Senior Director - Technology Alliances

Job Description

About Us: Zendesk is a leader in customer experience solutions, driving innovation through strategic partnerships and technology. Our Technology Alliances organization focuses on cultivating and managing an ecosystem of high-impact technology relationships to enhance Zendesk products and accelerate business growth, particularly within the customer service and contact center space.

Position Overview:  

The Senior Director AWS Alliance will own the AWS strategic relationship to ensure that Zendesk maximises the product & program benefits that are available from AWS. They will set the vision and strategy for the AWS alliance and execute on it as the primary interface with the most senior AWS and Zendesk Partner and Product leadership. The leader will own the Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with AWS, ensuring that Zendesk achieves the target KPIs and maximises the benefits of the relationship, as well as negotiation of new SCAs in the future. With the major new investment that Zendesk is making in AI driven Contact Centre powered by Amazon Connect comes the opportunity to significantly uplevel the AWS alliance, and build deeper engagement across the board with the AWS partner, product, Industry and Sales organisations. They will work closely with the Zendesk AWS GTM leader and team to make sure that Zendesk has the right AWS competencies and stakeholder engagement on both sides to unlock these GTM benefits; such as for SMB, Industries and GenAI. They will build close engagement with Amazon Connect, Amazon Bedrock and Zendesk product leadership to support joint product innovation and to put in place the commercial and selling models for AWS products that will support our GTM success. They will own the AWS ACE system, AWS Marketplace operations and the POC/MAP funding process, as well as management of the roadmap to ensure they evolve to meet growing business needs for automation, new pricing models and product SKUs etc. They will build strong relationships with AWS global partner and product leaders, and be ever present at global AWS offices and events. 

Key Responsibilities:

AWS Alliance Strategy & Management: 

• Define the overall vision, strategy and plans for the AWS Alliance in close collaboration with the Zendesk AWS GTM Leader

• Be the expert in all AWS GTM and product programs that Zendesk can participate in

• Own the current Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA), ensuring we meet all product and GTM metrics commitments and receive all the benefits available in the agreement

• Take the lead to negotiate SCAs for new areas of business that Zendesk invests in such as Amazon Connect and Amazon Bedrock

• Build relationships across Product, Marketing, and GTM to support AWS Alliance priorities, advise on how the AWS strategic partnership can accelerate their own priorities, and ensure that Alliances can deliver on its partner obligations. Support the VP of Technology Alliances to evangelize the team’s progress and key outcomes with these leaders 

AWS Executive Engagement: 

• Primary interface with the AWS Global Partner and Product organisations

• EBCs, Executive product and partner stakeholder relationship management

Marketing: 

• Identify priority global and regional events and sponsorships that both Zendesk and AWS will invest in to drive awareness of joint offerings and pipeline growth eg; AWS re:Invent, AWS Regional Summits, Zendesk SKO, Zendesk Relate

• Lead initiatives that maximize AWS MDF support

GTM Programs: 

• Gain and maintain AWS Competencies (eg; GenAI, Retail, Finserve, SMB etc), 

• Maintaining SDP for Connect and Bi Annual Foundation Technical Reviews

• MAP/POC funding, MWP (must win pricing) programs, SaaS Co-Sell Benefit Exception program

AWS Marketplace: 

• AWS Marketplace operations management, vendor insights, pricing and programs updates eg; CPPO, GBP/EUR, License Pooling etc

Product:  

• POC funding, development funding and joint innovation opportunities

• Amazon Connect: resell OEM model/pricing, GTM process alignment etc

• Amazon Bedrock: AI model evaluation and migration planning, AI co-development eg; Voice AI

Requirements:

• BA, BS (or equivalent work experience), MBA preferred or equivalent military experience required

• 10+ years experience in Alliance Leadership – preferably working at, or with, a cloud service provider such as AWS; 7+ years in global role preferred. Having worked with AWS is mandatory. 

• Experience demonstrating the relevant skills for the role including managing a global complex strategic alliance

• Proven track record for successfully leveraging strategic programs and growing business through a strategic alliance with AWS

• Established relationships with global leaders within AWS, and deep experience in navigating the AWS organisation and programs

• Industry knowledge of Cloud Service Provider (AWS) strategy and roadmap required

• Experience applying scale to an existing alliance. You’ll be the person to determine how we should be growing with AWS globally.

• You are a quick, autonomous operator and strategic thinker, with a bias for execution and results driven

• Organized and focused to track the multiple workstreams and drive them to successful execution

• You take initiative when you see work that needs to be done

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $223,000.00-$335,000.00. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

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Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.