Strategic Partnerships Manager

Summary

Join Kuda, a money app for Africans, as a Strategic Partnerships Manager. You will play a key role in developing relationships with merchants and processing companies to create profitable partnerships. Responsibilities include identifying new business opportunities, implementing growth strategies, and fostering relationships with key industry players. You will need a proven track record in fintech, banking, or finance, with a focus on strategic partnerships and integrations. The role involves negotiating deals, collaborating with internal stakeholders, and reporting on partnership performance. You will also contribute to building strategic payments infrastructure partnerships and ensuring best-in-class deal management. Kuda offers competitive benefits, including pension, annual leave, group life insurance, health insurance, L&D training, and a 3-day-per-week remote work option.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5 years of total professional work experience, with at least 4+ years of developing partnerships within financial institutions and banks
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Marketing, or a related field
• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful business development strategies
• Excellent negotiation, networking, and relationship-building skills
• Strong understanding of customer behaviors and industry trends
• Strong analytical abilities and problem-solving skills
• Strong product knowledge and a track record of working effectively across multiple business functions
• Comprehensive experience implementing industry-wide partnership networks
• Experience negotiating complex commercial and product deals with tier-1 banking and payments institutions
• Superb verbal and written communication skills to effectively work cross-functionally and have the ability to speak and influence different teams internally and externally

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic business development plans with the primary focus on building partnerships with merchants and complementary players in the fintech field
• Identify new potential partnerships through market research, industry trends, and client feedback
• Negotiate and manage relationships with existing and potential partners, facilitating mutually beneficial co-branding or cashback initiatives to boost customer engagement and loyalty
• Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders (product, marketing, technology, legal, etc.) to ensure seamless integration and execution of partnership deals and related initiatives
• Maintain and foster professional relationships with key decision-makers within partner organizations to ensure smooth business operations
• Understand and keep up-to-date with the competitive landscape to effectively strategize business growth plans
• Assist in the design and execution of service-level agreements (SLAs) and contracts with partner organizations
• Regularly report on partnership performance and suggest improvement plans when needed
• Build and develop strategic payments infrastructure partnerships among banking and payments providers, in line with Kuda’s banking strategy
• You will be responsible for full-cycle growth of partnerships through growth strategy, contracts negotiation, internal project management
• Ensure best-in-class, strategic deal management rooted in KPIs and alignment with partners on opportunities of mutual interest
• Develop and grow Kuda’s relationships with strategic partners, including their senior management teams
• Supporting the business to develop and maintain global banking and fintech relationships that add value to Kuda and our customers

Benefits

• Pension
• Competitive annual leave plus bank holidays
• Group life insurance
• Health insurance
• L&D training
• We are advocates of work-life balance and offer a 3 day per week remote working option