Location: US, Remote - global remit
Travel: Significant domestic and international travel expectedJob ID: 1879

The Role:

IonQ is seeking a Global Alliances Lead to develop a small, carefully selected portfolio of lighthouse advisory and consulting partners, such as McKinsey, BCG, Accenture and EY. The role owns the worldwide relationship and joint business plan, with a focus on executive commitment, shared customer pursuits and measurable commercial outcomes. The role covers IonQ's entire portfolio-compute, networking, security, sensing, space and merchant services-with focused pursuits selected to match each lighthouse partner's capabilities and customer needs.

Our frontier technologies require partners to learn through real customer work. With selected consulting firms and systems integrators, jointly shape and co-sell quantum security and computing solutions spanning hardware deployment in customer data centers, remote cloud access, and quantum application and algorithm development, alongside quantum-safe cybersecurity assessments and migration engagements. Work with IonQ technical specialists to validate customer needs and feasible outcomes. Collaborate with regional partner leads to activate these global alliances locally, build success stories and replicate what proves effective.

Responsibilities:

Lighthouse Partner Selection & Commitment

• Select a few priority advisory/consulting firms and practices based on customer relevance, executive sponsorship, quantum capacity and willingness to commit people and investment to joint opportunities.
• Own global joint plans with explicit industry and regional priorities, shared customer targets, partner resources and milestones; deepen successful relationships before adding partners.

Hands-On Co-Sell and Commercialization

• Personally engage partner practice leaders and account teams in customer discovery, opportunity qualification, business-case development and commercial pursuits. Develop a focused set of lighthouse engagements, selected for customer value and technical readiness, across quantum computing and quantum-safe cybersecurity
• Work with Field Engineering, Partner Engineering and Platform Sales Specialists to establish feasible scope, technical success criteria, dependencies and growth milestones for all quantum engagements. Partner Engineering ensures technical alignment and integration; Field Engineering and Platform Sales Specialists support customer discovery, solution development and live pursuits across the full portfolio: compute, networking, security, sensing, space and merchant services.
• . Build seller confidence through joint execution and evidence from customer work, creating a credible path from initial engagement to follow-on adoption.
• Develop partner capability through joint workshops, proposals and live pursuits, supported by targeted training tied to the work at hand.
• Teach by doing: jointly discover needs, qualify use cases, shape solutions, co-sell and deliver early engagements. Build reusable success stories and playbooks, then expand based on evidence of repeatability.

Global-Regional Opportunity Execution

• Own the named worldwide alliance and mobilize partner headquarters, global executive sponsors, programs, practice expertise and commercial frameworks for regional quantum opportunities; regional partner leads develop local partner teams and coordinate execution in close alignment with regional sales leads.
• With regional partner leads and regional sales leads, map named advisory/consulting accounts and local partner practices, assign pursuit responsibilities and run shared account plans, pipeline and deal reviews with agreed customer outcomes.
• Use regional customer evidence to refine global offerings, resolve cross-region issues and bring successful approaches to additional partner practices and markets.

Commercial Governance & Replication

• Lead alliance commercial frameworks and joint investments with Legal and Finance; maintain qualified pipeline and forecasts. Track each opportunity in one shared record with distinct global and regional contributions.
• Secure customer-approved quantum computing and quantum-safe cybersecurity success stories and capture delivery lessons, partner economics and reusable pursuit playbooks. Work with Programs and Marketing to turn lighthouse engagement lessons into reusable tools, and GTM approaches.
• Expand to further accounts, practices or partners when lighthouse results demonstrate customer value, partner commitment and a repeatable commercial path.

Requirements:

• 8+ years in strategic alliances, including ownership of complex relationships with advisory or consulting firms. Credibility with senior consulting practice and industry leaders; understanding of consulting economics and how to turn advisory influence into joint opportunities.
• A proven track record of developing focused, early-stage partnerships into scalable channels that deliver sustained revenue growth.
• Demonstrated commercial expertise in frontier technologies or an emerging technology category: translating uncertain capabilities, evolving roadmaps and customer needs into credible, staged adoption plans.
• A record of building a small number of deep partnerships and personally co-selling early customer engagements, from discovery and qualification through solution development, negotiation and close.
• Strong executive communication, commercial negotiation and cross-functional leadership; discipline in pipeline qualification, forecasting and investment prioritization.
• Experience converting early customer engagements into approved references, reusable solution patterns and repeatable partner sales motions.
• Ability to operate globally and travel; master's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Quantum experience is an advantage, including quantum computing, networking and security, space or sensing. Relevant experience may include commercialization, partnerships, customer adoption or technical solution development.
• Experience with sovereign or regulated markets, public-sector procurement, or international trade compliance relevant to advanced technology.
• Ability to work closely with technical specialists, distinguish validated capabilities from future potential, and establish customer success criteria without overstating readiness.

Primary Measures of Success

• Qualified partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, closed revenue, conversion and forecast accuracy, with documented attribution and no double counting across global and regional teams.
• Lighthouse quantum engagement progress against agreed customer outcomes: executive sponsorship, qualified opportunities, technical validation and commercial milestones for data-center hardware, remote cloud access, application and algorithm development, quantum-safe cybersecurity, quantum sensing or space opportunities with referenceability and a credible path to follow-on adoption.
• Depth and productivity of selected partnerships: committed partner resources, active joint pursuits, time to first win and partner capability demonstrated in live engagements.
• Evidence of replication: customer-approved success stories, reusable playbooks, follow-on opportunities and repeat wins; additional partners activated only when delivery capacity and repeatability support expansion.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first year, you will have secured referenceable wins from a few carefully selected local and global lighthouse partners and jointly progressed qualified customer engagements toward successful technical and commercial outcomes. You will have established an effective global-regional pursuit cadence and documented the evidence, partner capability and playbooks needed to replicate success. Expansion will follow demonstrated readiness and results. Initial lighthouse wins with consulting firms and SIs should establish referenceable quantum computing and quantum-safe cybersecurity engagements, with outcomes and playbooks that can be replicated.

The total compensation package includes base, bonus, equity, and a range of benefit options found on our career site.

If this role has a commission structure, the compensation range below just reflects the base compensation range.

Wage Transparency:

$182,400-$262,200 USD

Compensation will vary based on individual factors such as education, qualifications, and experience of the final candidate(s), specific office location, and calibration against relevant market data and internal team equity. Posted base salary figures are subject to change as new market data becomes available. Our benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, matching 401(k), unlimited PTO and paid holidays, parental/adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided when a candidate receives an offer of employment.