Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships

Job description

**Who we are:** We're one of Europe's fastest-growing fintech companies – on a mission to create the world's most empowering way to pay. We launched the product in 2020 and achieved double unicorn status, valued at $2 billion, and since then have taken on more than 6 million customers. Our mission is to become the best way to pay for anything, anywhere and say goodbye to credit costs for everyone. This is huge. Want to join us? **About the role:** We're looking for someone who can build Zilch's external partnership strategy from the ground up, not someone who manages a partner roster they've inherited, and not someone who only closes deals other people have framed up. You'll work out who Zilch should be aligned with and why, build the commercial logic for that, and then see it through: proposals, business cases, and working with Product, Finance and Compliance to actually bring a partnership to life. You won't be expected to arrive with a black book of contacts ready to close, we can teach deal mechanics. What we can't teach is the judgement to spot the right partnership and the rigour to structure it properly. You'll operate across two parallel tracks: accelerating distribution of Zilch's existing proposition through embedded, high-value partner relationships, and building new revenue streams by licensing Zilch's core capabilities into new products, models and markets. You'll work directly with the VP of Partnerships, with high visibility into the C-suite. The strategy doesn't exist yet. If you've spent your career running other people's playbooks, this isn't the right role. If you're someone who can look at a market, work out where Zilch has a right to win, and build the thinking and the relationships from scratch, read on **Day to day responsibilities** **Strategy and market thesis** - Mapping the market: financial services, fintech, payments infrastructure, retail, platforms and beyond to identify which partnership categories genuinely fit Zilch's brand and commercial position, using your own judgement rather than a provided list - Building a clear point of view on who we should be partnering with and why, and translating that into a prioritised strategy - Iterating that strategy as you learn what works, rather than treating the first draft as fixed **Proposal development and deal structuring** - Building commercial proposals and business cases from scratch — defining the model, sizing the opportunity, and making the argument internally and externally - Structuring novel commercial arrangements: embedded finance, co-brands, integrations and others - Working with Legal, Finance, Product and Engineering to bring deals to life without losing momentum — this is as much about internal orchestration as external negotiation **Relationship building and execution** - Originating relationships at senior and C-suite level, building credibility as a serious commercial counterpart - Owning flagship partnerships through their full lifecycle, from first conversation to go-live - Converting proven partnership models into documented playbooks that Sales or Marketing can scale **What We Are Looking For...** - Strong strategic and analytical thinking able to look at a market, form a view on where the opportunity is, and build a structured business case for it - Experience building something from scratch in a commercial context: a strategy, a proposition, a partnership model, a new function not just optimising an existing one - Comfort operating cross-functionally with Product, Finance, Compliance and Legal to deliver something complex, particularly in a regulated or technically intricate space such as credit, lending or payments - Confidence operating at C-suite and senior stakeholder level, both internally and externally - Strong commercial modelling skills able to size an opportunity and stress-test a structure - Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to build a proposal that lands with senior stakeholders - Experience in or alongside a high-growth or scale-up environment, comfortable with pace and ambiguity - A degree in a quantitative, analytical or commercial discipline (STEM, Finance, Economics, Accounting or Business) from a strong academic institution **Bonus skills** - A background in strategy or management consulting, ideally followed by an in-house move into partnerships, corporate strategy or corp dev - Prior experience in partnerships, corp dev or 0-to-1 strategy roles at another fintech, platform or high-growth business - Familiarity with embedded finance, retail partnerships or financial infrastructure licensing models - A second European language, useful as the function expands across markets **What will help you succeed** This isn't a traditional partnerships role centred on managing an existing portfolio or executing against a pre-defined pipeline. Success in this role comes from identifying opportunities, developing the commercial strategy behind them and then building the relationships needed to bring them to life. Relationship management and negotiation are important, but they're built on strategic thinking and commercial judgement rather than replacing them **Benefits. Compensation & Savings:** - Pension scheme. - Death in Service scheme. - Income Protection. - Permanent employees enjoy access to our Share Options Scheme. - 5% back on in-app purchases. - £200 for WFH Setup. **Health & Wellbeing:** - Private Medical Insurance including; - GP consultations (video, telephone or face-to-face). - Prescribed medication. - In-patient, day-patient and out-patient care. - Mental health support. - Optical, dental & audiological cover. - Physiotherapy. - Advanced cancer cover. - Menopause support. - Employee Assistance Programme including: - Unlimited mental health sessions. - 24/7 remote GP & physiotherapy. - 24/7 helpline for emotional & practical support. - Savings & discounts on everyday shopping. - 1:1 personalised well-being consultations. - Gym membership discounts. **Family Friendly Policies:** - Enhanced maternity pay. - Enhanced paternity pay. - Enhanced adoption pay. - Enhanced shared parental leave. **Learning & Development:** - Professional Qualifications. - Professional Memberships. - Learning Suite for e-courses. - Internal Training Programmes. - FCA & Regulatory training. **Workplace Perks:** - Hybrid working: office-based Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; remote working Tuesday and Friday - Casual dress code. - Workplace socials. - Healthy snacks.