Director, Global Channel Sales (Commercial & International)

Kion • Columbia, MD

4d • $225,000 - $250,000 • Remote

About The Position

Kion is seeking a Director, Global Channel Sales to build and lead its channel strategy outside US Federal, focusing first on EMEA while growing the partner business in North America Commercial. The role will design the partner program, recruit and activate partners, and establish partner-sourced pipeline and revenue as a reliable, forecastable business channel.

The Director will build relationships with systems integrators, managed service providers, cloud providers, distributors, resellers, service providers, and consulting partners. Initially, the role is hands-on in building the program and selling with partners; as it grows, the Director will hire and lead a channel team. The position owns Kion’s most strategic partner relationships and serves as a key source of insight for leadership on channel performance and direction.

Kion’s FinOps+ platform helps organizations prevent cloud waste through automated governance and AI-driven FinOps, extending these capabilities beyond public cloud to SaaS, AI, and data centers. The platform is self-hosted in customers’ AWS or Azure environments, keeping customer data within their environments. The Director will help partners sell, deliver, and co-market Kion to enterprise, regulated, government, and data-sovereignty-conscious customers.

Requirements

• Track record of building or scaling a multi-tier partner program involving systems integrators, VARs, distributors, service providers, or MSPs at a high-growth SaaS, cloud infrastructure, or ISV company.
• Proven success building a partner channel in EMEA and understanding how channel structures, distribution, and buying differ across countries.
• Experience working with systems integrators and MSPs and structuring and activating services-led partnerships distinct from reseller relationships.
• Experience building and growing a channel function rather than only inheriting an established one.
• Experience working as a channel overlay to an inside sales team, aligning on accounts, involving partners in deals, and minimizing channel conflict.
• Hands-on knowledge of channel programs, including deal registration, rules of engagement, joint account planning, QBRs, co-selling, and partner incentives.
• Working knowledge of AWS, Azure, and GCP, plus hands-on experience with hyperscaler partner programs, co-sell such as AWS ACE, and marketplace transactions.
• Experience selling to and through partners serving CloudOps, platform engineering, and FinOps buyers.
• Strong executive presence and ability to represent Kion credibly to senior partner executives and Kion sales and leadership teams.
• Based in the United States and able to travel internationally.

Nice To Haves

• Background at a digital-native company or startup where the channel function was built from scratch.
• Experience in FinOps, AI tokenomics, cloud governance, or cloud cost management.
• Experience with cloud hyperscaler co-sell programs and marketplace private offers.
• Existing network of systems integrators, cloud consultancies, distributors, or MSPs active in FinOps and CloudOps, particularly in EMEA.
• Experience selling to international government buyers through partners.
• Experience with data sovereignty and regulatory requirements such as GDPR.
• Familiarity with partner relationship management (PRM) tools and channel reporting in Salesforce.
• Experience selling into regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, or the public sector.
• Fluency in a major European language.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategy, structure, and goals for Kion’s channel across North America and EMEA and own the results.
• Build and run the EMEA channel-first plan, selecting priority countries and partners, starting with the UK and Germany and expanding into Benelux, the Nordics, and France.
• Grow Kion’s partner business in North America Commercial while complementing the Federal partner motion and avoiding overlap.
• Recruit systems integrators, build executive sponsorship, and develop joint go-to-market plans that generate pipeline.
• Recruit, onboard, and activate integrators, VARs, distributors, and service provider partners.
• Develop an MSP/MSSP deployment and services model using dedicated per-client Kion instances, including deploy-and-manage, build-and-transfer, and resell-plus-advisory options, standardized deployment templates, and pricing for recurring managed governance services.
• Co-sell with partners on early deals, support their initial wins, and build repeatable joint sales plays.
• Build partner routes into international public sector buyers through in-country integration and reseller relationships.
• Own and grow strategic partner relationships and work as an overlay to the inside sales team to close partner deals.
• Build Kion’s hyperscaler co-sell and marketplace motion outside US Federal, including AWS Partner Central (ACE) referrals and transactions through cloud marketplaces and regional distributors.
• Establish program foundations, including partner tiers and criteria, a partner portal or resource hub, incentives and margin structures, deal registration and rules of engagement, enablement and certification content, and partner-facing sales tools.
• Run partner QBRs, joint account planning, account mapping, pipeline reviews, and partner advisory input.
• Work with Marketing on joint campaigns, webinars, content, partner-hosted and regional events, MDF, and joint case studies.
• Coordinate with Kion’s Federal partner team to share effective practices, avoid partner conflict, and establish rules of engagement for partners working across Federal, Commercial, and international markets.
• Work with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Marketing, Product, Finance, and Legal to align channel strategy with company priorities and ensure partner agreements are commercially sound, including international contract, pricing, currency, and data protection requirements.
• Report partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline to the SVP of Sales and sales leadership, and provide reliable forecasts.
• Bring partner market feedback to Kion’s Product Roadmap, pricing, and Leadership Team.
• Hire and develop the channel team as the program grows, including in-region partner managers as markets open.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• A 3% contribution of direct compensation to a 401(k), with no match required.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Regular virtual engagements to connect with coworkers.
• A small-team collaborative environment that fosters communication and innovation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed