Head of Vendor Alliances & Marketing Strategy

A Rare Senior Leadership Opportunity at the Intersection of Technology, Partnerships, Marketing & Growth

We are proud to be representing one of our key clients, an established and highly respected technology services organisation with a strong footprint across South Africa and the Middle East, in the search for an exceptional Head of Vendor Alliances & Marketing Strategy.

This is not a traditional marketing role.

We are looking for a commercially astute, strategically minded leader who understands how global technology partnerships, vendor ecosystems, channel economics and marketing strategy come together to create measurable business growth.

Reporting directly to the CEO, this person will become a key commercial architect within the business — owning two interconnected disciplines at the heart of the company’s growth engine:

Strategic vendor and distributor alliances
Marketing strategy that converts those partnerships into measurable pipeline

The successful leader will take ownership of strategic relationships with major global technology vendors, including Red Hat, AWS, Confluent and Elastic, while strengthening distributor ecosystems across South Africa and the Middle East.

The mandate is significant: capture more commercial value from the vendor ecosystem, strengthen market positioning, drive measurable pipeline contribution, and ensure every partnership investment and every marketing rand spent connects back to tangible commercial outcomes.

The Opportunity

You will sit at the heart of the organisation’s growth strategy, working closely with the CEO, Sales leadership, Delivery and Cloud leadership.

You’ll be responsible for how the organisation:

Builds and deepens strategic global vendor relationships
Progresses toward top-tier partner status and specialisations
Captures MDF, rebates and co-investment opportunities
Strengthens distributor performance
Converts partner ecosystems into commercial advantage
Builds measurable marketing-sourced pipeline
Positions the brand across South Africa and the Middle East
Connects partnership strategy directly to revenue and margin

This is a role for someone who understands that partnerships are not about collecting logos — and marketing is not about activity for activity’s sake.

It is about commercial outcomes.

What You’ll Own

Strategic Vendor Alliances

You’ll own and develop high-value relationships with leading global technology vendors, including:

Red Hat
AWS
Confluent
Elastic
Emerging strategic alliance partners

A key part of your mandate will be driving deeper partner status, expanding specialisations and ensuring vendor relationships translate into stronger deal economics, credibility, co-sell opportunities and market access.

You’ll help drive ambitions including:

Progression toward top-tier partner status
Continued expansion of vendor specialisations
AWS partner-tier progression
Strategic development of future secondary vendor relationships
Stronger commercial leverage across the vendor ecosystem

MDF, Rebates & Commercial Value Capture

This is a major commercial component of the role.

You’ll take ownership of underutilised vendor funding and incentive opportunities, ensuring the organisation captures the full value available through its partnerships.

You will:

Own MDF programmes
Maximise vendor rebates
Leverage co-investment funding
Build disciplined entitlement tracking
Ensure eligible funds are claimed
Connect specialisation milestones to improved deal economics
Create clear financial visibility around vendor value capture

We’re looking for someone who understands the difference between partnership spend that compounds — and spend that simply disappears.

Distributor Relationship Leadership

You’ll build and maintain strong operational relationships with key distributors across South Africa and the Middle East.

Your responsibilities will include:

Creating a strong distributor engagement cadence
Managing pricing and tier negotiations
Ensuring deal registration processes operate effectively
Managing rebate flows
Resolving transactional friction before it impacts sales velocity
Holding distributor performance accountable

The goal is simple: distributor relationships should be actively managed, commercially optimised and aligned to growth.

Marketing Strategy That Creates Pipeline

You’ll set the marketing strategy that turns strategic positioning into measurable demand.

You’ll own how the business engages the market across South Africa and the Middle East, including:

B2B technology marketing strategy
Demand generation
Vendor co-marketing
Digital campaigns
New-logo acquisition
Events and conferences
Content strategy
Inbound activity
Cloud business positioning
Pipeline attribution
Marketing performance measurement

This role requires someone who constantly asks:

What pipeline did this create?
What commercial outcome did this influence?
What should we scale?
What should we stop doing?

Brand & Market Positioning

You’ll help establish the organisation as the partner of choice in carefully selected technology niches.

The positioning story includes:

Deep open-source and enterprise technology capability across Africa
Emerging cloud specialisation
Strong technology services expertise
South African delivery excellence
Growing Middle East market access

You’ll build the market presence that earns a seat at the table with the customers, partners and industry influencers that matter.

