Senior Cybersecurity Channel Sales Manager

We are seeking a REMOTE Sr. Cybersecurity Channel Sales Manager for a full time and direct hire role for one of our amazing partners. Our client is a rapidly expanding cybersecurity solutions provider that specializes in monitoring and alerting across diverse data environments. They are a seamless extension of their customers teams and offer real-time visibility into their security landscapes to ensure the protection of their data, endpoints, and infrastructure.

Overview:

This is a dynamic and highly motivated sales professional to drive revenue growth by developing new channel partner relationships across their comprehensive product and service offerings. You will manage complex sales cycles and work directly with C-suite executives and channel partners to deliver customized security solutions. You will use a strategic approach that is centered on consultative selling. You will be responsible for the entire sales process and leverage your expertise to foster significant business relationships and close impactful deals.

Responsibilities:

Plan and execute a go-to-market plan with channel partners that includes the development of mutual performance objectives.

Execute on all phases and aspects of channel sales, including recruitment and onboarding of new partners, ongoing partner management, partner enablement and training, and presenting & selling to end-customers.

Consistently achieve personal sales results every quarter by implementing and expanding indirect sales models to increase sales bookings.

Create and manage a large sales pipeline in the Sales CRM.

Create and deliver sales presentations and UI demonstrations that showcase their solutions at trade shows and partner events to enhance engagement and drive business opportunities.

Collaborate with a cross-functional team that includes sales and technical experts to design and implement technical enablement initiatives and channel marketing events that catalyze incremental revenue growth.

Requirements:

5+ years of hands-on experience in technology, cybersecurity and/or channel partner sales is required.

A successful track record of meeting sales quotas with recurring revenue.

Solid book of existing partner relationships is beneficial.

Experience understanding prospect cybersecurity needs and engaging in consultative conversations are essential.

Proficient skills using a sales CRM and sales intelligence tools for pipeline management and lead generation.

Experience partnering with or selling to the insurance or legal sectors would be a huge plus, as this role includes developing channel strategies targeted at these industries.

Someone who is self-motivated, hungry and has high ethics and integrity.

Excellent communication and presentation skills to establish trust with partners and prospective buyers.

Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team environment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, or military or veteran status. You must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.

My notes:

Role: They need a Senior Cyber Security Account Executive to focus on channels, rather than direct sales. 50% of their business comes from channels and the rest is coming from direct sales from their junior AE’s. They will be the only person focused on channels. They need someone who can take their customers through the entire sales cycle. They will be selling to CISOs, CTO’s or heads of IT. The sales cycle can be long and technical, but it depends on if customers have budgets approved. If budgets are approved, the sales cycle can be anywhere from 2-5 months, but if the budget isn’t approved, it could be 5-10 months. The average sales size is about $80K on average, but they are young and they were accepting anything when they first started. They’ve doubled in revenue each year over the last 3 years. Their sales can range from $20K to $850K. This person can sell across the entire US, and only the Junior AE’s have territories that are divided all over the US. They need someone who is process oriented, has industry knowledge, and a track record of hitting quotas. Someone that fits in with their ideal customer profile (ICP) and who has experience selling to these people. You must be willing to work at a smaller company but know that you will have the support of a Sales Engineer and the technical team. They don’t have a super established playbook yet, but they are working on it. They have zoom info and a CRM called Close. It’s not a common CRM, but it’s very user friendly. Their BDR is their main source of leads, but you will also bring in leads from your own outreach. This is a great opportunity to join a rapidly growing company and they want someone who wants to grow with them.

Must have skills: They want a Senior Account Executive who has experience in cyber security and selling to their ICP’s. They need someone that can address customer’s pain points, show credibility, and can have a technical conversation with their ideal customer profiles. They need experience taking customers through the entire sales process. They must be ok working in a smaller company too. They would love them to have experience selling into channels, and legal and insurance channels in the US are ideal, because they think the sales cycle will be shorter.

Channel Sales vs Direct Sales: In channel sales, the sales process involves intermediaries, such as resellers or distributors, responsible for selling the products or services to end customers. In direct sales, the company's salesforce sells the products or services directly to customers.

