Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager
New York City, NY
Business Development /
Hybrid
Lead is a fintech building banking infrastructure for embedded financial products and services. We operate an FDIC-insured bank headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, we have offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, where our technical, product, design, and legal teams operate.
While fintech companies continue pushing boundaries, they have largely accepted that directly integrating with banks is costly, time-consuming and operationally burdensome. This frustration comes in many forms: gaps in technical acumen, product scalability, client risk appetite, and company culture. These gaps clearly illustrate the need for a new paradigm in banking technology.
Lead Bank is bridging those gaps. We see a massive opportunity for a tech-savvy developer-focused bank to augment a sophisticated financial services platform with the compliance, regulatory, capital markets, and legal expertise required to help our clients succeed. Come join us on our journey.
Role Description:
As a Senior Strategic Partnerships Specialist, you will report to the Head of Strategic Partnerships and support all aspects of Lead’s growth. You will have a material impact on Lead’s go-to-market strategy and operations, creating playbooks, processes, and tools that improve our deal execution. This role will work heavily with prospective and existing clients across the fintech and digital assets verticals and develop relationships with senior management of partners. As an external-facing representative of Lead, you will develop an in-market network to drive deal flow and intelligence and become an expert on our platform who can serve as a first point of contact for those that want to learn more about us.
In this role you will:
- Manage and grow key fintech partnerships, acting as a strategic point of contact.
- Lead end-to-end deal execution for new and existing partners — from sourcing to launch.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to align on deal structure, program scope, and execution.
- Present to executive stakeholders internally and externally, including partner leadership.
- Build, maintain, and automate deal management tooling, playbooks, and processes.
- Develop materials such as pitch decks, proposals, and onboarding documentation.
- Conduct regular partner reviews, identifying opportunities and resolving issues.
- Help shape and scale the partnerships function, processes, and strategy.
Qualifications:
- Experience & Expertise
- 5–7+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, venture capital or a related function within the fintech, sponsor bank, or broader financial services industry.
- Proven track record of managing complex, high-value partnerships end-to-end — from sourcing and negotiating deals to launching and scaling.
- Deep understanding of the sponsor banking landscape, including BaaS models, regulatory considerations, digital assets and the operational nuances of fintech-bank relationships.
- Experience working cross-functionally with legal, compliance, risk, product, and operations teams to support both partner success and internal alignment.
- Strategic & Operational Acumen
- Skilled in partner lifecycle management, including QBRs, contract renegotiations, performance tracking, and issue resolution.
- Demonstrated ability to build and operationalize BD and partnership infrastructure — including CRM systems, pipeline management processes, partner documentation, and internal reporting.
- Strong commercial acumen with an ability to evaluate business opportunities, develop financial models, and contribute to strategic decision-making.
- Communication & Leadership
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with experience presenting to and influencing senior leadership, C-suite executives, and external stakeholders.
- Comfortable serving as the external face of the bank to key fintech partners, industry forums, and strategic conversations.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that requires independent initiative, creativity, and flexibility.
- Tools & Technical Proficiency
- Experience configuring systems to support BD and partnership workflows and/or implementing CRM tools.
- Proficiency in developing pitch decks, memos, and other external-facing materials.
- Bonus: Experience at fintech startups, venture funds, and/or traditional financial institutions, offering a hybrid perspective on innovation and compliance.
What we offer:
- At Lead, we design our benefits to support company culture and principles, to foster an efficient and inspiring work environment, and to create the conditions for our team to give their best in both work and life
- Competitive compensation, based on experience, geographic location, and role
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k Matching, and other wellness benefits, including FSA, HSA and HRA
- Paid parental leave
- Flexible vacation policy, including PTO and paid holidays
- A fun and challenging team environment in a dynamic industry with ample opportunities for career growth
*Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.
*Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
**Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.
Zone 1: $145,000 - $165,000 (SF/Bay Area, NYC, Seattle)
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