Zapier
Hi, I’m
Balu Nanda Kumar
Senior Technical Partner Manager
MUNICH
Summary
Results-driven technical professional with over a decade of experience in cloud platform consulting and customer success within top SaaS companies such as Personio and AppDirect. Expertise in scaling B2B marketplaces, managing complex technical integrations, and driving measurable business impact through strategic alignment and cross-functional execution. Skilled at cultivating strategic partnerships, transforming business challenges into scalable solutions, and streamlining partner operations for sustainable growth. A leader delivering impactful results through innovative solutions.
Overview
14
years of professional experience
4
years of post-secondary education
2
Certificates
2
Languages
Work History
Personio
Senior Technical Partner Manager
05.2022 - Current
Job overview
- Spearheaded ecosystem growth by scaling strategic integrations with iPaaS vendors (Merge, Kombo, Zapier, Finch), driving 100+ new integrations and significantly improving time-to-market for partners.
- Delivered mission-critical integrations, including Personio's hardware terminal and Zapier connector, onboarding 200+ companies and achieving 72% win rates. Delivered the project end-to-end, from partner selection and testing to launch - recognized with an 'Above & Beyond' award.
- Built operational excellence by automating lead-routing across SFDC, Zendesk, and HubSpot-enabling seamless routing of ~1,000+ partner leads and improving GTM alignment and partner experience.
- Served as the day-to-day technical lead for integration partners during onboarding, conducting QA, defining scalable technical processes, and ensuring successful go-lives.
- Acted as a go-to SME for API-driven solutions like Recruiting API and Shift Planning API, collaborating directly with engineering to define product specs and guide technical strategy. Drove structured feedback collection from partners, influencing PDE roadmap decisions and delivering iterative improvements across workflows.
- Streamlined partner onboarding and enablement, introducing scalable frameworks for success plans, process blueprints, and onboarding journeys that improved partner satisfaction and internal efficiency.
- Collaborated with stakeholders to gather requirements and translate them into functional specifications for development teams.
AutomationHero.ai
Senior Customer Success Manager
12.2021 - 05.2022
Job overview
- Optimized customer implementation journeys through strategic use of CRM tools, resulting in a higher completion rate for solution deployment.
- Partnered with cross-functional teams to implement automation solutions aligning with customer success metrics, leveraging Jira and Splunk for process diagnostics.
- Spearheaded program planning initiatives, utilizing Asana and HubSpot to design quarterly project roadmaps and to boost project execution efficiency and client satisfaction.
- Implemented client feedback loops to inform product enhancements and better meet customer needs.
AppDirect
Business Solutions Consultant
01.2020 - 12.2021
Job overview
- Led 10+ end-to-end marketplace implementations, including detailed business process mapping, stakeholder workshops, functional scoping, and GTM planning-reducing average time-to-market by 30% and driving sustainable marketplace business revenue growth.
- Served as a senior functional advisor guiding global enterprises including T-Mobile and Vodafone through digital marketplace transformations, from business case development to post-launch adoption.
- Acted as the platform subject-matter expert, evangelizing best practices in catalog management, lifecycle governance, and ecosystem design to increase product and feature adoption across client bases.
- Conducted strategic discovery sessions and QBRs with C-level and technical stakeholders, translating high-level business challenges into scalable cloud marketplace solutions through cross-functional collaboration with Solution Architects and Product teams.
- Managed and facilitated partner onboarding, migrations, and marketplace launches, proactively addressing integration complexities, coordinating UAT, and optimizing delivery pipelines using Agile methodologies and tools like Jira and Asana.
- Escalation management leader for high-impact issues: identified root causes, mobilized internal stakeholders, and restored service confidence while ensuring clear and continuous customer communication.
- Spearheaded ISV engagement strategy to identify and integrate 3rd-party applications into AppDirect's platform, contributing to a 40% increase in ecosystem service offerings.
AppDirect
Technical Account Manager
01.2018 - 12.2019
Job overview
- Established and maintained strategic relationships with technical leads at client organizations, serving as a trusted technical advisor for complex implementations.
- Showcased consulting experience by orchestrating 10+ workshops over a year across EMEA, utilizing strategic frameworks and collaborative tools to enhance client engagement and deliver insights that improved stakeholder alignment by 15%.
- Delivered over a dozen client-facing training sessions, equipping customers with tools to manage, operate, and optimize their cloud service marketplaces.
- Partnered closely with Technical Support and Product teams to provide feedback loops, helping prioritize platform enhancements and systemic fixes that improved user satisfaction and reduced churn risk.
AppDirect
Support Account Manager, Customer Operations
05.2017 - 01.2018
Job overview
- Managed client relationships as a Support Account Manager at AppDirect, delivering projects on time, resolving complex tickets, and providing feedback to enhance platform functionality and customer satisfaction.
- Streamlined support operations with ITIL best practices, reducing ticket resolution time by 20%, ensuring 100% SLA adherence, and optimizing delivery management processes.
- Implemented Salesforce Service Cloud practice management tools, boosting agent efficiency by 15% within six months through improved workflows and resource allocation.
AppDirect
Customer Support Engineer
07.2015 - 05.2017
Job overview
- Streamlined customer service procedures by deploying Zendesk, PagerDuty, Jira, and Salesforce, achieving a 20% increase in resolution efficiency.
- Coordinated support team operations to provide 24/7 assistance, ensuring seamless service delivery and issue resolution through Zendesk.
- Implemented cross-functional alignment strategies with Product and Engineering teams, utilizing feedback loops to enhance product features and optimize service offerings.
TIBCO Software
Support Engineer
04.2012 - 02.2015
Job overview
- Documented technical issues and solutions to enable tracking history and maintain accurate logs.
- Developed strong relationships with key clients, acting as their primary point of contact for all technical concerns.
- Streamlined support processes by creating detailed documentation and knowledge base articles for common issues.
ASM Technologies
Software Engineer
05.2011 - 04.2012
Education
Pondicherry UniversityPuducherry, India
Bachelor of Technology from Computer Science and Engineering
03.2005 - 05.2009
Skills
Product-Led Growth
Certification
Customer Success | How to Actively Engage Your Customers, Udemy, 01/01/21
Software
APIs
Python
MySQL
Zendesk
JIRA
Confluence
Salesforce
Hubspot
Availability
See my work availability
Not Available
Available
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Work Preference
Work Type
Full TimeWork Location
RemoteOn-SiteHybridImportant To Me
Company CultureCareer advancementTimeline
Senior Technical Partner Manager
Personio
05.2022 - Current
Senior Customer Success Manager
AutomationHero.ai
12.2021 - 05.2022
Business Solutions Consultant
AppDirect
01.2020 - 12.2021
Technical Account Manager
AppDirect
01.2018 - 12.2019
Support Account Manager, Customer Operations
AppDirect
05.2017 - 01.2018
Customer Support Engineer
AppDirect
07.2015 - 05.2017
Support Engineer
TIBCO Software
04.2012 - 02.2015
Software Engineer
ASM Technologies
05.2011 - 04.2012
Pondicherry University
Bachelor of Technology from Computer Science and Engineering
03.2005 - 05.2009
Languages
English
Advanced (C1)
German
Beginner (A1)