Aiven · Full-time
The roleWe're hiring a Key Account Director to own Aiven's largest OEM and strategic technology partnerships across AMER. You'll drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue — building the relationships, programs, and cross-functional alignment that turn partnerships into a measurable, growing share of ARR.
This is a role for a builder-operator: someone who has stood up or scaled channel and OEM motions inside infrastructure software companies before, and has the numbers to show for it.
Who we're looking forYou think in partnerships, not transactions. You've spent your career embedded in the channel — recruiting partners, building programs, negotiating OEM and ISV agreements, and pulling together sales, marketing, engineering, and product teams to grow joint business.
You're comfortable in a startup with no playbook and in a large enterprise where you have to create new habits between direct sellers and the partner ecosystem. What drives you is taking a partner relationship from a standing start — or a stalled one — and turning it into a self-sustaining revenue engine. You have the YoY growth numbers, partner counts, and ARR contributions to prove it.
What good looks likeOEM and strategic partnerships You've directly owned named OEM relationships — hardware, cloud, ISV embed deals — and can point to documented joint revenue growth from each.
Channel and indirect selling Your pipeline track record shows partner-sourced and partner-influenced deals (deal registration, PIO) — not just direct quota carrying.
Infrastructure software background You've sold data, cloud, open source, DevOps, or middleware products. You understand technical buyers and how developer-led adoption actually works.
Quantified revenue impact You own your numbers: Growth rate, Customer satisfaction rate, contribution to ARR milestones.
Cross-functional orchestration You've matrix-managed sales, marketing, SAs, engineering, and ops to execute joint go-to-market plans — and you know how to move all of them in the same direction at the same time.
Ecosystem fluency You're comfortable across GSIs (Accenture, PwC, EY, Tech Mahindra), RSIs (CDW, Insight, AHEAD, Optiv), ISVs, and the big-3 clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP).
What sets you apart- Built a channel or partner program from scratch
- Hyperscaler marketplace and co-sell experience: AWS, Azure, or GCP private offers and marketplace transactions
- Been part of a company through an IPO or major funding milestone
- Fluent in open source commercial models: subscription, support, managed-service monetization
- Public sector exposure (FED/SLED) as an additional partner-led motion
- Managed direct or matrixed teams — a plus for this player-coach scope, not a hard requirement
Skills Required
- Proven experience building or scaling channel and OEM motions inside infrastructure software companies
- Direct ownership of named OEM relationships with documented joint revenue growth
- Track record of partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline (deal registration, PIO)
- Experience recruiting partners, building programs, and negotiating OEM and ISV agreements
- Infrastructure software background (data, cloud, open source, DevOps, or middleware)
- Ability to matrix-manage sales, marketing, SAs, engineering, and ops to execute joint GTM plans
- Quantified revenue impact ownership (YoY growth, partner counts, ARR contribution)
- Hyperscaler marketplace and co-sell experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
- Built a channel or partner program from scratch
- Public sector exposure (FED/SLED) as an additional partner-led motion
- Experience with GSIs, RSIs, ISVs, and big-3 cloud partners
- Prior experience through an IPO or major funding milestone
- Managed direct or matrixed teams (player-coach scope)
