About Zscaler Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an AI-forward enterprise, we are constantly pushing the envelope, leveraging the world’s largest security data lake to power our cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. This innovation protects our customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location. Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We say, impact over activity. We seek innovators who actively use AI to amplify their impact and who thrive in an environment where we leverage intelligent systems to stay ahead of evolving threats. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate—we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession, collaboration, ownership, and accountability. We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges, and want to be part of the team that’s helping to secure the AI age, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity. Role We are looking for a Channel Sales Leader to join our Alliances & Channels team. This is a role reporting directly to the Sr. Director, Alliances and Channels, Japan. In this role, you will be at the forefront of driving our partner ecosystem—aligning our channel strategy with corporate goals, empowering a high-performing team, and enabling our partners to successfully position the Zscaler portfolio. You will act as a key strategic leader, working closely with field sales and focused partners to expand capabilities, reduce channel friction, and deliver consistent, incremental business growth across Japan. What You’ll Do (Role Expectations) - Drive Channel Strategy: Develop, manage, and execute a robust, creative, and highly effective channel strategy and go-to-market plan aligned to regional growth priorities with our sales leadership. - Lead & Mentor: Lead and mentor the regional channel sales team in the development of territory channel plans alongside local sales teams, ensuring concrete action plans and a regular cadence of performance reviews. - Build Executive Relationships: Develop and drive deep engagement through highly successful relationships with key channel partners at the senior management and executive levels. - Accelerate Pipeline & Revenue: Drive partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline and revenue growth through joint go-to-market initiatives and targeted sales plays with focused partners. - Optimize Partner Coverage: Partner with local channel sales teams to analyze partner coverage across Japan, identify whitespace or gaps, support strategic recruitment, and drive enablement. - Evangelize Best Practices & Reduce Friction: Set and drive channel best practices, remaining sensitive to local market specifics. Implement strategies to reduce friction in the Japan sales channel and continually increase the ease of doing business with Zscaler. - Enable the Channel: Empower the partner community to sell Zscaler solutions across the entire portfolio, expanding partner capability through solution positioning, certified resources, and business-value messaging. - Execute Marketing & Value Propositions: Plan, develop, and execute strategic marketing initiatives. Play a pivotal role in creating executive-level Zscaler value propositions for target partners and developing localized channel sales collateral. - Track, Measure, & Report Success: Establish, implement, and evaluate key channel metrics to measure performance (revenue, pipeline growth, product mix). Present Japan channel sales performance and business results through quarterly business reviews (QBRs), accurate forecasting, and management reports. Who You Are (Success Profile) - You Act Like an Owner: Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action. You bring a strategic mindset paired with a proven ability to develop, execute, and deliver on defined business plans. You operate with unwavering personal integrity because you genuinely care about the outcome. - You Are a High-Trust Collaborator: You are ambitious for the team, not just yourself. You have exceptional cross-functional leadership skills and thrive in matrix-managed organizations. You embrace our challenge culture by giving and receiving ongoing feedback to build consensus and earn trust across internal teams and partner organizations. - You Are Customer-Obsessed: You build deep empathy for both internal sales teams and external partners. You anchor your decisions in solving real-world problems and reducing channel friction, knowing that partner success directly translates to customer success. - You Are a Pragmatic Builder: You are agile, independent, and accustomed to delivering results in a fast-paced environment. You prioritize effectively, exercise excellent judgment when resolving difficult issues, and balance high-level strategy with hands-on execution. - You Think at Scale: You connect your day-to-day regional channel initiatives to the larger company mission. You build partner solutions, processes, and teams that are not just effective today, but are built to last and support a high-growth, global cloud-security organization. What We’re Looking For (Minimum Qualifications) - 12+ years of extensive experience in channel sales, partner management, alliances, or ecosystem development within cybersecurity, cloud, networking, or enterprise software. - Proven people leadership experience with a track record of success in leading, mentoring, and growing successful channel sales teams in Japan. - Demonstrated success driving partner pipeline, revenue contribution, and executing strategic partner business plans using clear metrics and an operating cadence. - Strong network and understanding of the partner ecosystem, distribution models, and key channel players across Japan. - Executive Presence: Proven ability to engage, influence, and form strategic partnerships with executive stakeholders, sales leaders, and technical teams within partner organizations. What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications) - Bilingual Fluency: Business-level proficiency in both written and spoken English and Japanese. - Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of cloud security, Zero Trust architecture, SASE, data protection, and secure AI adoption trends. - Value-Based Selling: Demonstrated ability to connect complex cloud technology solutions directly to high-level customer business outcomes and deliver impact quickly. #LI-JK3 #LI-Hybrid At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure. Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including: - Various health plans - Time off plans for vacation and sick time - Parental leave options - Retirement options - Education reimbursement - In-office perks, and more! Learn more about Zscaler's hybrid working model and benefits here. By applying for this role, you adhere to applicable laws, regulations, and Zscaler policies, including those related to security and privacy standards and guidelines. Zscaler is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals. We strive to create a workplace where employees are treated with respect and have the chance to succeed. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy or related medical conditions), age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. See more information by clicking on the Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal link. Pay Transparency Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules. Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support.