Channel Partner Manager

Pandoblox•Rockford, IL

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

This role involves acting as a fractional or advisory CxO with a book of warm mid-market relationships. The partners are operators-turned-advisors who run fractional practices (CFO, COO, CMO, CRO) or sit on advisory boards for PE-backed and founder-led companies in the $50M–$500M revenue range. The primary function is to support these partners by providing AI business development and demo tools, assisting them in closing deals, and making them appear brilliant to their existing relationships. The role requires understanding how to coach different partner personas (CFO, COO, CEO, CMO, CRO) through the appropriate approach.

Requirements

4–7 years in channel, alliances, partnerships, or partner-led sales, ideally managing independent advisors, fractional executives, agencies, or consultants.
Comfortable holding substantive conversations with senior executives (CxOs) about their business challenges.
An 'operator's brain' with a strong understanding of pipelines, conversion rates, and activation gates.
A coaching instinct to help partners improve their performance without overshadowing them.
Fluency in the mid-market ($50M–$500M PE-backed and founder-led companies), understanding their decision dynamics and internal challenges.
Comfort with hybrid Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies and partner economics involving spiffs, residuals, and consulting hours.

Nice To Haves

Existing relationships in fractional CFO networks, advisory CxO communities, or PE operating partner networks.
Background at a Service-as-Software, fractional talent, or modern data platform company.
Experience building a partner program from its early stages.
Familiarity with mid-market data stacks (Snowflake, dbt, BI tools).

Responsibilities

Recruit fractional and advisory CxO partners by building and working a target list from various networks and relationships.
Run discovery calls to qualify partner fit based on relationship quality and target account warmth.
Close partner agreements, defining program structure, compensation, exclusivity, and intake process.
Onboard and activate new partners by capturing their key C-suite accounts within the first two weeks.
Coordinate with the research team to scan accounts for relevant job postings and trigger analyses.
Coach partners on persona-specific talk tracks and how to use AI-generated briefs as openers.
Coach partners through a 3-phase close cycle: pre-meeting (ensuring analysis is sent), discovery (joining calls to review findings and identify champions), and Proof of Value Validation (facilitating demos and roadmaps).
Operate the partner pipeline by owning the partner CRM, managing deal registration, joint forecasting, and conversion rates.
Run weekly partner pipeline reviews with the VP of Business Development, identifying stalling and over-performing partners.
Refresh each partner's target accounts quarterly.
Drive expansion and retention by ensuring partner-influenced clients convert from POV to annual contracts.
Surface land-and-expand opportunities for further data integrations and AI/IT operations.
Build the partner advocacy flywheel through case studies, referrals, and social proof.