Manager, Channel & Partners (AI)

Location: Japan; in-market role requiring significant in-person work with partner principals, delivery teams, and customers.

Company

Builds a Super Intelligence stack spanning computing infrastructure, AI models, and applications, while developing a partner ecosystem across APJ.

What you will do

• Own the Japan partner business from greenfield strategy and sequencing through execution.
• Accelerate global technology and transformation partners into the market and recruit, onboard, and manage local partners where gaps exist.
• Build co-sell motions, establish forward-deployed engineer capacity, and drive executive access and value-amplification programs through closed wins.
• Convert partner relationships into qualified pipeline and closed co-sell revenue contributing to the regional vice president's target.
• Build market data, reporting, forecasting, partner tiering, onboarding flows, QBRs, and operating cadence.
• Act as business partner to the in-market regional vice president and resolve route-to-market, contracting, partner economics, channel conflict, localisation, accreditation, and customer-access challenges.

Requirements

• Fluency in Japanese and deep understanding of the local technology and services partner ecosystem, especially SIs and GSIs.
• Professional working proficiency in English for regular HQ engagement and presentations to English-speaking stakeholders.
• Builder-operator mindset with experience owning and running a business from greenfield as it scales.
• Experience building and scaling technology, consulting, or GSI partnerships, ideally in enterprise software, with accountability for a business target.
• Fluency in partner business plans, program mechanics, enablement, and co-sell economics.
• Ability to make data-driven decisions and establish reporting and operating cadence independently.
• Ability to build durable relationships with partner principals and alliance leads.
• Judgment in negotiation and channel-conflict situations, with the ability to identify and influence relevant internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to operate across diverse markets and decision-making styles and move quickly.

Culture & Benefits

• In-market role with a significant amount of in-person partner, delivery-team, and customer engagement.
• Close collaboration with a small, high-talent-density global partnerships team.
• Fast, direct communication and a focus on in-person collaboration.
• Team-of-one market ownership with a mandate to build the local partner business quickly.