AMA: Databricks Senior Director, Demand Generation, Kelley Sandoval on Demand Generation Career Path

Whenever there is an open position on the Demand Generation team, we go through an exercise to understand the overall technical skill set we want this person to have, and we review the team’s current strengths and weaknesses. We often look for someone who can lift the team up. That being said, when I interview, I find strong candidates have the following qualities: Initiative—They are always trying to push themselves and run programs that do better each time. They have a mindset of constantly pu ...Read More

Demand Generation Managers work between many teams to bring to life a GTM strategy to meet key business objectives. Therefore, the skills I measure my team on include the following:  Collaborative Project Management: The ability to execute a high-caliber program that resonates with your audience is critical. This means you need to motivate cross-functional teams to work with you by communicating clearly and often.  Strategic Mindset: You have to be someone who can see the forest beyond the trees ...Read More

Although I’ll provide a framework here, you must consider your top non-negotiables when considering moving to a new company. Where you work, the culture, company size, and solutions likely differ from those around you. When I review a company, I look at the following areas and questions:  The Technology / Solution In today’s volatile market, I look for a technology or solution that solves real-world customer problems and is future-proof against a market downturn (e.g., people will still buy this ...Read More

As a people manager, you must wholeheartedly invest in your team and your employees’ career objectives, even if it’s not Demand Generation. Here are a few things I do to cultivate my team’s growth: Create strong career ladders. This drives a few things: Clear articulation of my expectations for their existing role and promotional requirements. Transparency in your career discussions on their strengths and areas of opportunity, which can be used throughout the year and during the review cycles. H ...Read More

AI will complement Demand Generation. AI is only as bright as you train it to be, so smart marketers need to choose the right dimensions and factors for AI to leverage. Tools will only get you so far, but ultimately, without humans to spot-check efforts, you will see AI learn and optimize for the wrong things and then provide a poor customer experience.  I’m excited about AI’s future in Demand Generation. I believe that if you create strong foundational elements like taxonomy, reporting infrastr ...Read More

Different organizations have various criteria and promotion processes. Depending on your company culture, different leaders will review promotions and sign off on these changes. What I’ll say is these are the typical questions managers and leaders consider before someone is put up for promotion:  What are the current business needs? For example, if someone is promoted, what work would they do differently to fill a business gap? People managers usually only open up when the business has a need fo ...Read More