Global Director, Partnerships & Alliances

About the role

WEKA is looking for a Global Director of Partnerships & Alliances to own and scale the company's entire partner ecosystem — from hardware OEMs who bundle WEKA's software to complementary technology vendors in the AI/inference stack. This is a build-and-run role: you'll manage existing relationships, originate new ones, build a team to execute regionally, and be the connective tissue between corporate partnership strategy and field sales execution.

Responsibilities

• Manage and grow relationships with server/hardware OEMs that bundle or resell WEKA's software (Supermicro, Dell, Lenovo, HPE, and similar), including commercial terms, roadmap alignment, and joint go-to-market planning
• Build and manage relationships with complementary technology vendors across the AI infrastructure stack (e.g., Anyscale, Inferact, Spectro Cloud, and similar inference/orchestration/MLOps players)
• Define the overall partner program structure (tiers, incentives, certification requirements) and ensure it ties directly to revenue and pipeline goals, not just logo collection
• Translate corporate-level partnerships into something the field sales org can actually use: playbooks, battlecards, co-sell motions, and regional rules of engagement
• Partner closely with: Technical/Solutions Engineering on joint solution architecture, certification, and validation testing, Marketing on co-marketing programs, funding allocation, and joint campaigns/events, Sales leadership (regional VPs) on account mapping and co-sell execution
• Hire and manage a global team of partner managers who own relationships regionally and feed corporate strategy back from the field
• Pipeline/revenue accountability: own influenced/sourced pipeline and revenue targets tied to partner activity, reported against CARR contribution

Requirements

• 7+ years in partnerships, alliances, or channel roles at an infrastructure, storage, or AI/ML software company
• Direct experience managing OEM/hardware partnerships (bundling, co-engineering, joint certification) — not just software ISV alliances
• Experience building and scaling a partnerships function, including hiring and managing a regional team
• Comfortable being the "connective tissue" role — equal parts strategic (structuring deals, negotiating terms) and operational (running QBRs, tracking joint pipeline, chasing certification timelines)
• Strong technical fluency — enough to hold your own in conversations with technical counterparts about joint solution architecture, even if you're not the one building it
• Track record of measurable revenue impact from partner programs, not just activity metrics
• Experience in AI infrastructure, high-performance storage, or adjacent GPU/data-center ecosystems is a strong plus
• Bay Area based strongly preferred, given proximity to key OEM and hyperscaler partner HQs

Qualifications

Bay Area based strongly preferred, given proximity to key OEM and hyperscaler partner HQs