Hiring Manager: CRO for now, but eventually a VP of Sales.

Team: Their CRO was also their founder named Jason. He wants to step away by March 2025, but that date is flexible (will replace with a VP of Sales). Under the CRO is a VP of Customer Success that owns their existing customers, 3 junior Account Executives, 1 BDR and 1 Sales Engineer. They are adding a Sr. Account Executive to this team now.

Why is it open: They had 4 junior Account Executives, but they discovered that they lacked experience and had a difficult time selling. They were just reading through scripts and didn’t know how to find their pain points or how to react to customer’s needs. They didn’t know how to address solutions or come up with objections. They let go 2 juniors in the first quarter for not hitting quota for a year. They were under 50% of the quota. They want to revamp with more senior people, so they don’t have to rely on their CRO too much.

Travel: The junior Account Executives don’t travel, but they believe that it is important for this person to travel at times to close deals, and they encourage them if needed. It’s not a must.

Training: the CRO will do most of the training and you will learn on the job. They have recordings and training to learn more about their products, though.

Personalities: They like someone who can be an individual contributor but who can collaborate with other team members as well. The Sr. Account Executive will work closely with the tech support team (tech operations team and sales Engineer). They want someone who is hungry, proactive, and a hustler. Someone who wants to grow with the company and understands what is like to work for a smaller but growing organization.

How long has it been open? Just opened.

Salary/Bonus: It’s a 50/50 split of base/commission. The base is around $120K plus $120K commission ($240K OTE). They could get to $140K base for the right person for a $280K OTE. This amount isn’t capped and there are some accelerators. They will also offer a ramp-up for 3 months of what commission should look like. Quotas are very feasible for a senior.

Feedback: he’s open to feedback and will give us details.

Interview Process: CRO (Jason) and CEO in group interview, then someone from tech team (CIO) and then TBD someone from Pacific Lake (Don).

Onsite/Remote: Remote with an East Coast preference.

Company:

Website Description: Security SMEs (dba ELK Analytics) is a cybersecurity company that provides security monitoring for organizations across the globe to detect and respond to cyber threats. With a fully-managed SIEM, EDR, and a 24/7 Security Operations Center, our clients receive a custom-tailored solution and a concierge level of service to deliver comprehensive protection.

About their Product: Founded in 2017, ELK Analytics is a specialized Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) that focuses on endpoint security and monitoring & alerting for any type of structured or unstructured data. ELK Analytics provides a comprehensive view of your critical IT and Security data in a single platform. No longer do you need to have disparate tools that slow down your mean-time to detect (MTTD) and mean-time to respond (MTTR). The ELK Analytics platform is your single pane of glass to provide visibility into your on-premise and cloud environments and secure your data and your infrastructure. ELK Analytics is a fully managed end-to-end solution that includes: Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM), Compliant Log Management System (LMS), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Managed Detections and Response (MDR), Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO), 24x365 Security Operations Center (SOC), Proactive Threat Hunting Services and Strategic Consulting Services.

Overview: They are a cyber security company, and they have about 4-5 different solutions, but 2 core ones. One is focused on end points (EDR) and the other is on the entire infrastructure (SIEM). They also do threat hunting, vulnerability and threat assessments. Most MSSP’s (managed services providers) are agnostic about the solution that their customers use, and other companies are solely product or software companies on a standalone basis. ELK Analytics provides a bundle of tools for SOC, and they offer services with their tech stack only. They are doing a company rebranding and they will be revamping the website soon. They want to stay away from being an MSSP, but to be more of a cyber security provider. Their legal name is Security SME, but back in the day, the CRO wanted to position themselves as ELK Analytics, because it’s a widely known name in the industry. They outgrew the ELK stack and they will be moving to the name One Axiom (not sure of the spelling). They will launch new name and website in a couple of months (mid 2024). They are at about $6.5 million in ARR revenue (as of April 2024), and they’ve doubled that amount each year over the last 3 years.

