Partner Program Manager in Reading

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation. At AHEAD, we prioritise creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD. We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.

We are seeking a commercially minded and relationship-driven Partner Program Manager to lead strategic technology and channel partnerships that accelerate revenue growth, expand market presence, and strengthen our technology ecosystem in the UK. This role combines strategic planning, partner relationship management, and supporting go-to-market execution across key IT alliances. The ideal candidate will understand enterprise IT solutions (cloud, SaaS, cybersecurity, infrastructure), have experience supporting partner-led revenue, and be comfortable influencing senior stakeholders internally and externally. To be considered for this role, you must have the right to work in the UK. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnership & Growth: Identify, qualify and onboard strategic IT partners (cloud, software vendors, MSPs, SIs). Develop and execute partner alliance strategies aligned with business goals. Create joint business plans with target outcomes, KPIs and revenue growth targets.
• Relationship Management: Act as the primary commercial lead for assigned partners. Build and maintain strong executive-level relationships and governance rhythms. Conduct regular business performance reviews with partners and internal stakeholders.
• Commercial Enablement: Work closely with Sales, Marketing and Product teams to enable partner success. Drive partner certification, training, and enablement activities.
• Performance & Reporting: Track, analyse and report on partner performance, revenue contribution, and pipeline. Work collaboratively to track and report certifications and competencies for EOM partners. Monitor and report on monthly, quarterly, and annual rebates, MOUs, and other partner-related programs and investments. Track and report on various incentive programs, including MyRewards and PaloPerks, ensuring all relevant metrics are captured. Create, distribute, and publish internal content to maintain current processes per partner, facilitating enablement for Operations, Engineering, and other relevant teams. Regularly meet with in-house teams, partner channel teams, and distributors to track the pipeline and ensure accurate forecasting. Investigate and resolve misaligned deals to ensure proper hygiene and optimise margins, incentives, and profitability (e.g., OPP vs. REG with Palo). Monitor weekly pipeline and registration additions, ensuring that all terms and conditions (T&C’s) are met for various programs (e.g., Palo Alto, NetApp). Provide actionable insights to refine partner strategies and enhance outcomes. Manage CRM data and alliance performance dashboards.

Required Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, IT, or related.
• Demonstrable experience (typically 4–6 years) in strategic alliances, partner management, or business development within IT.
• Understanding of enterprise tech ecosystems (cloud, SaaS, cybersecurity).
• Strong negotiation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with partner enablement, joint pipeline planning and execution.

Desired Attributes:

• Strategic thinker with commercial acumen.
• Excellent communicator, capable of building rapport at all organisational levels.
• Results-oriented with data-driven decision-making.
• Comfortable in fast-paced, evolving tech environments.

£65,000 - £80,000 a year. The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.

Why AHEAD: Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between. We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.