Manager of Enterprise Open Source Sales Team at Canonical

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering technology firm leading the global shift towards open source. As the publisher of Ubuntu, a pivotal open-source project and the preferred platform for public cloud compute, software engineers, data scientists, and AI developers, we are making a daily impact on the world. Our mission is to accelerate the global adoption and enhance the quality of open source, with a goal to deploy the most software by cores on the planet. We envision a future where open-source innovation drives the next phase of the enterprise software industry, and we strive to be the most compelling partner in this evolution.

Our clientele includes Global 500 enterprises and innovative startups. We are expanding our product range from the core Ubuntu operating system to comprehensive enterprise solutions in infrastructure and applications. Our offerings span software-defined storage, private cloud solutions, container runtime environments, as well as databases, message queues, identity management, observability, analytics, machine learning, and web publishing capabilities. Customers appreciate the ability to receive security compliance and support for all open-source solutions from a single vendor. Our objective is to offer more solutions than any other vendor, achieved through unique capabilities across every cloud environment, compute class, and application category.

Canonical comprises over 1,000 colleagues across more than 70 countries, generating over $250 million in revenue, operating profitably, and maintaining a steady yet relentless growth trajectory. We are a predominantly distributed company, with leadership dispersed globally. We firmly believe that talent is equally distributed worldwide, and we are committed to hiring, developing, promoting, and empowering a diverse group of exceptional leaders to build the best, not just the biggest, enterprise software company.

We employ a careful and deliberate hiring process, which is thorough and requires substantial effort from applicants. Successful candidates typically take three to six months to receive an offer. This opportunity is not for those seeking immediate employment; rather, it is ideal for ambitious individuals with a long-term career perspective and a clear understanding of the dynamics shaping global technological advancement. If you recognize the accelerating rise of open source and comprehend the drivers behind enterprise procurement and technical decision-making, you will appreciate Canonical's significant long-term advantage. You will also understand that, given the intense competition from industry giants, we maintain a very high bar for hiring and performance. To be a world-leading company, we select for exceptional ability and character, and then provide an environment that fosters teamwork and celebrates diligence, collaboration, and effectiveness. While these values are easily stated, their execution is challenging, and at Canonical, we embrace the discomfort inherent in pursuing such excellence.

In building our sales team, we prioritize five key qualities:

• Empathy for the customer: A genuine understanding of customer needs, industry-specific challenges, and a desire to help clients solve their business problems.
• High intellect: The ability to learn rapidly, grasp highly complex subjects, and communicate clearly to build trust and confidence.
• Passion for technology: A fascination with cutting-edge innovations from brilliant minds solving difficult problems, and an appreciation for fierce competition.
• Teamwork: A willingness to assist others, collaborate effectively across different disciplines, and balance personal and team ambitions.
• Energy: The drive to motivate oneself and others to achieve optimal results for the team and our customers.

Ubuntu's widespread adoption provides a credible foundation for market discussions. Nevertheless, it requires dedicated effort from sales professionals to leverage this adoption into trusted and profitable commercial relationships with enterprises in their assigned territory. While our product managers and marketing teams generate awareness, engagement, and leads, you will need to go beyond managing inbound interest to fully develop your territory's potential. This role demands sound judgment to identify which industries and companies are ready to deepen their engagement with open source and Canonical, along with the energy to cultivate relationships proactively. We expect professional practice, meticulous territory and account planning, and clear, complete, and continuous reporting on pipeline status and activity, utilizing standard professional tools. The successful candidate will carry an annual team bookings quota within their territory and should be prepared to travel regionally for client engagements or industry conferences, and internationally for company events twice a year. They will be expected to demonstrate professionalism and effectiveness in managing their team, providing coaching, mentorship, and leading by example. Their sales representatives are expected to prospect for new business, maintain and develop existing relationships, and collaborate with colleagues and partners on account strategy. They must be comfortable selling enterprise software, open source, cloud, virtualization, container technologies, and technical software solutions to senior levels of the enterprise.

What your day will look like

• Build and execute a comprehensive territory plan to prioritize outreach and prospecting efforts.
• Strategically allocate portions of the territory and accounts to sales representatives on your team.
• Identify and prioritize new logo accounts within your territory for targeted account-based marketing and prospecting.
• Ensure that sales representatives maintain high-quality account plans for both existing clients and priority prospects.
• Monitor new pipeline development by your team, generated through outreach, prospecting, local marketing initiatives, and industry events.
• Support contract closure processes to meet and exceed quarterly and annual bookings targets.
• Be mindful and proactive in achieving both tactical and strategic objectives.
• Collaborate with customer success teams to identify growth opportunities within existing accounts.
• Ensure your team maintains accurate pipeline data and forecasts within Salesforce.
• Represent the company, its solutions, and software effectively.

What we are looking for in you

• Bachelor's level degree, preferably in engineering or computer science.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills.
• Experience with open source technology and solutions.
• Detail-oriented with effective planning, organization, and reporting skills.
• Experience in enterprise software or technology sales planning and execution.
• Proven track record of achievement in sales targets and securing new account wins.
• Self-discipline and motivation to succeed in a distributed team environment.
• Professional written and spoken English, as well as any language appropriate for your target market.
• Ability to travel for customer engagements, industry events, and company events.

Additional skills of interest

• Specific vertical experience, particularly in finance, telco, health, energy, public sector, or tech.
• Experience speaking at conferences or industry events.

What we offer you

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance when shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven commission structure. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team meetings in person.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues.

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence - in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Canonical has been a fully distributed company since its inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer. We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration. #LI-remote Requisition ID: 1264