Strategic Partnerships Manager

About Equals

Equals is the next-generation global money movement platform built for exceptional businesses operating across borders. We bring international payments, embedded finance, and more together into a single connection that simplifies operations and strengthens financial control. With deep expertise and integrated infrastructure, Equals turns financial complexity into reliable solutions.

With our headquarters in London and teams around the UK and Europe, you will join a very close-knit, talented and supportive team from various backgrounds who believe that bringing different perspectives together helps us understand our customers' needs. United, by one thing, making money management straightforward and cost-effective for our customers.

About the role

Equals runs on a network of infrastructure partners: schemes and processors; acquirers; and BIN sponsors and issuing partners.

This role builds that network out and helps keep it running well. It also covers the strategic platforms side of the business, where part of the job is working out which relationships are genuine commercial partnerships and which are suppliers we happen to run on.

The role divides roughly in half with half of it is number-driven: new partners brought on and taken live; the commercial return on the volume we route out through two-way partnerships; and the other half is building the network and managing the partnerships in it: finding the right partners; and running the relationships we already have so they work for both sides. You will find, approach and bring on new acquiring partners, tier-one acquirers among them, and own those commercials end to end.

Alongside that you will be a key part of the day-to-day relationship with the schemes and processors we already work with, where the top relationship stays with the department head.

The estate is UK and European today. As Equals expands, these become global relationships, and there is a clear route for this role to grow in scope and seniority alongside them.

Responsibilities 

• Be a key part of the day-to-day relationship with our existing schemes and processors, escalating what needs the department head.
• Build out our network of infrastructure partners, acquiring first: find the gaps; approach the right partners; and bring them on board.
• Own the commercials with new infrastructure partners end to end, from first conversation through to signed agreement.
• Own partner performance, including service and SLA reviews, and escalation when something goes wrong.
• Manage the volume we route out through two-way partnerships, and the commercial return that comes with it.
• Work out where each platform relationship belongs, commercial partner or supplier, and manage it accordingly.
• Work with Legal and Procurement on partner contracts and renewals, ensuring that what gets signed gives the business what it actually needs.
• Build the way we run these relationships: review cadence; escalation routes; and the reporting the business needs from them.
• Keep partner activity, pipeline and performance visible in HubSpot and Notion.

Your Profile

Skills & Experience

• Has built and managed payments infrastructure partnerships, including on the acquiring side: acquirers; schemes and processors; or BIN sponsors and issuing partners.
• Has taken a new partner from first conversation to signed agreement, and owned the commercials in between.
• Technically conversant: understands settlement, scheme rules and how an integration hangs together well enough to be credible with a partner's team and with ours, without needing to be hands-on.
• Comfortable running supplier performance reviews and holding a partner to their SLAs.
• Strong with numbers, can work through partner pricing and routing economics and see where the value sits.
• Experience across UK and European payments, with exposure to other markets useful as we expand.

Attitude & Behaviours

• Self-motivated, sets up their own activity rather than waiting to be directed.
• Comfortable carrying a number and reporting against it.
• Comfortable holding a commercial conversation with a large counterparty, and holding a line on terms.
• A builder. The network is still being built and so is the way we run it. You will be defining the processes for managing these relationships as much as following them, and driving new partnerships.
• Keeps a clear head when a partner has an incident, and is direct about what we need from them to resolve it.
• Works well with people they do not manage: product; engineering; legal; procurement; and finance all sit in this role's path.

Diversity & inclusion

Equals is committed to building a workplace where everyone can be themselves. We actively welcome different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences, and we'll work with you to understand what you need to do your best work. We're an equal opportunities employer and proud of it.

We offer hybrid working across our teams, balancing time in the office — for collaboration, events and the relationships that make work rewarding — with the flexibility to work remotely where roles allow.