Salary Range: $100,000 – $120,000
Location: Rochester, NY
We’re looking for a dynamic, results-driven Saas Value Added Reseller (“VAR”) and Leveraged Distribution Channel Manager to accelerate our growth through strategic partnerships. In this role, you’ll be the driving force behind expanding our reach, building strong relationships with distribution partners, and unlocking new revenue opportunities. If you thrive at the intersection of sales, strategy, and relationship management, this is your chance to make a measurable impact in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. If you want to be an important member of a growing, global solutions provider, we want you on our team.
Core responsibilities
- Program ownership: Design and run a partner program with clear ROE (Rules of Engagement), deal reg, discounts/rebates, and incentives across direct Value Added Resellers and leveraged distributor channels. This excludes innovation management consultants or bootcamps.
- Recruit & onboard:
- VARs: Source, vet, contract, and ramp high-potential resellers into high-earning partners.
- Engage and lead the existing international reseller channel (i.e. VAR), which includes:
- Demonstrating IP.com solutions on behalf of resellers
- Tracking the pipeline of opportunities by reseller, including anticipated close date and estimated revenue
- Assign inbound leads of IP.com to resellers where appropriate
- Conduct training for the resellers
- Coordinate prospecting activity with resellers to obtain new clients
- Leveraged Distributors: Negotiate terms, define enablement plans and market coverage, and operationalize deployment and execution processes between IP.com and distributor.
- VARs: Source, vet, contract, and ramp high-potential resellers into high-earning partners.
- Enablement at scale: Build playbooks, demo assets, potential certification paths; train distributor partner managers and inside teams to recruit/activate resellers with support from IP.com resources; run partner and distributor Quarterly Business Reviews.
- Pipeline & forecast: Drive partner-sourced and influenced pipeline; build a bottom-up forecast by route (VAR vs. distributor) and by top partners.
- Go To Market (GTM) (through-partner): Plan joint campaigns, webinars, and events with marketing support; manage SPIFs/rebates with ROI tracking; co-create packaged offers/bundles (e.g., trials, proof-of-concepts, pilots).
- Conflict resolution: Mediate direct/VAR/distributor conflicts quickly; uphold ROE and registration Service Level Agreements.
- Renewals & upsell/cross-sell: Orchestrate channel-led renewals, expansions, and cross-sell; align credit/collections/order-form flow with distributors.
- Compliance & contracts: Drive distributor and reseller agreements, any applicable flow-down terms (e.g. data privacy) and brand usage with Legal/Marketing/Finance.
Required Experience
- 6–10+ years in B2B SaaS channel management with both (VAR) and (leveraged distribution) models; track record building/scaling programs.
- Proven quota ownership for partner-sourced bookings/Annual Recurring Revenue and influenced revenue across VAR and distributor routes.
- Hands-on with partner marketing; able to operationalize at scale via distributors.
- Strong negotiation of margins, price protections, special campaign program terms.
- History running executive Quarterly Business Reviews and joint business plans with top distributors and VARs.
Skills & Competencies
- Commercial acumen: Two-tier economics, promo design, partner P&L.
- Operational discipline: Forecasting by route/partner, pipeline hygiene, claims and rebate processing.
- Partner enablement: Scalable trainings, through-partner marketing content enablement and deployment.
- GTM savvy: Through-partner campaigns, events, and marketplace offer packaging.
- Diplomacy & ROE discipline: Keeps relationships aligned and productive.
- Communication: Executive presence; crisp partner communications.
Tools & Systems
- CRM: Salesforce and MEDDIC
- Marketing Tools: Account Engagement/Pardot for through-partner campaigns.
- Business Intelligence: Scorecards and reports on VARs and Distributor performance
- Finance/Billing: DocuSign; Order Form and invoicing flows.
KPIs to own (by channel)
- Shared: Partner-sourced ARR/bookings, partner-influenced pipeline, win rate, time-to-first-deal, NRR/renewal rate, attach rates, marketing spend ROI.
- Number of VARs, productivity/VAR, SLAs met.
- % of bookings through distributor route and growth QoQ
- Rebate utilization vs. plan; promo burn rate; claims accuracy & cycle time
- Domain knowledge (SaaS/channel specifics)
Qualifications:
- Education & Certifications – Bachelor’s required; MBA a plus.
- 5 years+ of experience in channel sales, partner management, or distribution management.
- Experience in the Intellectual Property or Innovation space is a strong asset
- Strong understanding of leveraged distribution models and indirect sales strategies.
- Proven success in meeting or exceeding sales targets through channel partners.
- Excellent negotiation, relationship-building, and presentation skills.
- Strong analytical and forecasting abilities.
- Ability to travel as needed to support partner relationships and events.
- Incumbent must be compliant with ITAR/Export Control regulations, which can be demonstrated by US citizenship.
IP.com/TextWise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The company and its affiliates recruit and hire qualified candidates without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, veteran or disability status, medical condition, marital status, or any other factor prohibited by federal, state, provincial, and municipal laws.
