Manager – Partner & Alliances

About the Role

Gruve is seeking a highly motivated and relationship-driven Partner & Alliances Manager based in Pune to lead and expand our strategic partnerships across the APAC region. This individual will play a key role in managing partner relationships, executing regional GTM activities, and supporting global partner program execution in close collaboration leadership and key stakeholders.

You will serve as a regional ambassador for Gruve’s partnership strategy working closely with local OEMs, distributors, and technology alliances while aligning with internal sales, marketing, learning & development, and technical teams across time zones. This role is pivotal to Gruve’s international growth and partner-driven revenue acceleration.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Relationship Development

• Build and manage business-level relationships with regional partners, distributors and OEM stakeholders
• Establish and maintain executive and business-level relationships and map OEMs with Gruve leadership
• Represent Gruve at APAC based partner events, conferences, and enablement sessions
• Act as the primary point of contact for regional partner activities, escalations, and collaboration
• Map Gruve business goals with OEM sellers, services team, leadership and drive the strategy

Partner Program Mastery & Execution

• Execute local GTM plans in coordination with global partner leadership and stakeholders.
• Develop and execute a joint GTM plan to drive activity planning, co-sell motions, pipeline acceleration, partner-led deals, and programs.
• Track and report regional partnership certifications, event participation, and performance KPIs in collaboration with learning & development.
• You are the internal expert on all partner programs, incentives/rebates, deal registration and/or other benefits for partnerships in the region.
• Leverage MDF, rebates, spiffs, discounts, and sales plays to maximize profitability.
• Guide leadership on how to extract maximum value from each partnership.
• Work cross-functionally to support sales and other teams for partner-related initiatives.
• Due diligence on compliance, partnership status, maintaining partnership & legal records
• Own and elevate Gruve’s program membership levels to achieve the highest Tier(s).

Internal Leadership & Cross-Functional Alignment

• Provide regular updates to leadership on opportunities, risks, growth, and revenue impact.
• Work closely with Presales, Sales Leadership and align with the business goals and strategy
• Lead QBRs to assess progress and identify growth opportunities.
• Drive the charter and roadmap using insights from market trends, customer needs, leadership direction, and partner ecosystems aligned with Gruve’s strategic interests.
• Establish strong alignment between Gruve’s sales teams and partner sales organizations to drive joint alignment.

Basic Qualifications

• 7–10 years of experience in partnerships and alliances (preferably in tech/software)
• Must be able to travel to partner conferences and/or onsite visits throughout the region.
• Proven experience working with one or more APAC OEMs or distributors (e.g., Cisco, Red Hat, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, AWS, GCP, Ingram Micro. TD SYNNEX, Etevers etc.)
• Strong ability to build executive relationships and influence cross-functional teams.
• Ability to navigate complex partner ecosystems and align joint value propositions.
• Must be able to collaborate across time zones with internal teams in the U.S., EMEA, and beyond.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent relationship management and communication skills.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to think strategically and act autonomously in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders and timelines.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth environments.