Partner Lead, EMEA

Location: Switzerland or Oxford, England, UK
Travel: Regional and international travel required
Job ID: 1884

Role:

We are seeking a Partner Lead, EMEA to develop a small number of carefully selected lighthouse channel and reseller partners. You will build deep relationships with the local resellers, distributors, systems integrators and telecommunications partners best positioned to pursue priority customers and support early adoption of our frontier technology portfolio. The role covers IonQ’s entire portfolio, compute, networking, security, sensing, space and merchant services, with focused pursuits selected to match each lighthouse partner’s capabilities and customer needs.

The role also drives quantum opportunities with global partners within the region, for example, remote access to IonQ quantum computing capacity through a Hyperscaler in Europe, or quantum computing and quantum safe cybersecurity pursuits with a global consulting firm’s local practice, in alignment with the respective global alliance lead. Computing pursuits include hardware in data centres, remote cloud access, and application and algorithm development. Specialist channel partners may focus on networking, security, sensing, space or merchant services, with pursuits matched to their expertise, customer access and IonQ’s available capabilities. This role operates in a matrixed structure, reporting directly to the SVP, Global Partner Ecosystem (Partnerships), with close alignment to regional sales leads on priorities, account plans, opportunity execution and commercial outcomes.

Responsibilities:

You will engage local partner teams, qualify customers and co sell early engagements. Partners learn through this shared work, and successful engagements become references and playbooks for measured expansion. Within the first year, you will have secured referenceable wins from a few carefully selected local and global lighthouse partners and jointly progressed qualified customer engagements toward successful technical and commercial outcomes. You will have established an effective global and regional pursuit cadence and documented the evidence, partner capability and playbooks needed to replicate success. Expansion will follow demonstrated readiness and results. Reference wins should reflect the regional partner mix across the portfolio, including quantum computing hardware, cloud access, application and algorithm development, quantum safe cybersecurity, and specialist networking, sensing, space or merchant services opportunities.

Success is measured through the following outcomes. Qualified partner sourced and partner influenced pipeline, closed revenue, conversion and forecast accuracy, with documented attribution and no double counting across global and regional teams. Lighthouse quantum engagement progress against agreed customer outcomes: data centre hardware deployment, paid quantum cloud access, application and algorithm development, quantum safe cybersecurity, or specialist networking, sensing, space and merchant services engagements, with technical validation, commercial success and referenceability. Depth and productivity of selected partnerships: committed partner resources, active joint pursuits, time to first win and partner capability demonstrated in live engagements. Evidence of replication: customer approved success stories, reusable playbooks, follow on opportunities and repeat wins; additional partners activated only when delivery capacity and repeatability support expansion.

Key responsibilities include:

• Prioritise markets and a few lighthouse partners based on customer access, executive commitment, technical capacity, local procurement capability and willingness to invest in joint pursuits. Build deep partner level plans with named customers, committed resources and first win milestones; allocate effort to productive relationships before broadening coverage.
• Proactively originate and progress quantum opportunities with local hyperscaler teams and advisory practices in partnership with the respective global alliance lead and regional sales leads. Co sell quantum computing deployments, application and algorithm development, and quantum safe cybersecurity with consulting firms and SIs; drive remote quantum computing capacity resale with hyperscalers. Match each pursuit to partner capability and validated customer demand. Own local partner engagement and coordinate regional quantum pursuits within shared account plans; agree responsibilities, customer ownership, technical support, outcomes and commercial milestones with global leads and regional sales leads. Run shared pursuit and pipeline reviews. Engage global sponsorship, specialist resources and commercial frameworks in support of local opportunities; feed market evidence and barriers back to global alliance leads. Global alliance leads retain ownership of named worldwide relationships and mobilise partner headquarters, programmes and resources; you develop local partner teams and opportunities.
• Personally work alongside partners through discovery, qualification, use case selection, proposals, negotiation and close; develop partner skills through live quantum customer engagements. For specialist channel partners, build focused pursuits such as space related quantum communications or sensing opportunities, as supported by the partner’s expertise and validated IonQ capabilities. Engage Field Engineering, Partner Engineering and Platform Sales Specialists to define feasible customer outcomes. Partner Engineering validates technical feasibility; Field Engineering and Platform Sales Specialists support discovery, solution development and live pursuits across the full portfolio: compute, networking, security, sensing, space and merchant services. Support local procurement and complex sovereign or regulated market pursuits with the appropriate internal specialists; maintain clear rules of engagement across partners and direct Sales. Teach by doing: jointly discover needs, qualify use cases, shape solutions, co sell and deliver early engagements. Build reusable success stories and playbooks, then expand based on evidence of repeatability.
• Own a disciplined regional partner forecast. Track each quantum opportunity in one shared record with distinct local and global contributions. Build customer approved quantum success stories and capture practical sales, delivery and commercial lessons with global leads. Work with Programmes and Marketing to turn lighthouse engagement lessons into reusable tools, and GTM approaches. Repeat successful approaches with additional customers, then selectively add partners when evidence and support capacity justify expansion; follow company policy and applicable local and trade requirements.

Requirements:

8+ years in regional channel sales or strategic partner management, with a record of productive reseller, SI, distributor or telco relationships. Strong regional market knowledge and ability to activate local teams of global partners; experience jointly managing opportunities with global alliance owners and direct Sales. Relevant regional languages and relationships in priority markets across EMEA. A proven track record of developing focused, early stage partnerships into scalable channels that deliver sustained revenue growth. Demonstrated commercial expertise in frontier technologies or an emerging technology category: translating uncertain capabilities, evolving roadmaps and customer needs into credible, staged adoption plans.

A record of building a small number of deep partnerships and personally co selling early customer engagements, from discovery and qualification through solution development, negotiation and close. Experience converting early customer engagements into approved references, reusable solution patterns and repeatable partner sales motions. Cross cultural communication skills, strong executive communication, commercial negotiation and cross functional leadership; discipline in pipeline qualification, forecasting and investment prioritisation. Ability to travel regionally and internationally, and master’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

You’d be a great fit with:

• Quantum experience is an advantage, including quantum computing, networking and security, space or sensing.
• Relevant experience may include commercialisation, partnerships, customer adoption or technical solution development.
• Experience with sovereign or regulated markets, public sector procurement, or international trade compliance relevant to advanced technology.
• Ability to work closely with technical specialists, distinguish validated capabilities from future potential, and establish customer success criteria without overstating readiness.