Senior Director, Business Development - APAC

Job Summary

Reporting to the President, Asia Pacific, the Senior Director, Business Development, APAC will be responsible for the long-term growth of the customer ecosystems which represent the strongest sources of future value for the company.  These include networks, clouds and content providers; financial services companies; and multiple emerging ecosystems including AI & Quantum technology players.  The role will define the overall business development strategy for these sectors and lead the APAC Business Development team in execution of that strategy, working in close partnership with multiple other departments.

The Senior Director and their team work tightly with the regional Sales teams in supporting strategic customer acquisition, leveraging deep industry expertise to complement sales efforts.  This role collaborates closely with Managing Directors to drive ecosystem growth in well-established metros, and to springboard customer ecosystem development in newly launched metros across APAC.  

The Senior Director and their team provide input to the Corporate Development team on how to meet the needs of critical customer segments, in terms of site selection and connectivity between datacentres.  The team also works with the Product department to ensure pricing and product features meet the needs of key customer ecosystems; and partners with Marketing to align on campaigns and events, ensuring that marketing efforts are tailored appropriately to specific industries and customer segments.

Responsibilities

Market Development and Partnership Integration            

• Perform comprehensive economic analyses of market opportunities and articulate the value proposition of Equinix's offerings to customers

• Conduct early-stage identification of target customers and market sizing to prioritize engagement efforts

• Identify opportunities for partner integration to advance our ecosystem objectives

• Link ecosystem development plans to specific engagements across countries, ensuring alignment with relevant country sales teams and global ecosystem initiatives

Ecosystem Development & Customer Acquisition

• Engage with and cultivate interconnected customer ecosystems that enhance interconnection and drive value for Equinix, while assessing their performance and making data-driven adjustments to optimize effectiveness

• Analyze market dynamics and customer trends to strategically select and secure key customer deployments that align with Equinix's product offerings, ensuring successful deployments and revenue growth

• Work closely with sales teams to align on customer acquisition strategies, ensuring a cohesive approach to securing new business opportunities

Networking & Relationship Building

• Develop and nurture long-term relationships with key customers and partners, focusing on ecosystem development and growth rather than just short-term targets

• Serve as a liaison between customers and internal teams, including commercial finance, product, and marketing, to ensure alignment on needs, expectations, and support for BD initiatives

Direct Deal Support

• Provide actionable insights and industry knowledge to shape sales strategies and enhance customer engagement efforts

• When appropriate, influence customer decision makers directly, working as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for a particular industry & ecosystem

• Advise Sales teams to design creative deal structures, promotional strategies, and pricing models for complex magnet deal solutions that meet customer requirements and drive revenue growth

• Collaborate with global field teams to capture and distil successful deal-winning knowledge, integrating insights into our global field engagement strategy to enhance ecosystem development and facilitate knowledge dissemination across the organization

Thought Leadership

• Participate in industry events, keynotes, webinars, presentations, panels, and journalist engagements, while publishing articles and developing use cases to position Equinix as a leader in vision, strategy and expertise

• Develop and share insights on market trends and customer needs with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment with the company's strategic objectives

• Build and maintain relationships with industry analysts and influencers (e.g., fintech analysts, technology thought leaders, and social media influencers in the financial services sector) through one-on-one meetings and participation in key events to strengthen the company's reputation in the market

Governance & Standardization

• Create and implement a globally consistent operational framework within business development teams to ensure the highest and best use of operational resources and regional program approaches

• Establish and disseminate best practices for cultivating customer ecosystems and securing key deployments (magnets), ensuring that all BD teams leverage successful strategies

• Co-create clear guidelines outlining the roles and responsibilities of BD and cross-functional partners to enhance accountability and streamline decision-making processes

• Establish regular review meetings and reporting structures to assess the effectiveness of cross-functional collaborations, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned on objectives and progress

Strategic Planning and Continuous Evaluation

• Work with Corporate Development to support strategic initiatives, including the development of business cases, providing critical insights and recommendations for new market opportunities

• Act as a decision-maker in the design and construction stage by recommending third-party data centers for tethering and overseeing those tethers are deployed, and by advising on other aspects of the design and construction process that are critical for interconnection

• Drive overall strategy for ecosystem development and onboarding within across the region

• Build strategy to prioritize groups of accounts across ecosystem area and partner on engagements with key foundation players

Go-to-Market Support and Enablement

• Identify and build diverse program models across ecosystems to create necessary scale for the business and establish value exchange frameworks with potential magnets

• Identify and help create new route-to-market models to capitalize on emerging business opportunities, including the development of contract frameworks

• Partner to build and execute cross-functional investment plans for initiatives within one or more ecosystems, ensuring alignment with overall business objectives

• Work with sales and channel teams to develop and execute go-to-market strategies that monetize ecosystem opportunities, while aligning marketing efforts with industry needs to generate interest and engagement

Account and Partnership Development

• Interface to regional sales leadership and country leadership to develop integrated plans by select country by select ecosystem

• Partner with Sales, for larger accounts, or engage directly, for smaller key accounts, on business development initiatives with C-suite

• Partner on global development and execution of strategic plans to deepen relationships with key partners, driving business development programs across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in Enterprise technology.  Particularly suitable industry experience would include Telecommunications, Cloud, or SaaS experience.  Experience working in Professional Services or top-tier Management Consulting would be highly complementary

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in relevant field preferred

• Preferably experienced in leading a high-performing technical sales / pre-sales team building business across varied industries (network providers, cloud & IT services, content providers, financial services, AI & Quantum players, etc)

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and contribute to the creation of a strategic business development plan; track record of communicating the narrative and achieving buy-in from senior leaders  

• High degree of competency in bringing structure and rigour to complex business challenges

• Ability to provide thought leadership, think strategically, and to effectively communicate vision and influence with a high degree of EQ

• Solid knowledge and network within our industry or a related one, able to understand macro trends

• Strong experience managing and influencing stakeholders across different functional groups

• Exceptional ability to collaborate with disparate teams and leverage indirect influence and management to impact decision making

• Proven and entrepreneurial leadership experience in a multinational business environment

• Adept at balancing short-term priorities with strategic long-term goals  

• Thoughtful, strategic, and skilled at planning initiatives, designating priorities, and being decisive when faced with ambiguity