Director of Partnerships & Alliances

Wagestream is on a mission to bring better financial wellbeing to all workers. We're the global leader in Earned Wage Access (EWA), partnering with renowned employers like Bupa, Asda, Burger King, and the NHS. Our financial wellbeing super-app empowers over three million people to choose how often they're paid, track earnings, save, budget, and access fair financial products.

VC-backed and growing at scale-up pace, Wagestream operates with a strong social conscience. Founded by leading financial charities and impact funds, our social charter mandates that every product must enhance financial health and reduce the £5.6bn 'premium' lower-income earners pay for financial services each year. We are a passionate team of over 200 across the UK and the USA, building a category-leading fintech product towards Neobank status.

The Opportunity:

We are seeking a highly accomplished and results-driven Director of Partnerships & Alliances to spearhead our partnerships function. You will be instrumental in driving our growth strategy by leveraging a robust partner ecosystem. This is a critical leadership role responsible for cultivating high-value relationships, accelerating new business acquisition through partners, and ensuring our partnerships deliver significant commercial outcomes.

Your success will be measured by your ability to forge deep, reciprocal relationships that generate a substantial pipeline, with the ultimate goal of driving approximately 30% of our new business via partner channels.

Key Responsibilities:

Partnership Strategy & Execution: Define, refine, and execute the partnership strategy for the UK market, identifying key target sectors and high-impact partner profiles within the HCM, WFM, Payroll, and HRIS technology landscapes.

C-Suite Relationship Building: Establish, nurture, and expand relationships with senior stakeholders (C-suite, VPs, Heads of Department) within current and prospective strategic partners like Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, MHR, UKG, and other key players.

New Business Generation & Demos: Drive proactive new business opportunities through partners. This includes securing qualified introductions, facilitating initial meetings, and most importantly, directly driving partner-originated demos for Wagestream's sales team.

Commercial Negotiation & Deal Closure: Lead complex commercial negotiations, including business case development, deal structuring, and closing agreements that deliver significant value for both Wagestream and our partners.

Partner Enablement & GTM: Collaborate closely with internal marketing, product, and sales teams to develop and implement effective go-to-market strategies with partners. Ensure partners are fully equipped and motivated to position and sell Wagestream effectively.

Performance Management: Establish clear KPIs and robust reporting mechanisms to track partner performance, pipeline contribution, and revenue attribution, continually optimising the partnership model.

Team Collaboration: Work seamlessly with our US partnerships team, client success, product, and engineering teams to ensure global alignment, seamless integration, and optimal client experience.

Market Insight: Stay abreast of industry trends, competitor activities, and evolving partner landscapes to identify new opportunities and maintain Wagestream's competitive edge.

What We’re Looking For:

Extensive Partnerships Experience: Proven, progressive experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, or business development within a high-growth B2B environment.

Business Development Acumen: A demonstrable track record of building substantial pipeline, selling to C-suite, and driving complex opportunities to closure through partner channels.

Sector Expertise: Strong preference for significant experience and established connections within the HR, Payroll, Workforce Management (WFM), and Human Capital Management (HCM) in the UK market. Experience with Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, or similar large-scale platform partners is advantageous.

Strategic & Commercial Mindset: Exceptional analytical ability to develop robust business cases, conduct financial modelling, and structure commercially viable partnerships that deliver mutual value.

Negotiation & Influence: Superior negotiation, communication, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence senior external and internal stakeholders.

Results-Oriented: A proactive, self-starter attitude with a relentless focus on achieving ambitious new business targets through partners.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven ability to lead cross-functional projects and collaborate effectively with diverse internal teams (marketing, sales, product, legal).

What We’ll Do For You:

Salary: Dependent on experience with no upper bound + equityy, commensurate with experience. (We anticipate this role to align with senior leadership compensation levels).

Hybrid Working: Ability to work from our London office 3 days a week, blending with remote work.

Join a team that is fundamentally changing how people are paid. We offer a culture of trust and autonomy, where you can make a significant impact in a rapidly growing, mission-driven organisation. We provide competitive compensation (dependent on experience, with market-leading bonus incentives and stock options) and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing and professional growth.

• 25 Days Annual Leave in addition to public holidays (up to 5 day rollover), as well as flexible time off allowances for any ad-hoc childcare/family/caring needs
• 24 weeks' paid Maternity Leave and 4 weeks paid Paternity Leave for employees with over 12 months service
• Special Leave for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and other fertility treatments
• Sabbatical scheme
• Paid leave to volunteer
• Private Healthcare including comprehensive mental and physical healthcare
• Salary sacrifice to pension, as well as bonus exchange to Pension: reap even more rewards of any bonus by paying into your pension & save on Tax and NI + added compound growth
• Season Ticket Loan
• Access to Salary Sacrifice Schemes via ThanksBen: THE Benefits marketplace. Choose the benefits you want, when you want. Pay less tax, receive more value, including: Workplace nurseries, Cycle to Work, Home and Tech Scheme and more.
• The best benefit of all, access to Wagestream!

At Wagestream we celebrate and support our differences. We know employing a team rich in diverse thoughts, experiences, and opinions allows our employees, our product and our community to flourish. Wagestream is an equal opportunity workplace. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity/expression, or veteran status.