Partner Sales Manager

Kong; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 155,000 - 182,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid holidays

Job summary

Kong is seeking a remote Partner Sales Manager to drive revenue across AMER through resellers, SIs, and consultancies. You will own the partner territory, build joint business plans, and coordinate with AEs to win deals using Kong's full portfolio including API, AI, and gateway products.

The role is senior, quota-carrying, and requires strong relationship skills. Travel up to 50% and collaboration across sales, marketing, and operations are expected.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in partner, channel, or alliances sales with GTM through resellers or SIs
• Experience selling to enterprise buyers and managing complex partner deals
• Familiarity with SFDC, partner portals, and co-sell motions

Responsibilities

• Be a business advisor to the partners in your territory and own the number.
• Drive joint business plans with focus partners to align on pipeline and revenue
• ,
• Coordinate co-sell, co-marketing, and co-solutioning with focus partners

Skills

Partner sales

Channel partnerships

Enterprise sales

Salesforce

Partner portal

Tools

Salesforce

Partner management systems

Sales tools

Job description

Partner Sales Manager

Location

• Illinois, United States
• Florida, United States
• Texas, United States

Employment Type: Full time

Location Type: Remote

Department

• All Cost Center
• Sales
• Channel

Compensation

$155K – $182K Offers Equity Offers Commission

Compensation decisions are based on various factors, including, but not limited to, experience, skills, certifications, location, and business needs. Employees may be eligible for additional benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance, paid holidays and PTO; and professional development opportunities and tools.

Partner sales is one of Kong's biggest growth engines. The Partner Sales Manager drives revenue through partners: you build joint business plans, grow partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, and close business alongside Kong's Account Executives. You own Kong's partner business in your territory across resellers, systems integrators (SIs), and consultancies in AMER. This is a quota-carrying, senior individual contributor role, and you run your territory as your own business with your territory's sales leader.

Partner Sales Manager Responsibilities

• Be a business advisor to the partners in your territory, and own the number. Drive a joint business plan with each focus partner that sets shared goals for pipeline and revenue, and sell Kong's full portfolio — products, renewals, professional services, and support — through and with them.
• Partner with Kong Account Executives to increase partner attach. Bring the right partner into live deals, align on target accounts, and make it easy for AEs to win with partners.
• Orchestrate co-sell, co-marketing, and co-solutioning with each focus partner. You drive the outcomes across all three and coordinate the Kong team — sales engineers, marketing, enablement, and operations — who help you deliver.
• Sign new partners where there's room to grow, and map your territory to spot new joint opportunities.
• Drive partner-sourced pipeline. Set targets, run a steady cadence with each partner, and focus on net-new business.
• Coordinate deal registration, lead sharing, and co-sell for Kong Gateway, Kong AI Gateway, Kong Mesh, and Konnect, and resolve route conflicts fairly.
• Create joint assets with focus partners, such as reference architectures, blueprints, and solution briefs that field teams on both sides can pick up and use.
• Run joint marketing events and campaigns that build pipeline.
• Learn how your partners make money, where Kong fits, and what it takes to win together.
• Work with Partner Sales Engineers so partners have the technical readiness to sell and deliver Kong.
• Build strong relationships with Kong Account Sales Managers and geo leadership, and involve sales leadership and support as needed to hit shared targets.
• Contribute to quarterly business reviews and annual planning for the Partner organization.
• Share a weekly forecast, and keep partner and opportunity data current in Salesforce and the partner portal.
• Raise critical business issues early with Partner Sales leadership.
• Collaborate with Finance, Partner Operations, and Sales Operations, and prepare territory plans, presentations, and reports as needed.

Partner Sales Manager Requirements

• 5+ years in partner, channel, or alliances sales, with a track record of driving go-to-market through resellers and SIs or consultancies
• A drive to source net-new business and grow it with partners
• The organization to run many partners and activities in parallel
• Experience selling infrastructure, developer platforms, or API and AI technology to enterprise buyers
• Experience selling open source solutions
• Experience with B2B sales, deal registration, partner quoting, and co-selling
• Experience with Salesforce and partner management systems, such as a partner portal
• Clear written and verbal communication, strong interpersonal skills, and a steady presence under pressure
• An established network in the industry
• A results-oriented approach
• Interest in Kong and open source software, and the ability to use Kong
• Shares Kong's values and works in accordance with them
• Ability to travel up to 50% and comply with the company's travel policy

Nice to have:

• Prior Partner Sales Manager or partner leadership experience at an API, integration, or open-source-led company
• Hyperscaler co-sell experience, such as AWS ISV Accelerate, Azure IP Co-sell, or GCP Partner Advantage
• Existing relationships with AMER SIs, regional consultancies, or value-added resellers
• Sales methodology training, such as MEDDPICC or Command of the Message

About Kong:

Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.