North America (US and Canada) Partnerships & Alliances Leader

The Role

Ema is hiring a leader for North America (US and Canada) Partnerships & Alliances to build, lead, and scale our North American partner-led growth channel across three high-leverage ecosystems: Global System Integrators (GSIs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Private Equity (PE) firms and their portfolio companies. You will own the strategy, the number, and the team — personally carrying our most strategic partner relationships while hiring, coaching, and leading a team of Partner Managers.

This is a player-coach leadership role. You will set the partner GTM strategy, stand up the program and operating cadence, run the operating cadence on a weekly basis and be accountable for partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline and revenue in the US and Canada. You will be the executive voice of the partner inside Ema — turning partner feedback into product and GTM priorities — and the face of Ema in the partner ecosystem.

You’re a fit if you’ve built or scaled a partner function, led partner managers, and driven meaningful revenue through Tier-1 partners selling into Fortune 500 enterprises. You’re entrepreneurial, data-driven, and relationship-first; you know great partnerships don’t just drive revenue — they unlock new capabilities and customer value. You thrive at the intersection of strategy and execution and are energized by shaping a new category of enterprise software.

What You’ll Own

• Strategy & number: Own the North American partner strategy and revenue target across the GSI, ISV, and PE ecosystems — set coverage, tiering, the operating model, and the annual and quarterly plan.

• Team leadership: Hire, coach, and lead a team of Partner Managers. Set clear expectations, run weekly deep-dive 1:1s, manage performance, and develop the next generation of partner talent.

• Program build: Design and scale the partner program end-to-end — partner tiering, incentives, MDF, deal registration, co-sell playbooks, onboarding flows, partner portal/PRM, and reporting.

• GSI motion: Build joint value propositions and services-pull practices with Tier-1 System Integrators; activate their sales and delivery teams to co-sell and co-deliver Ema into enterprise accounts.

• ISV & cloud motion: Develop technology alliances and marketplace co-sell (AWS, Azure, GCP), aligning integrations and joint GTM with ISV and hyperscaler ecosystems.

• PE motion: Build relationships with Private Equity firms and their operating partners to drive Ema adoption as a value-creation lever across portfolio companies.

• Forecasting & attribution: Establish the rigor to measure partner-sourced vs. partner-influenced pipeline, coverage ratios, and revenue impact — and forecast the partner number credibly to leadership.

• Executive relationships: Own C-level relationships across strategic partners; structure and negotiate partnership agreements, incentives, and success metrics.

• Cross-functional leadership: Partner with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Customer Success to drive partner success; advocate internally for partner needs and product feedback.

• Cadence & QBRs: Define partner success metrics and lead quarterly business reviews with strategic partners and internally.

• Ecosystem presence: Represent Ema at industry events, partner conferences, and ecosystem forums; stay ahead of trends in enterprise AI and evolving GTM models.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years in partnerships/alliances at a SaaS, consulting company, enterprise software, or AI company, including 2+ years leading and managing partner managers.

• A track record of building and scaling a GTM partner channel that directly influenced sales outcomes and drove material sourced/influenced revenue.

• Depth across at least two of: Consulting companies, GSI/SI, ISV/technology alliances, and PE/portfolio motions — with the ability to build the third.

• Partner program design expertise including tiering, incentives, MDF, and co-sell playbooks.

• Strong forecasting, attribution, and RevOps discipline — you manage the channel on leading indicators, not just closed revenue.

• Deep understanding of enterprise sales motions, especially in AI and automation.

• Executive presence with excellent negotiation, relationship management, and stakeholder communication skills.

• A strategic thinker who moves fast and executes in a startup environment.

• Strong operational chops - You set clear KPIs for your team and run the weekly cadence to track them and follow up. You can project manage complex set of projects across multiple partners.

Ideally, You’d Have

• Familiarity with agentic AI, frontier models, RPA, enterprise workflow automation, or LLM-based platforms.

• Experience with cloud hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their marketplace/co-sell programs.

• An existing network across Tier-1 SIs, ISV ecosystems, and/or Private Equity operating partners.

• Prior exposure to RevOps and PRM tooling (HubSpot, Salesforce, or a dedicated in-house built PRM).

• Experience building a partner function from an early stage and scaling it with process and team.

• The ability to work collaboratively in an extremely fast-paced startup environment.