Channel Partner Manager

Rockford, IL

Full Time

Pandoblox

Experienced

ABOUT THE ROLE:
What you'll do ...

A fractional or advisory CxO with a book of warm mid-market relationships.

Our partners are operators-turned-advisors. Most run a fractional practice (CFO, COO, CMO, CRO) or sit on advisory boards for PE-backed and founder-led companies in the $50M–$500M revenue range. They are not technology salespeople — and we never ask them to be. Your job is to make them look brilliant in front of their existing relationships by providing them our AI business development and demo tools while assisting them with closing the deals

CFO partners lead with data and reporting. COO partners lead with ownership and accountability. CEO partners lead with speed and visibility. CMO and CRO partners lead with revenue and pipeline confidence. You'll know how to coach each persona through the right opener.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
In this role, you’ll get to …

1. Recruit fractional and advisory CxO partners

Build and work a target list of fractional CFOs, COOs, CEOs, CMOs, and CROs — sourced from advisor networks, fractional practices, PE operating partner networks, executive talent platforms, and your own relationships.
Run discovery calls that qualify partner fit on three dimensions: relationship quality, target account warmth
Close partner agreements: program structure, compensation (spiff + residual), exclusivity, and the "Give us your 5" intake.

2. Onboard and activate every new partner

Run a structured onboarding that captures each partner's 5 warm C-suite accounts (CEO, CFO, or COO) within their first two weeks.
Coordinate with the Pandoblox research team to scan those 5 accounts for analyst, BI, FP&A, or data role postings — and trigger HR Bot analyses on every match.
Coach the partner on persona-specific talk tracks (CFO vs. COO vs. CEO vs. CMO vs. CRO) and on how to send the AI-generated brief as an opener — not a pitch.
Time-to-first-meeting (partner agreement signed → first prospect meeting booked) is your north-star activation metric. Target: 30 days.

3. Coach partners through the 3 phase close cycle

Pre-meeting: confirm the HR Bot analysis is in the partner's hand and that they've sent it to the C-suite contact.
Discovery (Open with insight): join the partner on the call to review findings and identify the internal champion. Train the AI on company-specific context captured live.
Proof of Value Validation(Present the solution): facilitate the Pandoblox demo and 1–12 week POV roadmap. Reinforce the partner's credibility — they know the business; we know the technology.
Deal Closing: help navigate negotiation and sign-off on the 3 month POV engagement, schedule kickoff, and ensure the partner's spiff and residual are queued in finance.

4. Operate the partner pipeline

Own the partner CRM: account ownership, deal registration, joint forecast, conversion at every stage of the pre-meeting → meeting 1 → meeting 2 → meeting 3 → POV → annual contract funnel.
Run a weekly partner pipeline review with the VP of Business Development. Surface partners who are stalling and partners who are over-performing.
Refresh each partner's "5" quarterly. Partners who burn through their 5 are your highest-value asset — keep them loaded.

5. Drive expansion and retention

After Month 1, partner-influenced clients can convert from POV to 12 month minimum commitment annual contracts. Make sure that conversion happens — and that the partner gets credit and residual.
Surface land-and-expand opportunities: expand into further data integrations, AI and IT operations opportunities
Build the partner advocacy flywheel: case studies, partner-to-partner referrals, the "my partner just hit 5 active clients" social proof loop.

REQUIREMENTS:
On day one, we'll expect you to ...

Must-haves

4–7 years in channel, alliances, partnerships, or partner-led sales — ideally including some time managing a network of independent advisors, fractional executives, agencies, or consultants (not just enterprise tech alliances).
Comfort with senior people. Your partners are CxOs, and the prospects they bring are CxOs. You can hold a substantive conversation with a CFO about reporting pain or a COO about ownership gaps without fumbling.
Operator's brain. You think in pipelines, conversion rates, and activation gates. You'll build the partner intake, dashboard the funnel, and know which lever to pull when conversion sags at meeting 2.
Coaching instinct. You can sit in the partner's seat on a prospect call, then debrief with them afterward and make the next call better. You make partners look brilliant — without taking the spotlight.
Mid-market fluency. You understand $50M–$500M PE-backed and founder-led companies — their decision dynamics, their analyst-job-posting reflex, and why they can't fix this internally.
Hybrid GTM comfort. You're at home with partner economics that mix one-time spiffs, recurring residuals, and consulting hours — and you can explain the math to a fractional CFO in 90 seconds.

Nice to haves

Existing relationships in fractional CFO networks (CFO Centre, Preferred CFO, Now CFO, Burkland, NextStage, etc.), advisory CxO communities (Bolster, Chief, AdvisoryCloud, FAN), or PE operating partner networks.
Background at a Service-as-Software, fractional talent, or modern data platform company.
Experience standing up a partner program from the early innings — not just running one at scale.
Familiarity with mid-market data stacks (Snowflake, dbt, BI tools) — useful, but not required. Pandoblox owns the technical pitch.

What we don't need

You don't need to be able to be a data or AI expert, our solutions team will provide that
You don't need to close direct deals. The partner is the relationship; we're the closer; you're the conductor.

Note:

Travel: 25% — partner on-sites, prospect meetings, industry events
Send a short note to [email protected] explaining (a) the most successful partner relationship you've ever managed and the dollars it produced, (b) one fractional CxO you'd recruit into our program tomorrow and why, and (c) one thing about our 3-meeting close motion you'd change after reading this JD.

We move fast. If your note lands, expect to hear from us within 5 business days.

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