Chief Revenue Officer

Home based - Americas, EMEA

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1000+ colleagues in 70+ countries and very few roles based in offices. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

Our business opportunity is significant; we can deliver both infrastructure and business applications to the enterprise market. As companies refresh their data centers, our goal is to be the platform for cloud and apps. As they re-architect their business applications to embrace open source, our goal is to deliver the majority of their databases, analytics, messaging, publishing, identity, security, workflow... everything that is open source. We are committed to do that at the most efficient price points possible to drive down the total cost of IT, but this is nevertheless a significant global market, and our ambition is to be counted among the most valued software suppliers to the Global 10,000.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing. We are hiring a Chief Revenue Officer, to lead our enterprise sales, sales development, partner, channel, alliance, customer success and field engineering teams. This position will report to the CEO and  collaborate with the most senior leaders of Canonical to drive sustainable growth. Success in this role depends on both operational and inspirational leadership. We see the role as program, process and metric oriented, with leadership and charisma being necessary but not sufficient. It is not itself a sales position so much as one that demands astute planning and tactical operations combined with leadership, rigor and insight into the global dynamics and drivers of enterprise software selection and procurement today.

Perhaps unusually we are looking for a leader who is insightful and passionate about the impact of open source in the world.

Across every category of compute - from the very lowest-level microcontroller to the fastest CPU's and GPUs, from the biggest cloud infrastructure to the tiniest devices, we see open source growing in both share and reputation. The same is true in every category of business and scientific application. Our opportunity is to deliver the majority of that software globally. Our mission is to do that efficiently, at low cost, in a way that accelerates progress and preserves a level playing field in silicon and cloud. We work closely with both silicon and cloud providers to maximise performance and align with their differentiated offerings. We work to build and sustain trust as the best way for their customers to get the widest range of open source, and the best of their infrastructure and compute capability. As a result, we are growing mind share and market share. This is a tremendous responsibility, but it is also an extraordinary value proposition.

As Chief Revenue Officer you will be accountable for:

  • Go-to-market strategy - prioritize sectors and markets, identify organisational gaps and lead hiring to close them
  • Planning - challenge individual teams to develop appropriate, ambitious but sustainable execution plans and metrics with cascading goals and targets
  • Execution - review relevant data and correct course where needed on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis
  • Sponsorship - support leaders to close large ($10M+ ARR) deals with global-10k enterprises and large, complex, global tech sector partners
  • Insight - capture and share patterns, issues, and insights from customers and partners to broaden commercial awareness within Canonical
  • Staffing - supervise the Canonical recruitment, selection and onboarding processes in your organisation
  • Productivity - design and lead career and skills development together with continuous improvement in your organisation
  • Culture - select for, and invest in, transparent communications, accountability trust, and the work ethic needed for success
  • Inspirational leadership - demonstrate and cultivate passion for Canonical’s mission, for customers and the market

The successful candidate will lead our revenue organisation, consisting of:

Direct enterprise sales

The VP Enterprise Sales will report to the CRO.

  • Set high expectations of sales ability, readiness, performance and results
  • Hire sales leaders, and set expectations for hiring effectiveness and results in the org
  • Work with sales leaders to build annual targets and plans by region, sector and product
  • Ensure accurate reporting and status on prospects and opportunities
  • Review progress, metrics and results on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis
  • Lead for high quality customer engagement and commitment to customer delight

Alliances, channels and partnerships:

Our VP Alliances will report to the CRO. This lead drives our strategy and execution in regard to:

  • ISVs who embed Ubuntu and Canonical open source
  • IHVs (Dell, HP, Lenovo etc) who certify and preinstall Ubuntu and deliver solutions
  • Silicon providers (Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Mediatek etc) who optimise open source for their new offerings
  • Cloud partners and customers who build ecosystems, products and communities based on Ubuntu
  • VAR, GSI and distribution partnerships

Sector go-to-market:

Currently, sector GTM leads report to the VP Alliances, but the overall sector strategy and execution will be a CRO responsibility and the organisation structure will be determined by them. We are currently building out expertise and leadership in the telco, finance, automotive, energy, retail and health sectors; we expect to expand sector specific investments significantly to speak directly to customer need and trends.

Field engineering:

Our VP Field Engineering will report to the CRO. Our field engineering organisation is more than a traditional pre-sales or solution architect team, they are expert implementers with a commitment to deliver what they themselves promise. They have served as an effective way to accelerate customer adoption and confidence as Ubuntu and our open source solutions displace incumbent providers.

Customer success:

Our Head of Customer Success will report to the CRO. This is a new organisation but has already made significant progress in establishing processes and relationships, we expect to grow this capability as we expand our portfolio and move deeper into solution sales.

Potentially, revenue operations ("sales ops"):

Our Head of Revenue Operations will report to either the COO or the CRO. In this organisation we:

  • Ensure correct reporting of pipeline and progress
  • Ensure contracting processes and terms meet agreed standards
  • Agree variances through commercial reviews with company leadership
  • Recognise and reward salespeople and leaders with MBO goals and compensation plans

Required experience:

  • University degree, preferably in CS or STEM with additional business disciplines or degrees
  • Progressive operational and leadership experience in high growth, recurring revenue, and global technology firm 
  • Experience leading a sales, partnership or field engineering organization to maturity and world class performance
  • Experience and deep insights into the enterprise software and infrastructure markets

Additional skills and experience we value

  • Software engineering and architecture experience or skills
  • Software industry insights on trends, strategy and competition
  • Insight into open source history, dynamics, strategy and competition

What we offer you

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus. 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 sprints 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 Programme
  • Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
  • Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events

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.

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