Channel Partnerships Lead

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Establish the Channel From the Ground Up: Develop and implement the channel strategy comprehensively -- including partner tiers, economics, enablement, deal registration, and reporting. Leverage your existing relationships with resellers and VARs in cybersecurity from day one to generate a qualified pipeline alongside our AE team.

• Activate Cloud Marketplaces: Initiate partnerships with Azure and GCP and expedite the ongoing efforts with AWS. Take ownership of relationships with cloud field teams, manage marketplace listings and co-sell activities, transforming passive listings into a vibrant pipeline.

• Explore New Partnership Avenues: Dive into emerging partnership models we have begun to validate, such as investor and PE portfolio referral programs. You will be expected to approach the future growth channels for Maze from first principles, rather than relying on traditional channel strategies.

• Manage Tech Partnerships Effectively: Oversee our portfolio of technical partnerships, prioritizing those that yield commercial success through co-marketing, co-selling, or joint solutions. Steer clear of low-impact integration work that does not contribute to significant outcomes.

• Collaborate Closely With Sales: Maintain a close working relationship with our AEs and sales leadership to ensure that partner initiatives are integrated into deals rather than treated as separate efforts. Ensure that channel and direct efforts enhance each other rather than conflict.

• Integrate Partner Insights Into the Company: Relay market signals back to product, marketing, and leadership -- articulating what partners require to sell us, identifying co-marketing opportunities, and pinpointing competitive positioning in the field.

⛳️ Requirements

• Experience Building a Channel From Scratch: At least one instance where you were the first or one of the earliest partnerships hires at a Series A or B security/B2B SaaS company, successfully establishing the function from the ground up -- including partner programs, deal registration, enablement, and more. This role is not suitable for someone who has only worked within a well-established channel organization.

• Extensive and Authentic Channel Relationships: Existing, functional relationships with cybersecurity resellers, VARs, and distributors across the US that you can leverage from day one. None of us at Maze possess this network -- you'll be bringing it with you.

• Hands-On Operator Rather Than a Team Builder (For Now): You'll initially be the sole person in this role for a significant period. You thrive on diving into details -- conducting partner meetings, creating presentations, pursuing co-sell opportunities, and closing partner-sourced deals alongside AEs -- rather than focusing on building and managing a team. You will have the opportunity to build a team later, but only after establishing the operational framework.

• Credibility in the Cybersecurity Domain: You have enough experience in selling or partnering in cybersecurity to confidently engage with partner sales teams, CISOs, and security leaders, without needing guidance on the landscape.

• Innovative and Analytical Thinker: You do not simply follow familiar playbooks. You consistently question what would actually be effective for *this* product, at *this* stage, with *this* buyer -- and you can present unique partnership ideas, not just conventional channel tactics.

• Driven, Not Complacent: You are at a stage in your career where you are still striving to prove your capabilities. We have encountered too many channel leaders who become inactive after establishing their networks -- that is not the profile we seek here. You will be proactive, maintain a busy calendar, and take ownership of several initiatives.

🏝️ Benefits

• Shape the Function: You will be the first partnerships hire and have full ownership over the strategy from start to finish. Very few companies at this stage offer such extensive scope to an individual with the freedom to test, discontinue, or expand on successful initiatives.

• Exciting Challenge: We are innovating at the crossroads of generative AI (LLMs and agents) and cybersecurity, addressing one of the most pressing challenges security teams face -- the excessive volume of vulnerability findings that strain resources without enhancing security posture. This is a compelling narrative that partners will want to promote.

• Expert Team: Collaborate with experienced leaders from Big Tech and Scale-ups. Our team has played significant roles in multiple acquisitions and an IPO. You will have direct access to the CEO and founding team as you build.

• Meaningful Work: Cybersecurity serves as a force for good. The partnerships you cultivate will assist security teams in major organizations in concentrating on what truly matters.

• Competitive Compensation: Attractive OTE with uncapped variable compensation and a 70/30 base-to-variable ratio, along with meaningful equity in a company pioneering a new category at the intersection of AI and security.