Partner Manager - Southeast Asia

About Wati

Started as a WhatsApp team inbox in 2020, Wati has evolved into an AI-powered customer engagement platform that goes beyond a single channel. Designed for businesses that sell, support, and grow through conversations, Wati observes customer intent in real time, decides the next best revenue action, and executes it across marketing, sales, and support — on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, SMS, and more.

Trusted by over 16,000 customers across 190+ countries, Wati simplifies complex operations and business conversations with a unified inbox, no-code automation, and our intelligent AI layer, Astra.

Proudly backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and Shopify, and recognised as a Premium Partner of Meta and Google.

Wati, the AI-Powered Customer Engagement Platform for Revenue Grow.

About the role

Southeast Asia is one of Wati's highest-potential markets, and partners are how we win them. Agencies, system integrators, consultants, and tech partners already sit between us and thousands of businesses that should be running on WhatsApp - we need someone to go get them, activate them, and turn them into a revenue channel.

This is a proactive channel sales role focused on driving new business growth across Southeast Asia, rather than a passive partner servicing position. The primary scope is to identify and recruit the right strategic partners into the ecosystem, enable and activate them into productive Wati sellers, and build a high-performing engine for partner-led revenue. You will be responsible for end-to-end partner success, from initial outreach and onboarding to co-selling and revenue expansion.

What you'll own

Recruit new partners

• Build and work a pipeline of prospective partners across four categories: resellers and agencies, system integrators and consultants, ISVs and technology partners, and referral/affiliate partners.
• Source your own leads: outbound, ecosystem events, Meta and adjacent communities, and referrals from existing partners.
• Run the full recruitment cycle: qualification, business-case conversation, commercial terms, and signature.

Activate and enable

• Own partner onboarding: get new partners certified, trained on Wati and Astra, and shipping their first deal fast.
• Build enablement that works in-market: localised pitch material, demo support, pricing guidance, objection handling.
• Run joint business plans and regular QBRs with your top partners: targets, pipeline, and what each side owes the other.

Drive revenue

• Carry and deliver a quarterly net-new revenue quota, evaluated across three core performance pillars:
• Partner Activation: The number of newly onboarded partners converted into active, revenue-producing sellers each quarter.
• Pipeline Generation: Total qualified partner-sourced pipeline created to ensure sustained medium- and long-term revenue growth.
• Partner-Sourced Revenue: Overall net-new ARR directly closed through partner channels.
• Co-sell alongside partners on their larger opportunities: join the calls, help shape the deal, get it closed.
• Grow existing accounts through your partners: expansion, upsell, and higher conversation volume.
• Actively manage churn and contraction inside your partner base, not just new logos.

Build the market

• Plan and run co-marketing with partners: webinars, events, campaigns, and joint content.
• Feed the market back to us: competitor moves, pricing pressure, feature gaps, and what Indonesian and Malaysian businesses actually need from a messaging platform.

Run a clean business

• Keep partner and pipeline data accurate in HubSpot and/or any CRM we use; forecast weekly with confidence.
• Work closely with Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Product so partner-led deals land well after signature.

Requirements

What you bring

• 4+ years in partnerships, channel sales, or B2B SaaS sales, best with at least part of that carrying a quota.
• Direct experience selling into or through Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore: you understand how business actually gets done in these markets.
• A track record of building relationships from cold: you're comfortable prospecting partners, not just servicing them.
• Commercial instinct: you can build a business case, negotiate terms, and hold a line on pricing.
• Fluent spoken and written English and Mandarin; proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia or Bahasa Malaysia is a strong advantage.
• Comfort with SaaS tooling and CRM discipline (HubSpot or similar).
• Self-directed. This role has scope and very little hand-holding.

Bonus points

• Chinese language skills: Mandarin or Cantonese, a strong plus for working with Chinese-speaking business communities across markets.
• Experience in the WhatsApp Business API, martech, or Meta partner ecosystem.
• You've built a partner program from an early stage rather than inheriting a mature one.
• Experience selling to SMB and mid-market customers.