Strategic ISV Partner Account Manager

Salesforce; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 168,560 - 225,470; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce is seeking a founding motion leader for the ISV partner channel to architect and close multi-year Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs). You will set pricing frameworks, steer negotiations, and coordinate with partner managers from inception to signature.

In this role you will bridge commercial strategy with cross-functional execution, ensuring smooth onboarding and handoffs to success teams for long-term adoption and renewal.

Qualifications

• 7–12 years of enterprise SaaS sales experience with a proven track record of closing multi-year ELAs.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to architect complex deal structures from scratch.
• Comfort operating in entrepreneurial, ambiguous environments with playbook development.
• Excellent internal navigation through Revenue Recognition, Legal and Finance.

Responsibilities

• Design, negotiate, and close multi-year enterprise license agreements (ELAs).
• Own commercial structure, pricing strategy, and cross‑functional execution from inception to signature.
• Coordinate with Partner Account Managers to drive pipeline and convert opportunities.
• Onboard customers post-close and hand off to Customer Success for adoption and renewal.

Skills

Enterprise SaaS sales

ELA closing

Negotiation skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Partner management

Pricing strategy

Strategic deal making

Job description

Job Category

Sales

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword—it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we’re looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce’s core values at the heart of it all.

The Role

This is a founding motion role—the first of its kind in the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner channel at Salesforce. In this role, you will design, negotiate, and close a new class of strategic deal: multi‑year, full‑platform Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs). Your mission is to consolidate complex partner and end‑customer software spend into a single, structured commitment.

You will act as the commercial architect and deal quarterback, working alongside Partner Account Managers to own the commercial structure, pricing strategy, and cross‑functional execution from inception to signature.

Why This Role Exists

While traditional partner teams focus on immediate, Year‑1 contract value, this strategic role bridges the gap between initial signing and long‑term partnership success. You are fully incentivized to architect and win high‑impact, multi‑year agreements. Once closed, you will seamlessly transition accounts to our dedicated Partner Success team, who ensures long‑term adoption, consumption, and renewal performance.

What You’ll Do

Deal Architecture & Commercial Strategy

• Own the Commercial Structure: Design and customize multi‑year enterprise agreements based on partner market size, customer footprint, and product maturity.
• Co‑Create Pricing Frameworks: Design complex pricing models (e.g., consumption‑based vs. seat‑based, pilot‑to‑production ramp structures, and platform access tiers).
• Navigate Governance: Author the business cases and deal models required to clear internal Deal Desk, Revenue Recognition, and Legal reviews for highly customized structures.

Pipeline Generation & Qualification

• Drive Account Sourcing: Act as a true hunter, converting install‑base data, partner business reviews, and platform usage signals into structured enterprise opportunities.
• Run Strategic Upgrades: Identify top‑tier partners currently on pay‑as‑you‑go contracts and transition them into high‑value, predictable enterprise commitments.
• Pipeline Visibility: Build and maintain a robust, validated 6‑month rolling deal pipeline.

Cross‑Functional Execution

• Orchestrate Internal Resources: Act as the connective tissue between the partner, end‑customers, product management, and internal sales leadership to keep complex deals moving forward.
• Cross‑Cloud Alignment: Lead collaboration across multiple product lines, ensuring deals span core CRM, Data Cloud, and AI/Agentic platforms seamlessly.
• Executive Visibility: Represent strategic deals in internal executive reviews and sales leadership updates.

Onboarding & Partnership Handoff

• Structured Transitions: Define the post‑sale activation roadmap jointly with Partner Account Managers and Customer Success Leads before a deal closes.
• Anchor Consumption: Identify key customer use cases such as AI or automation deployments to secure immediate, near‑term platform adoption.
• Clean Hand‑offs: Participate in the 30‑day post‑close partner kickoff, exiting cleanly once the Customer Success team is fully engaged and executing.

Playbook & Scale Building

• Create the Blueprint: Document deal structures, objection handling, and commercial frameworks to establish a repeatable model that allows us to scale this program globally.
• Feedback Loop: Feed market intelligence—including what’s working, competitive roadblocks, and product requirements—directly back to leadership and product engineering teams.

The Non‑Negotiables

• 7–12 years of enterprise SaaS sales experience with a proven track record of closing complex, multi‑year Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs).
• Commercial Acumen: Demonstrated ability to creatively architect commercial structures from scratch, rather than just selling pre‑packaged products.
• Comfort operating in an entrepreneurial, ambiguous environment—you enjoy building the playbook while executing it.
• Strong internal navigation skills; you know how to move complex deals through Revenue Recognition, Legal, and Finance without losing momentum.
• Sufficient technical depth to discuss platform architecture, AI agents, and data strategy with an ISV’s engineering and product leaders.

What Separates the Right Candidate

• Prior experience selling to or through ISV/OEM partners, rather than exclusively selling direct enterprise accounts.
• Deep familiarity with consumption‑based commercial models (e.g., credit systems, drawdowns, and ramp structures).
• The ability to be a credible, peer‑level counterpart to a partner’s CEO, CFO, or Chief Product Officer during high‑stakes negotiations.

Salary

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program.

More details about company benefits can be found at https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.

The typical base salary range for this position is $168,560 - $225,470 annually. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations. In California and New York, and select cities in the metropolitan areas of Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington DC, the base pay range for this role in those locations is $185,430 - $248,010 per year. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.