Global Alliances Lead

IonQ, Inc ([NYSE: IONQ]), the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier, is seeking a Global Alliances Lead to develop a portfolio of lighthouse advisory and consulting partners, such as McKinsey, BCG, Accenture, and EY. This role owns the worldwide relationship and joint business plan, focusing on executive commitment, shared customer pursuits, and measurable commercial outcomes.

The role covers IonQ’s entire portfolio—compute, networking, security, sensing, space, and merchant services—with pursuits tailored to each partner’s capabilities and customer needs.

Our frontier technologies require partners to learn through real customer work. Collaborate with selected consulting firms and systems integrators to jointly shape and co-sell quantum security and computing solutions, including hardware deployment, remote cloud access, quantum application and algorithm development, and quantum-safe cybersecurity assessments.

Responsibilities:

Lighthouse Partner Selection & Commitment:

• Select priority advisory/consulting firms and practices based on customer relevance, executive sponsorship, quantum capacity, and commitment to joint opportunities.
• Own global joint plans with explicit industry and regional priorities, shared customer targets, partner resources, and milestones; deepen successful relationships before adding partners.

Hands-On Co-Sell and Commercialization:

• Engage partner practice leaders and account teams in customer discovery, opportunity qualification, business-case development, and commercial pursuits. Develop focused lighthouse engagements across quantum computing and quantum-safe cybersecurity.
• Work with Field Engineering, Partner Engineering, and Platform Sales Specialists to establish feasible scope, technical success criteria, dependencies, and growth milestones for all quantum engagements.
• Build seller confidence through joint execution and evidence from customer work, creating a credible path from initial engagement to follow-on adoption.
• Develop partner capability through joint workshops, proposals, and live pursuits, supported by targeted training.
• Teach by doing: jointly discover needs, qualify use cases, shape solutions, co-sell, and deliver early engagements. Build reusable success stories and playbooks, then expand based on evidence of repeatability.

Global–Regional Opportunity Execution:

• Own the named worldwide alliance and mobilize partner headquarters, global executive sponsors, programs, practice expertise, and commercial frameworks for regional quantum opportunities.
• With regional partner leads and regional sales leads, map named advisory/consulting accounts and local partner practices, assign pursuit responsibilities, and run shared account plans, pipeline, and deal reviews.
• Use regional customer evidence to refine global offerings, resolve cross-region issues, and bring successful approaches to additional partner practices and markets.

Commercial Governance & Replication:

• Lead alliance commercial frameworks and joint investments with Legal and Finance; maintain qualified pipeline and forecasts. Track each opportunity in one shared record with distinct global and regional contributions.
• Secure customer-approved quantum computing and quantum-safe cybersecurity success stories and capture delivery lessons, partner economics, and reusable pursuit playbooks. Work with Programs and Marketing to turn lessons into reusable tools and GTM approaches.
• Expand to further accounts, practices, or partners when lighthouse results demonstrate customer value, partner commitment, and a repeatable commercial path.

Requirements:

• 8+ years in strategic alliances, including ownership of complex relationships with advisory or consulting firms. Credibility with senior consulting practice and industry leaders; understanding of consulting economics and joint opportunity creation.
• A proven track record of developing focused, early-stage partnerships into scalable channels delivering sustained revenue growth.
• Demonstrated commercial expertise in frontier technologies or emerging technology categories, translating uncertain capabilities and evolving roadmaps into credible, staged adoption plans.
• A record of building deep partnerships and personally co-selling early customer engagements from discovery to close.
• Strong executive communication, commercial negotiation, and cross-functional leadership; discipline in pipeline qualification, forecasting, and investment prioritization.
• Experience converting early customer engagements into approved references, reusable solution patterns, and repeatable partner sales motions.
• Ability to operate globally and travel; master’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Quantum experience, including quantum computing, networking, security, space, or sensing.
• Experience with sovereign or regulated markets, public-sector procurement, or international trade compliance relevant to advanced technology.
• Ability to work closely with technical specialists, distinguish validated capabilities from future potential, and establish customer success criteria.

Primary Measures of Success:

• Qualified partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, closed revenue, conversion, and forecast accuracy with documented attribution.
• Lighthouse quantum engagement progress against agreed customer outcomes, including executive sponsorship, qualified opportunities, technical validation, and commercial milestones.
• Depth and productivity of selected partnerships: committed partner resources, active joint pursuits, time to first win, and demonstrated capability in live engagements.
• Evidence of replication: customer-approved success stories, reusable playbooks, follow-on opportunities, and repeat wins.

What Success Looks Like:

Within the first year, secure referenceable wins from selected local and global lighthouse partners and jointly progress qualified customer engagements toward successful technical and commercial outcomes. Establish an effective global-regional pursuit cadence and document evidence, partner capability, and playbooks needed for replication.