Head of Channel Partnerships

About BlueOptima

BlueOptima is a trusted engineering intelligence platform used by leading global banks, insurers, and enterprises. Our solutions empower CTOs, CIOs, and engineering leaders with objective analytics to measure software engineering productivity, validate AI investments, and mitigate delivery risks.

The challenge many large organizations face is understanding whether their AI software development spending yields returns. We provide clarity and insights to confidently communicate this value to boards. Having established a solid client base among worldwide financial institutions and enterprises, BlueOptima is poised to create a strong partner ecosystem.

Role Overview

We seek an experienced professional who has built a channel programme entirely from the ground up—not inherited or managed an existing one. You should have firsthand experience launching such initiatives from scratch and demonstrated success in growing the pipeline through these efforts.

Our sales environment is relationship-focused, targeting engineering leaders and finance executives within the largest financial and enterprise organizations globally. While our direct sales team performs effectively, we currently lack a partner network to access opportunities beyond outbound reach. Your mission is to establish and grow this partner network.

We have proof of concept with an emerging partner relationship generating pipeline before formalizing the programme. You will be BlueOptima's inaugural dedicated channel hire, reporting to the CRO with a clear advancement pathway to Head of Channels and Alliances as the programme matures.

You won’t work in isolation; the CRO will actively support partner recruitment discussions, RevOps will assist with pipeline tracking and HubSpot configuration, while marketing will provide content and research assets for partner enablement. Ownership of strategy, execution, and results will be yours.

Key Responsibilities

• Design the entire channel programme architecture before engaging external partners, including defining ideal partner profiles, commercial and referral fee models, co-sell approaches, and legal agreements approved by CRO and CFO.
• Identify and recruit a targeted selection of partners, focusing on regional and multi-regional systems integrators embedded in enterprise financial services and technology accounts, plus complementary SaaS vendors targeting the same engineering and finance buyers with non-competing solutions.
• Enable partners thoroughly so they can confidently and independently represent BlueOptima, minimizing need for hand-holding during deals.
• Develop and integrate a co-sell approach alongside BlueOptima’s account executives, establishing a collaborative dynamic the direct sales team actively engages with and depends upon.
• Maintain full visibility and accountability of the partner-sourced pipeline within HubSpot, providing consistent weekly and quarterly forecasts to the CRO.

Candidate Qualifications

• Minimum six years of experience in B2B channel sales or alliance development, including significant time spent building a channel programme from the start with ownership of partner-sourced pipeline targets.
• Proven ability to describe in detail a channel programme you created: types of partners recruited, commercial frameworks developed, pipeline achievements, and lessons learned.
• Strong expertise in channel economics, skilled in creating referral fee structures, testing margin assumptions, and delivering solid business cases to finance leaders.
• Credibility and ability to converse at peer-level with engineering leadership and finance executives (e.g., CTOs, VPs of Engineering) in large enterprise accounts without needing technical advocates.
• Self-driven: able to build your own partner targets, conduct outreach, and generate pipeline independently without reliance on partners or internal team setups.
• Experience in developer tools, DevOps, engineering intelligence, or SaaS products sold to engineering leadership preferred; background in financial services enterprise accounts is also highly valued.

Ideal Candidate Traits

• Not merely managing an existing partner ecosystem or working within established governance of large global systems integrators, but comfortable creating programme frameworks with no pre-existing infrastructure or partner base.
• Not suited for high-velocity SMB or transactional reseller models—the role requires navigating slow, strategic, account-based sales to senior financial technology decision makers.

Success Metrics

Achievement will be gauged by active partner engagement levels and the volume of qualified pipeline generated by partners within the first year. Success milestones include a channel programme framework and commercial model approved within two months, a focused and active signed partner portfolio enabling co-selling by mid-year, and a trusted channel sales motion producing significant partner-influenced pipeline by year-end. This role is designed to develop a career path toward Head of Channels and Alliances.

Benefits and Additional Information

• Work base at London headquarters with a hybrid schedule of three days in-office and two days remote.
• 32 days paid leave, including statutory bank holidays.
• 12 weeks of paid maternity and paternity leave.
• Flexibility to work remotely up to four weeks annually from any location.
• Option to purchase up to 10 additional days of annual leave.
• Allowance for home office equipment.
• Pet-friendly office environment.
• Opportunities for sponsored professional learning and development.
• Participation in cycle-to-work scheme.
• Regular team social events.