This includes:

Analyst engagement
Press and media visibility
Conference presence
Speaker opportunities
Vendor recognition
Strategic thought leadership
Customer and market brand recall

Team Leadership

You’ll lead and develop the marketing capability as the organisation scales.

You’ll:

Set the standard for strategic marketing excellence
Build stronger vendor relationship disciplines
Coach and develop your team
Establish clear operating rhythms
Create accountability around measurable outcomes
Grow capability as the business expands

Commercial Alignment Across Sales, Delivery & Cloud

This role works closely with Sales leadership, Innovation, Cloud leadership and Delivery teams.

You’ll ensure:

Vendor activity aligns with pipeline priorities
Marketing investment supports commercial growth
Vendor incentives translate into deal-level advantage
Specialisations support customer acquisition
Partnership strategy is connected to real market opportunity

You will lead through influence across the organisation.

South Africa & Middle East Integration

You’ll act as a strategic bridge between operations across South Africa and the Middle East.

You’ll ensure:

Vendor entitlements are captured across both regions
Marketing supports Middle East direct-customer growth
Partner activity is coordinated
Brand consistency is maintained
Regional opportunities are connected rather than siloed

Who We’re Looking For

We are searching for a senior commercial, alliances, partnerships or technology marketing leader with approximately 10–15+ years of experience.

You understand enterprise technology ecosystems and know how vendor programmes actually work behind the scenes.

You bring a powerful combination of:

Commercial and financial acumen
Vendor ecosystem expertise
Strategic B2B marketing leadership
Partner and alliance management
Demand-generation discipline
Brand positioning capability
Operational rigour
Cross-functional influence
Regional and international thinking

You should be comfortable reading a P&L, understanding deal-level economics and connecting partnership investment to operating margin and growth.

Your Vendor Ecosystem Knowledge

You understand areas such as:

Partner tiers
Specialisation tracks
MDF mechanics
Vendor rebates
Co-investment programmes
Deal registration
Co-sell motions
Distributor ecosystems
Enterprise technology services
B2B pipeline generation
Marketing attribution

Experience across at least two major technology ecosystems such as Red Hat, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Google Cloud or Oracle would be highly valuable.

AI Fluency Matters

We are looking for a leader who sees AI as part of how modern work gets done.

You should be comfortable using AI tools to accelerate:

Market research
Competitive intelligence
Content development
Campaign planning
Partner programme analysis
Pipeline intelligence
Positioning and messaging

You understand both the power and limitations of AI — using it to enhance judgement rather than replace it.

Helpful Qualifications

Practical commercial experience matters most, but the following would be advantageous:

Relevant vendor sales or partner certifications
AWS Cloud Practitioner or partner-focused training
Strategic Account Management qualification
B2B Marketing Strategy qualifications
Pragmatic Institute or CIM credentials
Relevant AI-for-marketing certifications or demonstrable practical AI experience

How Success Will Be Measured

This is a high-impact role with clear commercial accountability across four core areas:

Vendor Partnership Health — 30%
MDF & Rebate Capture — 25%
Marketing-Sourced Pipeline Contribution — 25%
Brand & Market Position — 20%

Success will include:

Progressing toward top-tier vendor status
Deepening strategic specialisations
Increasing MDF and rebate capture
Growing marketing-sourced qualified pipeline
Strengthening market recognition
Building meaningful analyst, press, conference and vendor visibility

More Than Just a Career Move

Our client understands that exceptional performance is strongest when people are supported to do their best work.

The broader employee offering includes:

Flexible hybrid working
Annual leave starting at 15 days and increasing with employment milestones
Mental wellness support
Access to financial wellness and advisory support
Flexible home-office equipment support
Free access to online learning and development courses
Ongoing professional and personal development

The Package

R120,000 – R180,000 per month

The final package will be determined based on the successful candidate’s depth of experience, commercial leadership capability, vendor ecosystem expertise and overall fit for this strategic mandate.

Interested in a Confidential Conversation?

This is a rare opportunity for a senior leader who can operate confidently at the intersection of:

Technology. Partnerships. Commercial Strategy. Marketing. Brand. Pipeline. Growth.

If you understand how to turn global vendor relationships into real commercial advantage — and how to turn strong market positioning into measurable pipeline — we would love to hear from you.

We are representing our client exclusively in this senior leadership search.

All suitable applications and conversations will be handled with complete discretion and confidentiality.

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