Head of Channel

Ballistic Ventures; Maryland; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Founding team equity

Job summary

Native is seeking a founding Head of Channel to design, launch, and scale our U.S. channel program from the ground up.

You will own partner strategy end to end, recruiting resellers, MSSPs, and integrators, and building program mechanics like tiers, deal registration, MDF, and co-selling. You’ll stand up the portal, train the first sales engineers at partners, and personally support early deals through registration and closing.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in channel, partnerships, or alliances roles in B2B cybersecurity or cloud security, with startup experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, launch and scale the U.S. channel program from the ground up.
• Recruit, onboard, and enable resellers, MSSPs, and integrators.
• Define program mechanics: tiers, deal registration, MDF, co-selling.
• Drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline with direct sellers.
• Stand up the partner portal and write partner agreements.
• Train the first sales engineers at partners and support early deals.
• Collaborate with AEs, marketing, product, and leadership to align strategy.
• Leverage AI and modern sales tools to evolve channel strategy.

Skills

Channel management

Partnerships

Sales enablement

Strategic thinking

Executive communication

AI tools

Tools

PRM systems

Job description

Head of Channel

• Sales
• USA - East Coast
• Full-time

Description

As Native's founding Head of Channel, you'll design, launch, and scale our U.S. channel program from the ground up. You'll own partner strategy end to end - segmenting the partner landscape, recruiting and onboarding the right resellers, MSSPs, and integrators, building the program mechanics (tiers, deal registration, MDF, co-selling, enablement), and driving partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline alongside our direct sellers.

This is a builder’s role. You’ll take full ownership of the program from day one - writing partner agreements, standing up the portal, training the first sales engineers at our partners, and personally supporting early deals through registration and closing. You’ll work hand-in-hand with our Account Executives, marketing, product, and leadership to turn channel into a durable, multi-million-dollar revenue engine.

Requirements

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years in channel, partnerships, or alliances roles in B2B cybersecurity or cloud security, with a strong preference for time spent in early-stage and high-growth startups.
• Demonstrated experience building a channel program from zero - not just running an existing one. You've authored partner agreements, defined tiers and economics, stood up deal reg and PRM systems, and shipped enablement content yourself.
• Track record of driving meaningful partner-sourced and partner-influenced ARR, ideally helping take a company from initial channel traction to $10M+ in partner-attributed revenue.
• Established relationships across the U.S. cybersecurity partner ecosystem: national and regional VARs (e.g., Optiv, GuidePoint, Trace3, Set Solutions, Defy Security), cloud-focused GSIs, and key distributors.
• Comfort operating as a player-coach / individual contributor - happy to recruit a partner on Monday, run an enablement session on Tuesday, and ride along on a customer call with that partner on Wednesday.
• Strong commercial instincts: you can model partner economics, structure margin and incentive programs that actually motivate behavior, and avoid channel conflict with direct sellers.
• Ability to translate technical product value into a partner-ready story - pitch decks, battlecards, demo paths, and certification tracks that partners will actually use.
• Excellent communicator and cross-functional operator; comfortable working closely with AEs, marketing, product, and finance to align on partner strategy and execution.
• You actively leverage AI and modern sales tools not just to scale existing workflows, but to rethink how channel is built - experimenting rapidly, unlocking new approaches, and continuously evolving strategy and execution.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation with meaningful early-stage equity.
• A rare opportunity to be the founding channel hire at a fast-growing cybersecurity startup and to architect the partner program from a blank page.
• Direct influence on GTM strategy, partner economics, marketing investment, and how Native scales beyond direct sales.
• Close collaboration with experienced founders, security experts, and operators who view channel as a core pillar of the business — not an afterthought.
• Flexibility, autonomy, and the chance to build something from the ground up

Why Join Now?

This isn’t just channel - it’s the opportunity to build and scale a partner program from the ground up, and shape how Native grows beyond direct sales.