Key Account Director - OEM

Aiven•Austin, TX

3d•Remote

About The Position

We're hiring a Key Account Director to own Aiven's largest OEM and strategic technology partnerships across AMER. You'll drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue — building the relationships, programs, and cross-functional alignment that turn partnerships into a measurable, growing share of ARR. This is a role for a builder-operator: someone who has stood up or scaled channel and OEM motions inside infrastructure software companies before, and has the numbers to show for it.

Requirements

Experience building or scaling channel and OEM motions inside infrastructure software companies.
Experience embedded in the channel: recruiting partners, building programs, negotiating OEM and ISV agreements.
Comfortable in a startup environment with no playbook and in a large enterprise.
Proven track record of driving YoY growth, partner counts, and ARR contributions.
Directly owned named OEM relationships (hardware, cloud, ISV embed deals) with documented joint revenue growth.
Pipeline track record showing partner-sourced and partner-influenced deals (deal registration, PIO).
Experience selling data, cloud, open source, DevOps, or middleware products.
Understanding of technical buyers and developer-led adoption.
Ability to own numbers: Growth rate, Customer satisfaction rate, contribution to ARR milestones.
Experience matrix-managing sales, marketing, SAs, engineering, and ops to execute joint go-to-market plans.
Fluency across GSIs, RSIs, ISVs, and the big-3 clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Nice To Haves

Built a channel or partner program from scratch.
Hyperscaler marketplace and co-sell experience: AWS, Azure, or GCP private offers and marketplace transactions.
Been part of a company through an IPO or major funding milestone.
Fluent in open source commercial models: subscription, support, managed-service monetization.
Public sector exposure (FED/SLED) as an additional partner-led motion.
Managed direct or matrixed teams.

Responsibilities

Own Aiven's largest OEM and strategic technology partnerships across AMER.
Drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue.
Build relationships, programs, and cross-functional alignment to grow partnerships.
Recruit partners, build programs, and negotiate OEM and ISV agreements.
Pull together sales, marketing, engineering, and product teams to grow joint business.
Take a partner relationship from a standing start or a stalled one and turn it into a self-sustaining revenue engine.
Directly own named OEM relationships (hardware, cloud, ISV embed deals) and document joint revenue growth.
Manage pipeline track record showing partner-sourced and partner-influenced deals (deal registration, PIO).
Orchestrate sales, marketing, SAs, engineering, and ops to execute joint go-to-market plans.
Engage with GSIs (Accenture, PwC, EY, Tech Mahindra), RSIs (CDW, Insight, AHEAD, Optiv), ISVs, and the big-3 clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP).