Senior Director, Partner/Vendor Alliances - Microsoft

NTT DATA, Inc.; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 2,400,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Job summary

NTT DATA is seeking a Senior Director of Partner/Vendor Alliances to lead a global, cross-functional team focused on strategic partnerships. You will identify partners, build alliance programs, and drive joint value creation through market opportunities and collaborative go-to-market initiatives.

The role requires extensive leadership, negotiation, and business development experience in a technology environment.

Qualifications

• Significant strategic thinking to develop and execute partner alliances strategies.
• Proven ability to build and manage strategic partner relationships.
• Strong negotiation and contract management skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement comprehensive partner alliances strategies.
• Build and maintain relationships with strategic partners and monitor performance.
• Identify new business opportunities through partner alliances and collaboration with sales/tech teams.
• Negotiate and execute partnership agreements with favorable terms.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on joint marketing, product integrations and go-to-market plans.
• Lead and coach the alliance management team and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Relationship building

Negotiation

Leadership

Business development

Data-driven decisions

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in business/CS/IT

Job description

Make an impact with NTT DATA

Join a company that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We are renowned for our technical excellence and leading innovations, and for making a difference to our clients and society. Our workplace embraces diversity and inclusion – it’s a place where you can grow, belong and thrive.

Your day at NTT DATA

The Senior Director, Partner/Vendor Alliances is a leadership role, responsible for supporting the development and management of strategic partnerships with external organizations. The primary objective of this role is to drive business growth, improve client experiences, and enhance the organization’s competitive position through collaborative alliances.

This role is ultimately responsible for supporting the development of comprehensive partner alliances strategies aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives, including identifying potential partners, evaluating partnership opportunities, and defining partnership models.

Through effective management of a team of partner alliances specialists, this role has the primary responsibility to work with sales and technical teams to ensure certification and enablement standards are maintained and to develop joint investment opportunities to grow the partnerships strategically aligned to organizational goals and objectives.

Key responsibilities

• Supports the development of a comprehensive partner alliances strategy aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives, including identifying potential partners, evaluating partnership opportunities, and defining partnership models.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with strategic partners, including managing partner performance, addressing any issues or concerns, and ensuring effective collaboration to achieve mutual goals.
• Identifies and pursues new business opportunities through partner alliances, including identifying market trends, assessing client needs, and leveraging partner capabilities to create innovative solutions and services.
• Provides direction and controls strategic programs and contributes to the execution of executive engagements.
• Leads the negotiation and execution of partnership agreements and contracts, including ensuring favorable terms and conditions for the organization while maintaining a win‑win outcome for both parties.
• Tracks and measures the performance of partner alliances against established KPs and targets, including analyzing data, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing correctives actions as needed.
• Collaborates with cross functional business stakeholder (for example, Sales, Marketing, Product Development, Operations etc.) to align partner alliance activities with overall business strategies including coordinating joint marketing campaigns, product integrations, and go‑to‑market strategies.
• Represents the organization in industry forums, conferences, and events to build brand awareness, establish through leadership and identify potential partnership opportunities.
• Oversees the coaching of the senior alliance management team to ensure alignment to current business drivers, organizational initiatives and senior programs.
• Identifies and mitigates potential risks associated with partner alliances, including conducting due diligence, monitoring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and implementing risk mitigation strategies.
• Defines and ensures the implementation of partner alliances policies, standards, and guidelines.
• Acts as a strategic partner to partner alliances leadership and teams by delivering consistent and valuable training and coaching interventions that enable continuous improvement and revenue growth whilst closing skills gaps.
• Acts as change agent, providing advice, guidance, and support to drive the adoption and entrenchment of best‑practice approaches to partner alliances management.

To thrive in this role, you need to have

• Significantly vast strategic thinking ability to develop and execute a comprehensive partner alliances strategy aligned with organizational goals/objectives.
• Significantly vast relationship-building and collaboration ability enabling the establishment and enablement of strategic partnerships with external partners.
• Significantly vast ability to foster trust and manage partner relationships to achieve mutual goals.
• Significantly vast understanding of business development principles and ability to identify and pursue new
• Significantly vast ability to lead and inspire immediate team as well as cross functional teams and influence stakeholders at all levels within the organization.
• Excellent communication skills to articulate complex ideas in a clear and concise manner.
• Significantly vast negotiation and contract management skills to secure favorable terms and conditions in partnership agreements and contracts.
• Significantly vast analytical ability to assess partnership opportunities, evaluate partner performance and make data‑driven decisions, includes being able to analyze market data and financial and other reports.
• Significantly vast understanding of the technology industry, including latest trends and emerging technologies and competitive landscapes.
• Significantly vast ability to navigate and thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.

Academic qualifications and certifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in business, computer science, or information technology or a related field.

Required experience

• Significantly vast experience in a similar senior/leadership role, preferably gained within a global technology organization.
• Significantly vast track record of success in building and managing strategic partner alliances.
• Significantly vast experience operationally managing a partner/vendor alliances team.
• Significantly vast go‑to‑market experience and driving business growth.
• Significantly vast experience in partner alliances management, business development and strategic alliances.
• Significantly vast experience gained within a global technology organization.

Workplace type

Hybrid Working

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100.

We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation.

We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services.

Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future.

As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 70 countries.

We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start‑up partners.

NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NTT DATA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer with a global culture that embraces diversity. We are committed to providing an environment free of unfair discrimination and harassment. We do not discriminate based on age, race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected category.