Definition
A Chief Partner Officer is the senior executive who owns a company's partner and ecosystem strategy and the revenue that comes through partners. The role often leads channel, alliances, marketplaces and partner operations. Titles vary, and some companies use chief ecosystem officer or head of partnerships for similar jobs.
The role usually reports to the CEO or the chief revenue officer. Where it sits affects how much say partner strategy has over sales compensation, product plans and budget.
The main job is to make partners part of how the whole company grows. That includes aligning direct sales with partners, deciding where to invest in partners and reporting partner results to the leadership team and board.
In practice
A growing security vendor hires a Chief Partner Officer to bring its reseller, MSP and cloud marketplace teams under one leader with one revenue plan.