Upbound is the company behind Crossplane, the open source project which started the control plane revolution in the cloud native community. Upbound is redefining how modern infrastructure is built. As the creators of Crossplane and the pioneers of the Intelligent Control Plane, we are leading the shift toward agentic infrastructure: platforms that reason, adapt, and operate alongside AI-native systems.
We are seeking an accomplished and highly strategic Head of Partnerships & Alliances to help define and execute Upbound’s ecosystem and alliance strategy. This senior individual contributor role operates at the intersection of open source ecosystem development and commercial go-to-market execution. You will build and scale relationships that expand the reach of Crossplane — the leading open-source control plane framework — while driving commercial success for Upbound’s enterprise platform. You’ll collaborate deeply across engineering, product, marketing, and sales to shape joint strategies with cloud providers, ISVs, and system integrators that bridge community adoption with enterprise outcomes.
What You'll DoThe ideal candidate thrives in environments where open source credibility and business impact go hand in hand — capable of earning trust in developer ecosystems, influencing technical direction, and turning ecosystem momentum into measurable growth. You’re comfortable operating across technical and commercial contexts, equally fluent in conversations with maintainers and hyperscaler executives. You bring curiosity about AI and emerging infrastructure models and see partnerships not just as contracts, but as systems for long-term category creation.
Open Source Ecosystem & Community Partnerships
- Build strategic relationships within the Crossplane ecosystem — including contributors, maintainers, and adjacent project communities — to expand adoption and integration momentum.
- Collaborate with open-source foundations and community leaders to strengthen the broader control plane and platform engineering ecosystem.
- Support co-marketing, education, and joint initiatives that celebrate community success and reinforce Upbound’s leadership within open source.
- Partner with Developer Relations and Product teams to ensure two-way collaboration between community innovation and enterprise needs.
Strategic Alliance Development
- Identify, negotiate, and grow high-impact partnerships with hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP), ISVs, and SIs.
- Develop joint GTM strategies that integrate Crossplane and Upbound into partner ecosystems, marketplaces, and managed service offerings.
- Collaborate on technical integrations that expand Crossplane’s reach while reinforcing Upbound’s commercial differentiation.
- Act as a bridge between open-source innovation, partner value creation, and enterprise adoption.
Partner GTM Execution
- Architect and execute partner-led GTM motions including co-selling, account mapping, co-marketing, sales enablement, and joint value propositions.
- Work closely with marketing to create partner case studies, technical stories, and ecosystem campaigns that highlight real-world outcomes.
- Translate developer and community adoption signals into commercial opportunities with measurable pipeline impact.
- Leverage modern GTM and partner analytics tools to optimize engagement, track influence, and refine strategies.
Partner Program & Framework Design
- Design and operationalize a scalable partner program including onboarding, enablement, incentives, and performance tracking.
- Define partner tiers, certification paths, and engagement models for both open-source collaborators and commercial partners.
- Establish clear KPIs for ecosystem health, engagement, and partner-driven revenue.
Product & Roadmap Alignment
- Collaborate with product and engineering leadership to ensure partnerships align with roadmap priorities and strategic initiatives.
- Advocate for integration opportunities and feedback from both the open-source and commercial ecosystems.
- Drive alignment between Crossplane’s community direction and Upbound’s enterprise strategy to create synergy across the stack.
Ecosystem Representation & Industry Presence
- Represent Upbound and Crossplane at industry events, partner forums, and cloud-native conferences.
- Act as a senior ambassador across open-source, cloud, and enterprise ecosystems — balancing authenticity, influence, and strategic clarity.
- Contribute to thought leadership and ecosystem storytelling that elevate Upbound’s role in the Intelligent Control Plane movement.
- 7+ years in technology partnerships, strategic alliances, or business development within cloud, SaaS, ISV, or open-source technology companies.
- Proven success building and scaling partner ecosystems in high-growth, developer-led or open-source-first environments.
- Experience managing both open-source and commercial partnerships simultaneously — balancing community trust with business goals.
- Track record negotiating complex partnerships with global cloud providers, ISVs, and SIs.
- Deep understanding of cloud computing, infrastructure platforms, and the cloud-native landscape (AWS, Azure, GCP).
- Familiarity with open-source governance, contribution workflows, and community engagement best practices.
- Strategic thinker with strong analytical skills; able to measure and communicate partner and ecosystem ROI.
- Exceptional collaboration, communication, and influence skills across technical and executive audiences.
- Proficiency with CRM and partner management tools (Salesforce, HubSpot, PRM platforms).
A plus if you:
- Are fluent in open source and developer ecosystems; prior contributor or community involvement is a plus.
- Experience working with or within cloud provider partner programs (AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace, GCP Partner Advantage).
- Curiosity about AI-native infrastructure and how intelligent systems reshape partner and GTM ecosystems.
- Comfort balancing startup pace with strategic long-term thinking; thrives in ambiguity and loves building new playbooks.
- Strong storytelling instincts — able to articulate complex ecosystem narratives in simple, compelling ways.
- Authentic, community-minded approach that prioritizes trust and shared success.
- Experience presenting at industry events, technical summits, or open-source conferences.
#LI-REMOTE
At Upbound, you’ll help shape the systems and strategies that drive predictable, scalable growth in a product-led company embracing usage-based models. If you're excited to build from the ground up, work with cutting-edge cloud technologies, and directly impact how revenue is generated and scaled—this is your seat at the table.
About Upbound
Upbound is pioneering infrastructure platforms for the Agentic AI Era, serving Fortune 500 companies and platform engineers across more than 100 countries. The company empowers infrastructure and platform teams with Intelligent Control Planes - based on Kubernetes and Crossplane - that provision, operate, and adapt so platforms are ready for both humans and AI agents. Upbound is the creator and primary maintainer of Crossplane, the popular open-source framework for building cloud-native control planes, with over 100 million downloads and adoption by more than 1,000 teams worldwide. A Series B startup backed by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Altimeter Capital, and Intel Capital, Upbound has raised $69M to date. For more information, visit www.upbound.io.
