Channel Sales

Channel sales is about selling through other companies rather than directly to the end customer. Instead of persuading a business to buy your product, you build and manage relationships with "partners" - resellers, distributors, systems integrators, managed service providers or agencies - who sell your product on to their own customers. The job is a mix of sales, relationship management and enabling partners to sell well: training their salespeople, running joint campaigns, sorting out pricing and deal registration, and chasing the revenue that comes through them. It's most common in technology and telecoms, but also exists in manufacturing, consumer goods, insurance and financial services.

Starting salary: £25k–£32k
Live graduate jobs: 1 open now
Main way in: Graduate sales schemes at large technology, telecoms and…
They usually ask for: Degree subject usually doesn't matter

Approximate graduate salary

Roughly £25,000–£32,000 base to start for most graduate-level channel roles, with commission or bonus on top that might add anywhere from a small amount to a similar sum again depending on performance and the scheme. This varies a lot - London and large software vendors sit at the upper end, distributors and smaller firms often lower, and some employers quote an "OTE" (on-target earnings - base plus commission if you hit target) figure that looks higher than the guaranteed base.

What you'd actually do

Calls and video meetings with partner companies - checking what deals they have in their pipeline, what's stalled, and what they need from you to close it
Updating the CRM (customer relationship management system, usually Salesforce, HubSpot or similar) with partner-sourced opportunities, and chasing partners who haven't registered deals properly
Running or supporting partner enablement sessions: product demos, training on how to pitch your product, walking a partner's sales team through pricing and discount structures
Pulling together numbers for a weekly or monthly pipeline review - what each partner has sold, what's forecast, which accounts are at risk

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Working with marketing on joint activity - a co-branded webinar, an email campaign to a partner's customer list, a stand at a trade event, or allocating MDF (market development funds, which is budget the vendor gives a partner to spend on marketing)
Acting as a go-between when something goes wrong: a partner has quoted the wrong price, a delivery is late, two partners are both chasing the same customer, or a deal needs sign-off on a bigger discount
In more junior roles, prospecting for new partners - researching which resellers serve a particular sector or region and cold-calling or emailing them

How graduates get in

Graduate sales schemes at large technology, telecoms and software companies - these usually rotate you through inside sales or business development first, then into a channel-facing role. Common route, but competitive.
Starting as a BDR or SDR (business development representative / sales development representative - essentially an outbound prospecting role) at a software or hardware vendor, then moving sideways into channel after a year or two. This is probably the most common path.
Joining a distributor or reseller rather than a vendor. Distributors in particular hire large numbers of graduates and school leavers into internal sales and account management, and the channel knowledge you pick up there is directly transferable. Less visible to students but a genuinely good entry point.
Channel marketing or partner operations/administration roles - sorting deal registrations, partner portal admin, reporting. These are a sideways door into channel sales and often need less sales experience up front.

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Direct application to smaller vendors and scale-ups, who may hire a 'partner manager' or 'channel executive' straight in without a formal scheme. Expect less training and more autonomy.
Placement years and summer internships in sales at tech companies - a placement year at a vendor or distributor is a strong signal and often converts to a graduate offer.

What employers ask for

Degree subject usually doesn't matter. Business, marketing and management are common but humanities, science and engineering graduates all get hired. Some employers selling technical products prefer a numerate or technical background, but this varies a lot.
Most employers ask for a 2:2 or above; some large graduate schemes ask for a 2:1. A fair number of sales employers use no degree filter at all and screen on aptitude, resilience and a phone or video interview instead.
Evidence you can handle rejection and talk to strangers - retail, hospitality, call centre, charity fundraising, student ambassador work or running a society all count. This matters more to sales employers than it does in most graduate sectors.
No professional qualification is required. Vendor product certifications (for example cloud, networking or cybersecurity foundation certificates) are often provided on the job and are useful if you want to sell technical products credibly.

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A driving licence is sometimes asked for, since partner visits mean travel around a region. This depends heavily on whether the role is field-based or office/remote-based.
Assessment usually involves a role-play or pitch exercise rather than a written test - you'll often be asked to sell something or handle an objection on the spot.

Skills that matter

Influencing people who don't work for you

Partner salespeople have their own targets and several vendors competing for their attention, so you can't instruct them - you have to make selling your product the easiest and most profitable option for them.

Commercial numeracy

You'll constantly be working out margin, discount tiers, rebates and whether a deal is worth approving, and a partner will spot immediately if you don't understand their economics.

Pipeline and forecast discipline

Your manager needs a credible number each month, and that means knowing which partner deals are real, which are optimistic, and chasing partners who report vaguely.

Enough product and technical fluency to be credible

You need to explain what the product does and where it fits in a customer's setup well enough that a partner's sales team trusts you, even if a pre-sales engineer handles the deep detail.

Patience with long cycles

Building a partner from signed-up to productive can take many months with no revenue in between, so people who need instant wins often struggle in channel compared with direct sales.

Conflict handling

Channel conflict - two partners chasing the same customer, or your own direct sales team competing with a partner - is a routine part of the job and has to be resolved without losing anyone's goodwill.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Start as a channel/partner executive, partner development representative or internal channel account manager - usually desk-based, supporting a senior manager and looking after smaller partners.
Move to channel account manager or partner manager, owning a named set of partners and a revenue target. Timeframes vary widely - often around two to four years in, but faster in fast-growing companies and slower in large structured ones.
Progress to senior or strategic partner manager, handling the largest partners (national distributors, global systems integrators), or specialise by partner type, vertical market or territory.
Move into channel leadership - head of channel, channel director or regional partner director for UK and Ireland or EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), managing a team and setting partner strategy.
Common sideways moves: into direct enterprise sales (often better paid per deal), into channel marketing, into partner operations or programme management, or to a partner/distributor as a vendor alliances manager. Many people also move between vendors every few years, which is how pay tends to rise fastest in this field.

What people get wrong

“It's the same as normal sales, just with a different customer.”

You usually aren't closing deals yourself. Most of the job is getting other people's salespeople to prioritise your product over competing ones, which is closer to relationship management, training and internal politics than to pitching and closing.

“You'll be cold-calling all day.”

There is some outbound work in recruiting new partners, but once a partner base is established the work is mostly managing existing relationships, reviewing pipeline and sorting out problems. The rhythm is more account management than prospecting.

“Channel is a lesser or back-office version of 'real' sales.”

For many technology companies a large share of revenue goes through partners, and senior channel roles carry big numbers and real influence. It is a recognised career track in its own right, not a holding pen.

“You need a technical or computer science degree because it's mostly a tech role.”

Most channel salespeople come from non-technical backgrounds and learn the product on the job, often with vendor certifications paid for by the employer. Technical pre-sales specialists are a separate role.

Where this varies

The role differs significantly depending on where you sit in the chain. At a vendor (the company that makes the product) you manage partners and have the most structured graduate schemes and training. At a distributor you sit in the middle, buying from vendors and selling to many smaller resellers, and the work is higher-volume and more transactional. At a reseller or managed service provider you may be on the receiving end of channel programmes rather than running them. Sector matters too: in IT and telecoms channel sales is a well-defined career with clear titles, whereas in manufacturing, FMCG or insurance similar work may be called distributor management, broker management or trade sales and look rather different. Finally, some roles are field-based with heavy travel around a region, others are almost entirely remote or office-based - check which before applying.

See all 1 live Channel Sales jobsFrom employers' own careers sites, updated daily Tailor your CV for this roleFree with an account, 3 a month

General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.