Senior Director, Global Channel & Alliances Operations

Cohesity•Santa Clara, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Cohesity is seeking a Senior Director, Global Channel & Alliances Operations, to lead Revenue and Partner Program operations for the global channel business across AMER, International (Europe, Emerging Markets and APJ) and LATAM. This is a strategic leadership role supporting the acceleration of partner-led ARR growth, modernising and simplifying how partners transact with Cohesity, owning the operating model behind the Aspire Partner Program, embedding AI into core channel processes, and leading a high-performing global team that operates with rigour and discipline. The remit spans two connected functional areas: Channel Operations — deal registration, partner master data, reporting and analytics, partner-facing systems and field operational support — and Partner Program Operations — tiering and re-levelling, onboarding, incentives and rebate management, and commercial partner policy including renewals incumbency.

Requirements

Track record managing channel or partner operations functions in high-growth, multi-national subscription/SaaS or enterprise technology businesses; two-tier distribution, GSI/MSP and reseller motions all in scope.
Demonstrated ownership of a global channel operations function, or of a major region with global remit, including leadership of a distributed team.
Direct, hands-on knowledge of partner programs: tiering, benefits, onboarding and incentives. Program marketing or partner recruitment experience alone is not a substitute.
Proven ownership of Partner Program rebate/incentive process and policy at scale, including conflict management, classification governance and approval SLAs.
Demonstrated experience leading operational or digital transformation initiatives, including modernising channel tooling and introducing AI/automation into deal registration, partner data management or reporting.
Advanced Salesforce proficiency, including partner account structures and hierarchy; familiarity with PRM/partner portal platforms, partner incentives platforms, BI/analytics platforms (e.g. Tableau, Clari) and emerging AI/GenAI tools relevant to channel operations.
Experience building and leading distributed teams across multiple geographies and time zones.
Strong executive presence and communication skills; experience presenting partner performance, pipeline and transformation progress to senior/executive leadership.
Excellent analytical and process-design skills — able to structure, interpret and present complex data into clear, decision-ready insight, and to interrogate source data directly rather than only consume reports.

Nice To Haves

Acts as a trusted advisor to the channel and sales organisations through transparent, insightful reporting and proactive resolution.
Promotes engagement and collaboration across Finance, Legal, Marketing, Renewals, Sales, Revenue Operations and Enablement to ensure alignment.
Drives operational excellence, and adoption of new digital and AI tools, across all applicable teams and across the partner community.
Balances partner experience, commercial protection and internal effort, and can explain why a given trade-off was made.
Motivates, inspires and empowers a distributed, multi-geography team.
Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the range to move between an executive summary, a partner-facing policy note and a field talk track.
Strong problem-solving, negotiation and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end operating model for the Aspire Partner Program: tier definitions and thresholds, benefits, re-levelling cycles, and partner onboarding.
Own partner incentives operations across the incentives technology stack, including rebate and MDF/rewards processing and the Finance and procurement interfaces behind payment.
Own commercial partner policy in partnership with Legal and Finance — renewals incumbency, deal registration eligibility, conflict rules — from drafting through approval, publication and enforcement.
Run annual and mid-year program releases as structured launches: requirements, systems readiness, policy sign-off, partner and field communications, and post-launch measurement.
Act as the escalation and arbitration point for programme and partner policy application, holding the line where field or partner pressure argues for exception.
Own the deal registration process end to end: registration experience, approval SLAs, conflict detection, and DR classification governance.
Lead a simplification agenda across the partner transaction experience.
Set the channel requirements roadmap for Salesforce and the PRM/partner portal, and manage prioritisation with IT and Systems teams.
Identify and implement AI-enabled capability across the channel lifecycle: automated conflict detection, partner data quality monitoring, and AI-supported reporting and business review preparation.
Own partner master data quality and the partner account hierarchy model in Salesforce, including ongoing cleanup, audit, and governance of new partner account creation.
Own the channel reporting and analytics layer: partner pipeline, deal registration creation, bookings and billings, PO-at-partner visibility, and partner performance scorecards.
Deliver the recurring executive reporting cadence — weekly channel executive summaries, monthly and quarterly business reviews, and partner-specific executive reviews.
Serve as the source of truth for channel numbers in cross-functional forums, reconciling channel views against Finance and Revenue Operations reporting before they reach executive audiences.
Enforce a consistent operating cadence, reporting standards and data-quality governance across AMER, International and LATAM, so every region reports against a single, trusted set of definitions — including a single definition of partner-sourced and partner-influenced.
Own partner data hygiene KPIs and compliance measurement across field and channel teams.
Run the channel elements of annual go-to-market planning with regional channel and sales leaders: partner coverage, capacity planning, tier targets and programme thresholds.
Partner with Revenue Operations and Sales Compensation on the channel components of quota, crediting and plan administration.
Own the enablement and communications plan for all programme and process change, to both the partner community and the internal field.
Build and maintain field-facing enablement for Channel Account Managers: role definition, priorities, process guidance, handbooks and talk tracks.
Own the partner-facing communications calendar alongside marketing for operational and programme change, and the partner learning content that supports it.
Lead the Global Channel & Alliances Operations team, defining the org model, geographic/time-zone coverage and reporting lines needed to support AMER, International and LATAM.
Hire, develop and retain diverse talent; build career paths and upskill the team on AI, analytics and modern channel tooling as the function's capability bar rises.
Coach and mentor regional channel leaders through the rollout of new initiatives and programmes - systems and process, ensuring adoption and adherence rather than announcement.
Build a personal and team brand of trust, insight and proactive resolution — the team our leaders and our partners turn to first.
Build alignment between Channel & Alliances, Sales, Renewals, Revenue Operations, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Enablement, IT and HR in support of channel priorities.
Manage the operational relationships with distributors, GSIs, MSPs and resellers.
Develop key channel metrics and insight reporting shared across the regions and with executive leadership on partner effectiveness.
Build strong peer relationships across the business to support a smooth partner deal-flow process end to end.