Upcoming Projects:

Company size: They have about 30 people in the company full time and some contractors on the tech side. They have the Security operations team that monitors their tech stack 24/7. They have an Engineering team that works on their product. They also have a sales team and an executive team.

Sales Team: Their CRO was also their founder named Jason. He wants to step away by March 2025, but that date is flexible (will replace with a VP of Sales). Under the CRO is a VP of Customer Success that owns their existing customers, 3 junior Account Executives, 1 BDR and 1 Sales Engineer. They are adding a Sr. Account Executive to this team now.

Remote/Onsite: They are remote but there is a slight preference for the east coast. It’s not a deal breaker if they aren’t, because the team is all over the country. 1/3 of the team is in the DC area.

Benefits: They are working on this, but they offer health insurance for now. They cover it 100% for the C-suite but not all levels (breakdown of costs in documents). They also have a flexible PTO policy, as long as they are hitting their numbers. No 401K yet.

Hiring Managers:

Daniel Baiz (CEO): He’s the CEO and lives in Miami. He acquired the company in Dec 2023, and he spearheads team to strategically position organization for enhanced growth in the Cybersecurity industry. He speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese. He’s originally from Bogota, Columbia and has a very slight accent. He’s a really nice guy and very friendly. His Linked In is With a persevering personality and a willingness to always be learning, Daniel is a passionate entrepreneur who looks for and is motivated by challenges. Daniel’s professional experiences have given him a solid understanding of operations enhancement and financial analysis while allowing him to lead small and large multi-cultural teams. He learned how to approach and motivate diverse groups to manage projects and exceed expectations, as well as allocate assets in resource-constrained operations. Daniel received his MBA from Harvard Business School and is also an industrial engineer from Purdue University.

Jason Evans (CRO/Co-Founder): His calendly is His Linked In is Jason has an impressive background and a lot of sales experience. He knows a ton about the company, since he is a co-founder too.

Upcoming roles: Account Executive role. VP of Sales role will be next when the CRO retires around March 2025 (could be sooner). They don’t need a CRO, since they are small, and this person will also be selling and building a sales playbook.

Personalities: They like someone who can be an individual contributor but who can collaborate with other team members as well. Someone who wants to grow with the company and understands what is like to work for a smaller but growing organization.

Headquarters: Naples, FL

Original Job Description:

Channel Sales Manager (Remote)

Company Overview:

Established in 2017, ELK Analytics is a dynamic cybersecurity solutions provider, rapidly expanding its footprint in the industry. We specialize in monitoring and alerting across diverse data environments. Our mission is to empower our customers with a single source of truth in navigating the complex landscape of cybersecurity threats.

We serve as a seamless extension of our customers’ teams, offering real-time visibility into their security landscape. Whether in on-premise or cloud environments, we ensure the protection of their data, endpoints, and infrastructure.

Position Overview / Mission:

To support our expansion, ELK Analytics is in search of a dynamic and highly motivated sales professional. The goal is to drive revenue growth by developing new channel partner relationships across our comprehensive product and service offerings.

As our Channel Sales Manager, you will manage complex sales cycles and engage directly with C-suite executives and channel partners to deliver customized security solutions. This role demands a strategic approach centered on consultative selling. You'll take charge of the entire sales process within a supportive remote work environment, leveraging your expertise to foster significant business relationships and close impactful deals.

Responsibilities:

Implement and expand indirect sales models to increase sales bookings and consistently achieve personal sales results every quarter.

Planning and executing a go-to-market plan with channel partners that includes the development of mutual performance objectives.

Execute on all phases and aspects of channel sales, including the recruitment and onboarding of new partners, ongoing partner management, partner enablement and training, and presenting/selling to end-customers.

Creating and managing a large sales pipeline in the Sales CRM.

Collaborate with a cross-functional team encompassing sales and technical experts to design and implement technical enablement initiatives and channel marketing events that catalyze incremental revenue growth.

Create and deliver compelling sales presentations and UI demonstrations, showcasing our solutions at trade shows and partner events to enhance