Channel Partnerships Director

About the role

This role is responsible for establishing and scaling OpenRouter's indirect sales channels globally. You will be instrumental in building our partner ecosystem from the ground up, driving revenue through strategic alliances and marketplace initiatives. Initially an individual contributor, you will lay the foundation for a future team focused on expanding our market reach.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design and implement a worldwide strategy for indirect sales, encompassing cloud marketplaces, system integrators, distributors, and resellers.
• Establish and optimize OpenRouter's presence on major cloud platforms, facilitating co-selling with hyperscaler sales teams and driving marketplace transactions.
• Identify, recruit, and integrate key partners, including global system integrators, regional service providers, technology distributors, and AI solution specialists.
• Collaborate with partner sales teams and internal account executives to identify opportunities, support sales cycles, and close business sourced through partners.
• Cultivate and maintain senior-level relationships with strategic partners, setting joint objectives, leading business reviews, and resolving any issues.
• Develop frameworks for partner segmentation, incentive programs, deal registration, and conflict resolution.
• Work with marketing to create joint campaigns, webinars, case studies, events, and content that highlight partner offerings.

Requirements

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in channel partnerships, alliances, or partner development within B2B SaaS or infrastructure companies.
• Demonstrated success in building indirect sales programs from their initial stages.
• Experience in recruiting, developing, and managing partnership teams across various channel types, including marketplaces, system integrators, distributors, and resellers.
• Proven ability to generate revenue through cloud marketplaces and experience working with hyperscaler partner organizations such as AWS, GCP, and Azure.
• A history of achieving substantial partner revenue targets, aiming for over 30% of company revenue from indirect channels.
• Executive presence suitable for building C-level relationships and conducting quarterly business reviews.

Nice to have

• Experience in AI/ML, developer tools, or API infrastructure partnerships.
• Existing connections with major global system integrators like Accenture, Deloitte, and Capgemini, and with hyperscaler partner organizations.
• Technical understanding to discuss API integrations and joint technical architectures.
• Previous experience as the first partnership hire in a startup environment.

Skills & tools

• Cloud Marketplaces (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• System Integrators
• Distributors
• Resellers
• AI/ML
• API Infrastructure

Practical notes

• Open to candidates requiring visa sponsorship.
• Travel requirements are not specified.
• If you believe you have the potential to succeed in this role, even if you don't meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. We value enthusiasm and a willingness to grow with the team.

About the company

OpenRouter is a United States technology company that builds software infrastructure for the artificial intelligence industry. The company operates a specialized platform designed to direct user queries to large language models and a wide range of generative artificial intelligence systems. Software developers use this system to connect their applications to artificial intelligence tools without needing separate integrations for every provider. The platform offers a single programming interface that bridges the gap between software creators, model developers, and hosting services. Building applications with modern artificial intelligence usually requires handling multiple backend systems, varying protocols, and diverse hosting options. OpenRouter simplifies this technical process by unifying access points into one central hub. Engineers can send requests through this central system and reach various external models from different creators. The platform focuses on making machine learning access efficient, predictable, and simple for software teams. By organizing how requests move between applications and hosting environments, the business helps developers focus on building products rather than managing multiple connections. As generative technology continues to expand across different software fields, unified routing infrastructure plays a key role in connecting builders to the best tools available. Joining OpenRouter means working on core tools that help developers interact with machine learning technology. The team focuses on creating clear pathways for software applications to communicate with artificial intelligence models across the global software ecosystem.