated range may be offered. This position may also be eligible for bonus compensation, commission (if in a sales function), and/or equity grants. Additionally, full-time employees are eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefits framework, including health and wellness benefits, vacation, paid holidays and refresh days, 401(k) retirement plan, life and disability insurance coverages, and other benefits the Company may offer from time to time.

Pay Range :

$259,080.00-$323,850.00

The compensation noted above is based on an annualized hourly rate assuming normal full-time employment.

Current pay transparency shows the OTE (On-Target Earnings) for commission-based roles.

Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates: For information on personal data processing, please see our Privacy Policy. Equal Employment Opportunity Employer (EEOE) Cohesity is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or nationality, ancestry, age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, veteran status or any other category protected by law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact us at 1-855-9COHESITY or [e-mail] for assistance. In-Office Expectations Cohesity employees who are within a reasonable commute (e.g. within a forty-five (45) minute average travel time) work out of our core offices 2-3 days a week of their choosing.