Channel Development Manager, Robotics

Tennant • Eden Prairie, MN

27d

About The Position

With more than $1B in revenue, Tennant Company is a globally recognized leader in the cleaning equipment industry. For the past 150 years, we have been passionate about developing and manufacturing innovative and sustainable solutions for our customers. At Tennant Company, we are committed to stewardship and creating a cleaner, safer and healthier world. With manufacturing, operations and sales, service, and support functions across the globe, your journey at Tennant can take you places you never expected. We are seeking a highly decisive and execution-focused Channel Development to drive the strategic expansion and technical readiness of TNC Robotics within distributor-led Sales & Verticals. This critical leadership role is accountable for developing and operationalizing the robotics distribution channel and ensuring commercial execution in verticals & regions where TNC relies on indirect partners for sales, service, and deployment. The Channel Development Leader acts as the primary technical Subject Matter Expert (SME), partnering with core TNC teams and technology partners (such as Brain) to design and launch robust distribution offers.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Business Administration, or a related technical field is required.
• Experience: Minimum of 10 years of progressive commercial leadership and channel management experience, with demonstrated success in technically complex products or robotics/technology sectors.
• Distribution Expertise (ROW): Deep practical experience managing indirect sales channels and distributors, particularly in regions requiring localized deployment support and distinct commercial agreements.
• Technical Mastery & Deployment Acumen: Proven ability to act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on robotics, successfully executing demonstrations and deployments, and communicating complex software/feature arguments.
• Results Orientation: Proven capability to drive results and overcome obstacles, ensuring the execution required to meet volume and utilization commitments, especially within high-complexity distributor models.
• Leadership: Demonstrated ability to Direct Work effectively, delegate responsibility, and establish clear expectations for partners and reporting teams. Proven experience in developing talent and coaching others, particularly through remote training mechanisms like webinars and workshops.

Nice To Haves

• Value Proposition & Commercial Storytelling: Explain why we win in plain language, linking outcomes and ROI to credible proof.
• Demand & Opportunity Management: Create, qualify, and progress opportunities through a visible funnel with clear entry/exit criteria.
• Financial & Commercial Acumen: Understand unit economics, pricing, and value levers to make sound, outcome-oriented business decisions.
• Partnership & Channel Orchestration: Build and manage partner routes-to-market and alliances to expand reach, speed, and capability.
• Customer Success & Lifecycle Health: Drive adoption and measurable outcomes across the journey to secure renewal, expansion, and advocacy.

Responsibilities

• Robotics Channel Strategy & Management: Develop and operationalize new Robots/Automation distribution channels to accelerate adoption.
• This includes managing the current distribution channels in collaboration with the core organization, leveraging a stronger technical skill and a hands-on approach and opening new Robotics specific channels.
• Commercial Offer Design and Partnership: Partner with all relevant Venture (TNCR) and TNC (Core) areas, alongside partners like Brain, to design, define, and launch comprehensive distribution offers and incentive programs. This is essential to unlocking the distribution model for smaller and higher volume products.
• Technical Sales Expertise & Customer Project Engagement: Serve as the specialized Robot Specialist/Product Specialist to enable partner success. This involves making persuasive presentations on the benefits of automation, making a detailed business case or project outline for the customer (ROI argumentation), and connecting with automation project teams from potential customers.
• Demo, Deployment, and Installation Leadership: Lead the technical delivery process in indirect markets. Responsibilities includes defining and organizing the multiplication of hands-on product demonstrations (demos) to accelerate the sales cycle and the expansion trough partners of the installation (deployment) of equipment, mirroring the function of a Robot Technology Specialist (RTS).
• Vertical Market Specialization: Drive channel penetration and adoption specifically within key growth verticals, including, Healthcare, Education, Horeca and aligning with the strategic expansion priorities of TNC Robotics.

Benefits

• A comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, disability, life insurance, paid time off, and voluntary benefits!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Industry: Machinery Manufacturing
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees