Director Partner Programs & Operations Manager

Kong•Sacramento, CA

6d•$150,000 - $220,000

About The Position

Kong is hiring a Director, Partner Operations to build the operating model for its fast-growing partner business and support the growth of AI Gateway pipeline and bookings. The role sits in Revenue Operations and serves as the operating partner to the Ecosystem VP and Partner Sales leaders, owning how partner business flows through Kong, including registration, deal structure, attribution, crediting, and payouts. The role brings an AI-first mindset to partner operations. The Director will lead partner planning and operating cadence; establish rules and workflows for partner leads, deal registration, deal execution, compensation, and marketplace operations; and define partner performance measurement and data quality. The role also owns partner operational playbooks, systems and data architecture, business requirements for partner tooling, and the Partner Operations AI roadmap. It will build a small team of AI-native operators and work cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and Customer Success as the ecosystem scales.

Requirements

10+ years in Partner or Channel Operations, Revenue Operations, or Sales Strategy & Operations at a B2B SaaS or infrastructure software company, including 3+ years leading partner operations with direct ownership of deal registration, rules of engagement, and partner attribution.
3+ years operating a multi-type, multi-region partner ecosystem, including GSIs, regional SIs, resellers, distributors, ISVs, and hyperscalers.
Hands-on end-to-end partner deal execution across resale, referral, and cloud marketplace transactions, partner discounting, and order form requirements, in partnership with Deal Desk and Finance.
3+ years leading partner planning covering targets, quota, capacity, and coverage, and designing channel-neutral crediting with Incentive Compensation.
Proven track record as a trusted advisor to VP-level Partner or Sales leaders, with the presence to hold a governance line and the judgment to know when to evolve it.
Deep Salesforce fluency, including opportunity design, sourcing fields, and reporting, plus PRM and BI tools.
Hands-on use of AI tools to automate operations workflows.

Nice To Haves

Hyperscaler co-sell and marketplace mechanics, including AWS ACE and ISV Accelerate, Marketplace private offers, Microsoft co-sell, and Google Cloud Partner Advantage.
Experience supporting a shift to usage-based or consumption pricing and reflecting it in partner deal structures and crediting.
Experience leading a team from building processes to running them at scale.
API, cloud infrastructure, or AI platform experience.

Responsibilities

Serve as the strategic and operational partner to the Ecosystem VP and Partner Sales leaders across theaters.
Run an AI-assisted operating cadence, including forecast and pipeline reviews, QBRs, and executive reporting; automate preparation and orient meetings toward decisions.
Facilitate cross-functional alignment on people, processes, and systems before changes are configured.
Lead annual and quarterly partner organization planning, including targets, capacity, and coverage, and help maximize the impact of partner investments and resources.
Own rules governing partner deal registration, protection, sourcing, and crediting, including sourced versus influenced credit and lookback windows; encode rules into systems and agents.
Define and own workflows for partner-touched leads and deals moving between ADR, PSD, and AE, including routing, SLAs, and prioritization; cover partner event leads, prospective and existing partners, and deal registrations.
Partner with Deal Desk, Finance, and Legal to structure, discount, and book partner deals across resale, referral, and cloud marketplace routes.
Partner with Incentive Compensation on channel-neutral crediting and referral fees.
Own cloud marketplace operations across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, including listings, private offers, CPPOs, and co-sell registration.
Lead marketplace launches in new regions and manage marketplace dynamics with Deal Desk, Finance, and the cloud alliances team, including fees, customer commit drawdown, and partner involvement in marketplace deals.
Define and report partner KPIs, provide partner leaders with run-the-business views, and maintain accurate partner data.
Work with Partner Marketing and Marketing Ops to define partner marketing measurement; connect MDF and event spending to registered deals and report sourced and influenced pipeline separately.
Build and maintain the partner operations handbook and repeatable workflows, from onboarding to software access, including prospective partner intake and ADR and PSD training on routing rules.
Own partner data design and routing rules, including partner account structure, alignment of deal registration approval with lead routing, and alerts when opportunities open on partner accounts.
Evaluate whether the PRM remains the right long-term fit.
Own the Partner Operations AI roadmap: identify high-leverage workflows, build or buy agents and automations, and measure hours returned to the field.
Own business requirements for partner tooling across Salesforce, PRM, and CPQ.
Build a small team of AI-native operators and work across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, and Customer Success to drive change as the ecosystem scales.