Channel Director, APAC

The Role

We are looking for a Channel Director to lead and build our channel strategy across APAC, starting with Australia & New Zealand and expanding into Southeast Asia. This is a high-impact, field-facing role responsible for recruiting, enabling, and accelerating the performance of key Value-Added Resellers (VARs), distributors, and MSSP/MDR partners in a high-growth region. You'll work closely with our sales, marketing, and partner teams to drive revenue through trusted channel relationships that align with Obsidian's go-to-market strategy.

This is a Sydney or Melbourne based role (hybrid, with regular partner and customer visits), supporting partners and regional field teams across ANZ and Southeast Asia (including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines,HK and Vietnam), with scope to extend into India, Japan, and Korea as the region grows.

Key Responsibilities

Partner Strategy & Execution

• Own the development and execution of a targeted APAC channel strategy, with an initial focus on ANZ and a build-from-scratch plan for Southeast Asia.
• Identify, recruit, and activate high-potential security-focused resellers and service providers across the region.
• Build and manage country-level partner business plans and track key KPIs such as partner-sourced pipeline, partner-influenced revenue, and deal registration.
• Define and manage tiered-partner model (VAR, distributor, MSSP/MDR), including partner agreements, margin structure, and rebates, adapted to the different market structures across ANZ and Southeast Asia.
• Identify and prioritise key technology alliance opportunities that complement Obsidian’s platform and strengthen its customer value proposition and relevant partners that can deliver joint solutions
• Develop relationships with relevant GSI regional leadership, cybersecurity and identity practices, and country teams to position Obsidian within consulting, transformation, and managed security engagements.

Partner Enablement & Growth

• Drive onboarding, sales and technical enablement, and product training across regional partners.
• Develop go-to-market campaigns, joint events, and demand generation programmes with partners.
• Support field sales in co-selling motions, lead sharing, and opportunity registration.
• Support partners through government and public-sector routes to market (e.g. Australian Government panels and state-level procurement arrangements) where relevant.

Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for partners, building strong executive and sales-level relationships.
• Conduct regular QBRs, pipeline reviews, and sales alignment sessions.
• Support partner success through consistent engagement, feedback loops, and performance incentives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with regional field teams (APAC sales and sales engineering) to align on territory priorities, partner alignment, and deal execution.
• Collaborate with marketing on regional partner campaigns, event sponsorships (e.g. AISA Australian Cyber Conference, regional partner events), and content localisation.
• Work with sales operations and finance on territory forecasting, tracking, and partner ROI analysis, including multi-currency quoting (AUD, SGD, USD) and GST/tax considerations.
• Work with HQ partner and legal teams to ensure partner contracts and data handling meet local requirements, including the Australian Privacy Act and Singapore's PDPA.

Who You Are

• 8+ years of experience in channel sales or partner management in the cybersecurity or enterprise SaaS space.
• Proven experience building a channel business in Southeast Asia, including recruiting and activating partners and distributors across multiple SEA markets, ideally from scratch.
• Proven track record building and managing successful VAR and distributor relationships across ANZ and/or APAC.
• Strong understanding of reseller and distribution business models, sales cycles, and the differing market dynamics across ANZ and Southeast Asian countries, including the role of distributors and aggregators.
• Excellent communicator and collaborator with experience working in matrixed, cross-functional, and cross-time-zone teams (including with a US headquarters).
• Self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced, startup environment and knows how to build from scratch.
• Ability to travel throughout APAC as needed (~30%). Additional regional languages are a plus but not required.
• Right to work in Australia.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with security-focused partners in ANZ and Southeast Asia (e.g. Data#3, Dicker Data, Ingram Micro, Arrow, Exclusive Networks, Tech Data, NCS, Telstra Purple, or similar) and security distributors.
• Familiarity with SaaS and security platforms such as Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or identity providers.
• Experience launching or scaling partner programmes at high-growth companies.
• Existing relationships with enterprise and government-focused partners, and with regional system integrators and telcos.