Senior Director, Alliance

Databricks; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks in the United States seeks a Director of EMEA Alliances to steer strategic partnerships with Platinum-tier partners across the region. This leadership role will shape the EMEA GSI portfolio and oversee a team that includes an Alliance Director, delivering end-to-end coverage of high-impact partners.

You will report to the Vice President, EMEA Alliances, and be responsible for executive alignment, joint innovation, and a programmatic GTM approach that accelerates partner-sourced

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading strategic partnerships in a complex enterprise.
• Track record of building and guiding cross-border alliance programs.
• Deep understanding of Global SI partner ecosystems and joint value propositions.
• Proven ability to engage C-suite executives and drive executive alignment.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive the EMEA GSI strategy across named Platinum-tier partners.
• Lead executive-level engagement and quarterly business reviews with key partners.
• Coach and manage a team of alliance managers and a direct report.
• Align with regional sales leaders to grow partner-sourced consumption and pipeline.
• Drive co-innovation and joint GTM campaigns with partners.
• Ensure partner programs, training, and capacity building support scale.

Skills

Strategic leadership

EMEA partnerships

GSI relationships

Executive engagement

Programmatic GTM

Team management

C-suite collaboration

AI fluency

Job description

SLSQ327R845

The Consulting & Systems Integrator (C&SI) team accelerates Databricks’ growth by building and managing relationships with the world’s leading data and AI services companies. As Director, EMEA Alliances , you will lead the strategic partnership motion across Databricks’ highest-tier named Platinum-tier partners in EMEA - driving partner-impacted consumption ($DBU), partner-sourced pipeline, executive alignment, and joint innovation at scale.

This is a leadership role responsible for the EMEA Global Systems Integration (GSI) portfolio of named Platinum-tier partners. These GSIs are critical for the CXO narrative in EMEA’s top strategic accounts — they are the delivery and influence partners that shape executive buying decisions at our largest customers.

You will directly manage the named Platinum partner relationships at the EMEA level and lead a team that includes a direct report managing Gold-tier and priority Silver-tier partners. Together, you will provide end-to-end coverage of Databricks’ most impactful partner tiers in EMEA.

You will report to the Vice President, EMEA Alliances.

The impact you will have:

Strategic Partnership Leadership

• Own and drive the EMEA GSI strategy across named Platinum-tier partners, building strategic relationships.
• Engage the C-Suite at each Platinum partner to co-develop the EMEA Strategy and Business Plan, with clear goals for consumption, bookings, certification, and joint innovation.

Forward-Looking Product & Innovation Strategy

• Lead partners through Databricks’ next wave of platform innovation — Lakebase (OLTP use cases), Genie & AI/BI (winning business users), Agentic AI , and platform expansion — ensuring GSI partners build practices, solutions, and certified capacity around these strategic priorities.
• Drive joint co-innovation with partners around repeatable IP and Brickbuilder Solutions — activating go-to-market campaigns that position Databricks and partners as the platform of choice for enterprise Data + AI transformation.
• Ensuring partners are building differentiated practices that drive customer adoption of Databricks’ newest capabilities.
• Activate partner-led migration motions ( through structured plays and funded programs.

Team Leadership & Operating Model

• Manage a team of EMEA partner managers, including a direct report (Alliance Director) who owns the Gold-tier and Rising Silver partner portfolio — providing coaching, development, and strategic direction.
• Maintain trust and collaboration with the regional leadership and partner sales teams, including clear strategy, planning, and governance of partner plans in the EMEA region.
• Align with regional partner sales leaders to drive growth in sourced and consumption with named partners.

Executive Engagement & Governance

• Create and foster executive-level relationships at all levels within each partnership.
• Establish healthy and sustainable executive cadences with priority partners, including quarterly business reviews, joint planning sessions, and strategic alignment meetings.
• Own the partner-facing governance model that ensures partner-sourced and delivery pipeline is correctly attributed.
• Create a mutually structured plan and track key metrics that address the needs of partners and key cross-fucntional team members.

Enablement & Capacity Building

• Develop a training and enablement strategy with the enablement team resulting in practice growth and knowledge expansion - driving technical certifications, sales badges, and delivery expertise across the GSI portfolio.
• Secure investment and establish programs around repeatable IP and solution investments, resulting in activating go-to-market campaigns.

What we look for:

• Extensive experience in securing and supporting strategic partnerships in EMEA, with progressive leadership experience at a reputable technology organization.
• Track record of success managing a team of alliance professionals - hiring, developing, and leading people to exceed target goals and be their best version of themselves.
• Deep GSI relationship expertise — in-depth understanding of Global SI partner organizations, key stakeholders, overall strategy, company culture, market offerings, and joint value propositions. Experience working with partners such as Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, EY or equivalent.
• Executive presence and C-Suite engagement — proven ability to build and maintain trust-based relationships with partner executives at the regional and global level, and to mobilize joint field and partner teams around a shared strategy.
• Deep domain experience in enterprise infrastructure, cloud, data, and AI/analytics space — comfortable in a complex technical environment and able to articulate the value of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
• Partner-sourced pipeline ownership — demonstrated track record of driving measurable partner-sourced and partner-initiated pipeline, not just co-sell support or delivery attachment. Evidence of moving partners from reactive delivery to proactive demand creation.
• Programmatic GTM execution — experience designing and running structured joint campaigns, Big Bet account engagements, and scalable partner-led sales plays that use partners’ industry expertise to create repeatability and faster time to value.
• Experience driving results in a hyper-growth, multi-billion-dollar enterprise organization — comfort operating where the operating model is still being built, and contributing to building it.
• AI fluency — actively uses AI tools in daily work to manage, analyze, and scale partner activity. Understanding of the agentic AI landscape and how partners can build differentiated practices around emerging AI capabilities.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, and organizational skills , with the ability to articulate and evangelize the value of Databricks solutions to partners and customers alike.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

Benefits

At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer’s discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.