Alliances Manager

About the Role:

We are looking for a polished, commercially astute Alliances Manager to own and strengthen our strategic relationship with Databricks. The role will be responsible for managing the partner ecosystem and working closely with Databricks partner managers and internal business, sales, delivery, and technology teams to drive joint business outcomes.

The ideal candidate is an excellent communicator and relationship builder who can operate confidently with senior stakeholders, negotiate effectively, identify opportunities for collaboration, and translate strategic partnerships into measurable business growth.

This role requires someone who is equally comfortable building relationships, influencing without authority, negotiating commercial outcomes, and driving execution.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Alliance Management:

- Own the day-to-day and strategic relationship with Databricks and serve as a key point of contact for the partner organization.

- Build strong, trusted relationships with Databricks partner managers, sales leaders, alliance teams, and other relevant stakeholders.

- Develop a deep understanding of Databricks' business priorities, partner strategy, programs, and ecosystem.

- Establish and maintain a structured governance model for the partnership, including regular business reviews, pipeline discussions, and strategic planning sessions.

- Identify areas where our capabilities and Databricks' priorities can be aligned to create joint value.

2. Partner Manager Engagement:

- Effectively manage relationships with multiple Databricks partner managers and stakeholders across relevant geographies/business units.

- Build credibility and influence with partner managers to ensure our organization remains a preferred and strategic partner.

- Coordinate joint initiatives, account planning, campaigns, solution development, and go-to-market activities.

- Proactively resolve partner conflicts, escalations, and competing priorities.

3. Business Development & Growth:

- Identify and develop opportunities for joint business growth with Databricks.

- Work closely with sales teams to create and progress joint pipeline and strategic opportunities.

- Facilitate account mapping and whitespace identification between the two organizations.

- Drive joint go-to-market initiatives, offerings, events, campaigns, and customer engagements.

- Track alliance performance through clearly defined KPIs, including pipeline, revenue, joint opportunities, certifications, engagements, and strategic initiatives.

4. Relationship Building & Negotiation:

- Develop strong relationships across multiple levels of the Databricks organization.

- Lead discussions involving commercial terms, priorities, investments, joint initiatives, and partner commitments.

- Negotiate effectively while maintaining long-term strategic relationships.

- Navigate complex stakeholder environments and influence decisions without direct authority.

- Act as an effective bridge between internal stakeholders and Databricks.

5. Internal Stakeholder Management:

- Collaborate closely with Sales, Pre-Sales, Delivery, Marketing, Finance, Legal, HR, and Technology teams.

- Ensure internal teams understand Databricks priorities, partner requirements, opportunities, and programs.

- Drive accountability and follow-through on alliance commitments.

- Provide leadership with regular updates on partnership performance, opportunities, risks, and strategic priorities.

Key Skills & Competencies:

Strategic Alliances:

- Strong understanding of alliance and partner ecosystem management.

- Experience managing technology partnerships, preferably with hyperscalers, SaaS companies, data/AI platforms, or enterprise technology providers.

- Ability to develop joint business plans and translate partnerships into revenue-generating opportunities.

Communication & Executive Presence:

- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

- Highly polished and confident when interacting with senior executives and external stakeholders.

- Strong presentation and storytelling capabilities.

- Ability to communicate complex business and technology concepts clearly and persuasively.

Relationship Management:

- Exceptional relationship-building and stakeholder-management skills.

- Ability to build trust and credibility quickly.

- Strong interpersonal intelligence and ability to navigate different personalities, cultures, and organizational dynamics.

Negotiation & Influence:

- Strong commercial negotiation skills.

- Ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority.

- Comfortable managing competing interests and finding mutually beneficial outcomes.

- Strong conflict-resolution and problem-solving capabilities.

Business Acumen:

- Strong understanding of enterprise sales, business development, and go-to-market models.

- Commercially oriented with an ability to connect strategic alliances to business results.

- Strong analytical and structured-thinking skills.

Experience & Qualifications:

- 6 - 8 years of relevant professional experience in Alliances, Partnerships, Business Development, Strategic Accounts, Partner Management, or a related role.

- Experience managing relationships with large technology companies or strategic ecosystem partners.

- Experience working with enterprise technology/SaaS/data/cloud organizations is strongly preferred.

- Exposure to Databricks, data platforms, AI/ML, cloud, analytics, or related technologies would be an advantage.

- Demonstrated experience in negotiation, stakeholder management, and strategic relationship development.

- MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification preferred.

- Strong proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and other business productivity tools.

What Success Looks Like:

Within the first 6 - 12 months, the successful candidate will:

- Establish strong credibility and trusted relationships with key Databricks partner managers.

- Build a clear alliance strategy and governance framework.

- Increase visibility and engagement of our organization within the Databricks ecosystem.

- Identify and activate meaningful joint business opportunities.

- Improve collaboration between Databricks and our internal sales/delivery teams.

- Build a healthy joint pipeline and contribute to measurable revenue growth.

- Become the go-to person internally and externally for the Databricks relationship.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

We are looking for someone who is:

- Polished, articulate, and executive-ready.

- Commercially minded and results-oriented.

- A natural relationship builder.

- An excellent negotiator and influencer.

- Comfortable operating in ambiguity and across organizational boundaries.

- Strategic enough to see the bigger picture, but hands-on enough to drive execution.

- Confident engaging with senior stakeholders.

- Energetic, proactive, and persistent.

- Able to represent the organization exceptionally well with a strategic technology partner.

Skills

Account Management, Business Alliances, IT Sales, IT Product Sales