The posting
Partner Operations Manager
Remote (India), with strong overlap with US business hours
Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we're helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.
Founded in 2007, we scaled the business with less than $3 million in outside funding until 2021, when we did a traditional IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Today, Backblaze generates over $100m in revenue and is the leading specialized storage cloud, managing over three billion gigabytes of data storage for 500K+ customers in 175+ countries, including businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals.
But while there is a lot to celebrate in our past, there is almost as much opportunity ahead of us. We are seeking a: Senior Partner Operations Manager.
About the Role
Backblaze sells through resellers, OEM/ISV and technology partners, and service providers. The systems behind that (Salesforce, the partner platform, deal registration, tiering, MDF) are only partly built. You will own them and build the rest and assist with setting up the enablement program.
You will be the person leadership trusts when they ask, "Is this pipeline number real?" You will also shape how the partner program runs day to day and how it should run next year. You report to the Head of Partner Operations and Enablement and work closely with the Head of Channel & Partnerships.
What You'll Own
Partner data and attribution
- Be the source of truth for partner-related Salesforce data: accounts, opportunities, and sourced vs. influenced attribution.
- Define the attribution rules, document them, and enforce them. Resolve conflicts before they reach a forecast call.
- Establish and maintain partner data governance standards, including partner classification, account hierarchies, lifecycle stages, ownership assignments, and consistent reporting across Salesforce and the partner platform.
- Build the dashboards partner leadership and the field use to run the business, not just view it.
Program mechanics, built to scale
- Run deal registration end to end, including intake, validation, conflict resolution, and approval, with clear SLAs.
- Manage partner application intake, qualification workflows, approvals, enrollment, agreements, and activation tracking across partner segments. Identify bottlenecks and improve time-to-onboard and time-to-first-revenue.
- Help establish the partner enablement function. Stand up the foundations (onboarding paths, certification tracks, a central asset library, and enablement tracking in the partner platform) and measure adoption and time-to-first-deal so enablement ties to partner outcomes.
- Run tiering, onboarding, certification, and MDF from request to reconciliation. Measure MDF return on investment and report what's working.
- Replace manual steps with Salesforce flows and platform workflows wherever you can.
Commercial operations and partner support
- Operationalize partner discount structures, SKUs, quoting, distribution transactions, incentives, and partner compensation or credit reconciliation.
- Establish and manage partner operations support processes, including intake, escalation, issue tracking, resolution SLAs, and coordination with internal teams to resolve registration, billing, access, and program-related issues.
Partner platform and migration
- Own day-to-day administration of the partner platform (Impartner or its successor): access, workflows, and Salesforce sync.
- Be the operational lead on the platform migration, working with IT and RevOps on requirements, data mapping, testing, cutover, and reconciliation.
Insight and business reviews
- Build the recurring reporting for internal reviews and partner QBRs, including scorecards, pipeline status, and program health.
- Track program KPIs, call out trends, and bring recommendations to the Head of Partner Operations and Enablement. We expect a point of view, not just a report.
The Right Fit
Required
- 5-8 years in partner, sales, or revenue operations, supporting a channel or partner program.
- Advanced Salesforce skills: reports, dashboards, flows, and data hygiene. Admin certification is not required.
- Hands-on experience running deal registration, tiering, onboarding, or MDF.
- Proven ability to fix root causes in data rather than patch symptoms.
- Comfort working across several partner types and stakeholder groups at once.
- Clear written English. You will write process docs, explain data decisions, and push back on bad inputs.
Strongly Preferred
- Experience with a PRM platforms and with a platform migration or systems consolidation.
- Experience working US hours from outside the US.
- Background at a cloud infrastructure, storage, or technical B2B company.
This Role Is Not For You If
- You want a mature, finished program to maintain. Here you shape the systems as you go.
- You need one partner segment to specialize in. This role covers all of them by design.
- You're not comfortable saying "this data is wrong" and then fixing it yourself.
Logistics
- Remote (India). Must maintain strong overlap with US business hours.
- Reports to: Head of Partner Operations and Enablement
At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. That's why diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We believe that our dedication to cultivating a diverse workspace not only allows us to better serve our customers in over 175 countries, but further reinforces our commitment to doing the right thing. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
