Director Partner Programs & Operations Manager

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About the Role:

Partners are one of Kong's biggest levers for AI Gateway pipeline and bookings, and our partner business is growing fast. Kong is hiring a Director, Partner Operations to build the operating model that helps it scale.

You’ll be the operating partner to the Ecosystem VP and Partner Sales leaders, sitting in Revenue Operations. You own how partner business flows through Kong — registration, deal structure, attribution, crediting, and payout — and you bring an AI‑first mindset to how it runs.

Business partner to Ecosystem leadership Serve as the strategic and operational partner to the Ecosystem VP and Partner Sales leaders across theaters. Run an AI-assisted operating cadence — forecast and pipeline reviews, QBRs, and executive reporting — where the prep is automated and meetings go to decisions. Facilitate cross-functional alignment on people, then process, then systems, so changes are agreed before they are configured.

Partner GTM strategy & planning Lead annual and quarterly planning for the partner organization, including targets, capacity, and coverage. Help build a business that maximises the impact of partner investments and resources.

Rules of engagement, deal registration & attribution Own the rules that govern how partner deals are registered, protected, sourced, and credited, including sourced vs. influenced credit, lookback windows, and the line between partner credit and partner marketing credit. Encode them into systems and agents so they apply automatically.

Partner lead & deal workflows Define and own how partner‑touched leads and deals move between ADR, PSD, and AE, including routing, SLAs, and prioritisation. Cover partner event leads, prospective partners, existing partners, and deal registrations, and give PSDs one view of the leads that need their action.

Partner deal execution Partner with Deal Desk, Finance, and Legal to make partner deals easy to structure, discount, and book across resale, referral, and cloud marketplace routes

Partner compensation & crediting Partner with Incentive Compensation on channel‑neutral crediting and referral fees, so sellers choose the best route to market.

Manage cloud marketplace operations Own Kong’s cloud marketplace operations across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, including listings, private offers, channel partner private offers (CPPOs), and co‑sell registration. Lead the launch of marketplaces in new regions, and manage marketplace dynamics with Deal Desk, Finance, and the cloud alliances team, including fees, customer commit drawdown, and partner involvement on marketplace deals.

Performance insights & data quality Define and report the partner KPIs that matter, give every partner leader a run‑the‑business view, and keep partner data accurate.

Partner marketing measurement & MDF Work closely with Partner Marketing and Marketing Ops to define how partner marketing is measured. Tie MDF and event spend to registered deals by capturing funding source on deal registrations, and report sourced and influenced pipeline separately.

Operational playbooks & enablement Build and maintain the partner operations handbook and repeatable workflows, from partner onboarding to software access, including prospective partner intake and ADR and PSD training on routing rules, so every seller knows the process on day one.

Systems & data architecture Own partner data design and routing rules. That includes partner account structure, alignment of deal registration approval with lead routing, and alerts when opportunities open on partner accounts. Evaluate whether the PRM remains the right long‑term fit.

AI & automation roadmap Own the Partner Operations AI roadmap: find the…