Channel Partner Sales Director

Company Description

About Mirantis

Mirantis is the Kubernetes-native AI infrastructure company, enabling organizations to build and operate scalable, secure, and sovereign infrastructure for modern AI, machine learning, and data-intensive applications. By combining open source innovation with deep expertise in Kubernetes orchestration, Mirantis empowers platform engineering teams to deliver composable, production-ready developer platforms across any environment—on-premises, in the cloud, at the edge, or in sovereign data centers. As enterprises navigate the growing complexity of AI-driven workloads, Mirantis delivers the automation, GPU orchestration, and policy-driven control needed to manage infrastructure with confidence and agility. Committed to open standards and freedom from lock-in, Mirantis ensures that customers retain full control of their infrastructure strategy.

Job Description

Mirantis is hiring a Director of Channel Partner Sales to own and rebuild our global channel strategy. This is a single-headcount, high-autonomy role reporting directly to the Vice President of Customer Success and Sales. The successful candidate will replace our current approach with a focused, partner-led motion centred on a small number of high-value partners rather than volume.

This is a build role. You will inherit an existing partner footprint, assess it critically, and define what “good” looks like for Mirantis in the channel. You will have access to shared resources across Sales Engineering, Marketing, Product, and Customer Success, and you will be the single accountable owner for channel outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Programme Design

• Build the channel strategy from first principles. Define target partner profile, tiering, economics, and rules of engagement with direct sales. Replace a broad, unfocused approach with a measurable plan concentrated on a small number of partners.
• Rationalise the existing partner base. Assess current partners on fit, capability, and revenue contribution, and make clear keep, invest, or exit decisions.
• Design the partner programme. Tiers, margins, MDF, deal registration, incentives, enablement paths, and certification, calibrated to Mirantis’ size and stage.
  
  

Partner Recruitment and Management

• Identify and land a small number of strategic partners across global and regional systems integrators, value-added resellers, and cloud hyperscaler marketplaces (AWS, Azure, GCP), prioritised by where Mirantis’ Kubernetes proposition creates genuine partner economics.
• Own the full partner lifecycle end to end: recruitment, onboarding, enablement, joint go-to-market planning, pipeline generation, co-selling, and quarterly business reviews.
• Build executive relationships at priority partners and broker the right internal connections at Mirantis across product, engineering, and the executive team.
  
  

Revenue and Execution

• Carry a channel-sourced and channel-influenced revenue number with clear quarterly targets.
• Orchestrate shared resources — Sales Engineers, marketing, product marketing, and field sales — to support partner-led opportunities without requiring dedicated channel headcount.
• Work closely with direct sales leadership to define clean rules of engagement, avoid channel conflict, and ensure partners act as a force multiplier rather than a point of friction.
  
  

Marketplace and Ecosystem

• Drive Mirantis’ presence and transactability on hyperscaler marketplaces, and build co-sell motions that leverage committed cloud spend.
• Partner with product and alliances teams on joint solutions that differentiate Mirantis within the Kubernetes and cloud-native ecosystem.
  
  

Qualifications

Required Experience

• 8+ years in channel sales, alliances, or partner management at an enterprise software, infrastructure, cloud, or open-source company, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership capacity.
• Demonstrable track record of building or rebuilding a channel function at a company where direct sales was the dominant motion. Able to point to specific partners recruited and revenue sourced.
• Deep familiarity with the Kubernetes, cloud-native, or enterprise infrastructure ecosystem, including the partners, competitors, and commercial models that operate within it.
• Experience working across global and regional systems integrators, value-added resellers, and hyperscaler marketplaces, with a clear understanding of how each partner type generates revenue and what it takes to mobilise them.
• Proven ability to operate as a standalone individual contributor with a strategic remit, comfortable orchestrating shared resources rather than managing a direct team.
• Strong commercial judgement: partner economics, margin structures, deal registration, co-sell mechanics, and MDF return on investment.
• Excellent executive communication; able to represent Mirantis credibly to partner C-suites.
• Willingness to travel globally, approximately 30–40%.
  
  

Preferred Experience

• Existing relationships with tier-one global systems integrators and/or hyperscaler partner organisations.
• Experience at a company transitioning from founder-led or direct-led selling into a scaled partner motion.
• Exposure to open-source commercial models and subscription-based software pricing.
  
  

Measures of Success

• First 90 days: Complete partner base assessment and deliver a written channel strategy with target partner list, tiering, and programme design.
• Six months: Signed or re-engaged agreements with priority partners; first channel-sourced pipeline booked; rules of engagement with direct sales operational.
• Twelve months: Material, measurable channel-sourced and channel-influenced revenue contribution, and a credible partner programme that scales without adding headcount.
  
  

Why This Role

This is not a steward role on an established programme. The successful candidate will define what the Mirantis channel looks like, with direct access to the executive team and no intermediate layers between them and the decisions that matter. The role is suited to an operator who prefers to build rather than maintain, and who believes a focused, partner-led motion outperforms a volume-driven one.

Additional Information

What does Mirantis offer you?

• Work with an established Silicon Valley leader in the cloud infrastructure industry;
• Work with exceptionally passionate, talented and engaging colleagues, helping Fortune 500 and Global 2000 customers implement next-generation cloud technologies;
• Be a part of cutting-edge, open-source innovation;
• Thrive in the high-energy environment of a young company where openness, collaboration, risk-taking, and continuous growth are valued;
• Professional development and training;
• Attend conferences and working groups;
• Company outings, happy hours, hackathons, and tech talks;
• Receive a competitive compensation package with a strong benefits plan.
  
  

It is understood that Mirantis, Inc. may use automated decision-making technology (ADMT) for specific employment-related decisions. Opting out of ADMT use is requested for decisions about evaluation and review connected with the specific employment decision for the position applied for. You also have the right to appeal any decisions made by ADMT by sending your request to [email protected]

By submitting your resume, you consent to the processing and storage of your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, for the purposes of considering your application for current and future job opportunities.

We are a Leader for Container Management in G2 (#2 after AWS)!