How To Become A Channel Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a channel manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Annemarie Franczyk

Channel managers develop, service, and grow relationships with channel partners. The role includes duties such as developing sales strategies, negotiating with partners, and training and developing their sales teams. Channel partners are often middle-management. They typically report to the Vice President of channel sales. They can be employed in any sector that deals with business-to-business sales.

The duties and responsibilities that you will fulfill within this capacity include achieving the monthly sales quota for the particular territory that you are assigned, continuously training the sales team on company offerings.

Furthermore, managing relationships with channel partners, monitoring sales and operational results based on KPIs and representing the company at industry trade shows, among others. Essential skills required for the position are leadership, communication, organizational, and time management.

Educational requirements include a bachelor's degree in marketing, business, or related field. Although, a high school diploma or a GED may suffice along with relevant proven work experience in sales or business development. The position, if qualified for it, is highly rewarding.

The average hourly salary is $45.74, which amounts to $95,140 annually. The career is expected to grow in the near future and create even more opportunities in this field across the United States.

What general advice would you give to a Channel Manager?

Annemarie Franczyk

Associate Professor, Buffalo State College

Never settle and never settle down. Both notions suggest dropping where you are and staying put and being hopelessly stuck. When you're hopelessly stuck, you're not learning, growing and advancing. Always look for the next opportunity to do something interesting. Take chances. If you do, you will have a lifetime of no regrets.

ScoreChannel ManagerUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $87,573

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.4

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 29.95%

male 70.05%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.4

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a channel manager

Explore channel manager education requirements

Most common channel manager degrees

Bachelor's

78.8 %

Master's

13.1 %

Associate

5.7 %

Start to develop specific channel manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	6.79%
CRM	5.46%
Digital Marketing	4.42%
Business Development	4.28%
Channel Marketing	4.06%

Complete relevant channel manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New channel managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a channel manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real channel manager resumes.

Research channel manager duties and responsibilities

Use SalesForce to keep track of customers and prospective leads information.
Manage social media advertising, SEO and PCP advertising as part of daily tasks.
Manage and communicate with over 2600 VAR's/reseller accounts at industry relate conferences, user groups and tradeshows.
Manage multinational marketing group in strategic marketing and channel development in the Americas, EMEA and APJK.

Prepare your channel manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your channel manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a channel manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Channel Manager Resume templates

Build a professional Channel Manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Channel Manager resume.

Apply for channel manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a channel manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do channel managers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

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1 Star

Channel Manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Cons

I don't like Infiltration which is common in Asian countries.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019

Pros

Strategic Planning to develop and capture new business opportunities, building strong customer/partner relationships and analyzing the financial performance of customers to help improve their financial and operational performance. Negotiations

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019