FirstHive - Partner Sales Manager

What You'll Do:
Co-Create the Partner Sales Model:
- Sit alongside FirstHive's India sales team to jointly define what a high-performing partner motion looks like - ideal partner profiles, deal structures, co-sell workflows, and enablement frameworks
- Work with sales leadership to map where partners can complement direct sales: covering segments, verticals, or geographies where a partner-led approach creates more leverage
- Help establish the rules of engagement between direct and partner channels - ensuring both sides collaborate rather than compete
- Contribute to building the foundational tools of the partner capability: onboarding materials, partner pitch decks, co-sell playbooks, and deal registration processes
- Provide regular feedback from partner conversations back into the sales team - sharing what is working, what is not, and what the market is telling you
Partner Acquisition:
- Identify, prospect, and sign the right partners in India - Consulting Firms, Resellers, System integrators, Digital Agencies
- Run the full partner acquisition cycle independently: mapping the landscape, building relationships, pitching the First Hive partnership opportunity, negotiating terms, and onboarding
- Develop and articulate a compelling partner value proposition - making the commercial case for why partnering with FirstHive is a meaningful growth opportunity for the right organisations
- Maintain a live pipeline of prospective partners with clear prioritisation, progress tracking, and weekly reporting to leadership
- Represent FirstHive at relevant industry events, MarTech forums, and partner ecosystem gatherings in India

Partner Sales & Revenue Activation:
- Own the partner revenue number in India - partner-sourced pipeline, deal conversion rate, and closed ARR through the partner channel
- Enable signed partners to sell confidently: run product training sessions, build vertical-specific collateral, conduct demo certifications, and create joint go-to-market plans
- Be active in co-sell deal cycles - join partner-led calls and customer meetings, support demos, handle objections, and help close deals
- Run structured partner business reviews to track pipeline health, unblock stalled deals, and plan the next quarter's joint activity
- Escalate high-value or complex deals that benefit from additional involvement from FirstHive's sales leadership or technical teams
Who You Are:
You are a builder. You are energised by the blank page, not intimidated by it. You want to point at something in three years and say - I made that.
You are a learner with your ears to the ground - constantly learning about developments in the space that can make a difference to both the partners and the customers they serve.
You have an extremely high Action Bias.
Experience:
- 5-8 years in partner sales, channel development, or business development - ideally in a SaaS, data, analytics, or MarTech environment
- Demonstrable experience on both sides of the partner mandate: signing new partners AND generating revenue through them - not one without the other
- Familiarity with India's technology partner and SI landscape - you know who the relevant players are in data, digital, and marketing technology
- Experience working in close collaboration with a direct sales team - you understand how partner and direct motions need to complement each other
- Track record of hitting targets as a sole contributor, without the support of a large team or established programme
Mindset & Skills:
- Collaborative by instinct - you are most comfortable building alongside others, not in isolation, and you bring the sales team along with you rather than operating as a separate function
- Strong commercial judgement - able to evaluate partner fit, structure deal economics, and negotiate agreements that work for both sides
- Clear, confident communicator - able to explain FirstHive's AI and CDP value proposition to technical architects and marketing directors alike
- Operationally sharp - you track your pipeline meticulously, surface the right signals to leadership early, and follow through on commitments
- Comfortable with ambiguity - you do not need a process to exist before you start; you create the process by doing the work
Nice to Have:
- Understanding of the Customer Data Platform (CDP) category or the broader India MarTech and data stack landscape
- Existing relationships with India-based SIs, digital agencies, or data consultancies relevant to FirstHive's target verticals (retail, BFSI, telco, e-commerce)
- Experience in an early-stage or Series A / B startup - you have operated in environments where you had to build process and execute simultaneously
- Exposure to AI or ML-driven SaaS products and how to position them to enterprise marketing, data, or technology teams