Distribution Account Manager

Appian is seeking a Distribution Account Manager to support our U.S. Public Sector business. This strategic, partner-facing role will be responsible for driving alignment, engagement, and growth across Appian’s relationship with a named distribution account and its downstream public sector reseller ecosystem.

This role serves as a strategic partner-facing lead across sales, marketing, renewals, partner enablement, and executive leadership to drive the overall distribution engagement strategy. The ideal candidate is an experienced channel professional who can influence without authority, operate in ambiguity, and accelerate public sector pipeline through the assigned distributor and partner network across Federal, SLED, and major licensing motions.

This role is based at our ​headquarters in ​McLean, Virginia. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster that culture and ensure we continue to thrive through shared ideas and teamwork. We believe being in the office provides more opportunities to come together and celebrate working with the exceptional people across Appian.

In this role, you will:

• Help develop, refine, and execute the overall engagement strategy for the assigned distribution partner across U.S. Public Sector routes to market.

• Coordinate internal stakeholders across sales, marketing, renewals, and leadership to ensure aligned priorities, clear ownership, and consistent execution.

• Support executive-level engagement with the assigned distribution partner, including preparation for business reviews, escalations, and strategic planning discussions.

• Act as a central point of coordination for distributor-related growth motions, helping translate strategy into actionable plans.

• Advise and influence sourced pipeline creation through the distribution partner and downstream reseller partner ecosystem.

• Partner with internal sales leadership and distribution partner stakeholders to identify growth opportunities, remove friction, and improve execution against pipeline goals.

• Review pipeline trends, inspect opportunity progression, and provide reporting and recommendations to internal leaders.

• Participate in forecasting discussions related to distributor-influenced business and public sector growth motions.

• Collaborate with internal marketing and assigned distribution partner teams to support campaign planning, MDF utilization, and program execution.

• Ensure campaigns align to growth priorities, target audiences, and partner activation objectives.

• Track execution progress and follow through on agreed joint initiatives.

• Support review and coordination of deal registration processes to improve quality, velocity, and internal visibility.

• Identify process breakdowns and recommend improvements that improve partner experience and internal responsiveness.

• Support distributor-led downstream reseller enablement activities as a backstop, internal resource, and escalation point.

• Maintain an ongoing view of overall relationship health, including operating rhythm, follow-through, issue resolution, and executive alignment.

• Drive cadence and readiness for executive business reviews, including action tracking and cross-functional accountability.

• Escalate issues appropriately and help resolve complex challenges involving sales, partner engagement, or execution gaps.

• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders at Appian and the assigned distributor.

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Sourced pipeline generated through the assigned distribution partner and downstream reseller partners.

• Campaign execution effectiveness and MDF/program utilization.

• Deal registration quality, responsiveness, and cycle velocity.

• Executive business review cadence, preparation quality, and action follow-through.

• Overall health and effectiveness of the assigned distributor partner relationship.

• Cross-functional alignment and execution consistency across sales, marketing, renewals, and partner motions.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of demonstrated experience in the technology sector, with meaningful engagement in public sector markets.

• 5+ years of experience working for a technology distributor or OEM/channel organization with a distributor as an assigned account.

• Demonstrated fluency in public sector procurement environments and routes to market.

• Proven ability to operate effectively without direct authority and drive outcomes through influence.

• Executive presence and credibility with senior sales leaders, partner leaders, and distributor stakeholders.

• Strong program management, coordination, and follow-through capabilities.

• Experience working across complex licensing and commercial models, including cloud, SaaS, and perpetual software motions.

• Strong communication, relationship management, and organizational skills.

• Ability to succeed in ambiguous, evolving, startup-like operating environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with MDF planning, joint campaign execution, or partner marketing programs.

• Experience supporting renewals, subscription lifecycle motions, or recurring revenue models.

• Familiarity with deal registration workflows, partner enablement practices, and distributor operating models in public sector technology.

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