Senior Director of Retailer and Channel Partnerships, Upside
$188-224k
+ Bonus + equity
More information about location
3+ days a week in office
Mobile reward application for retail spending
Be an early applicant
Mobile reward application for retail spending
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
$188-224k
+ Bonus + equity
More information about location
3+ days a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
To advance the economic power of people living and working in the real world.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, corporate strategy, management consulting, or related commercial leadership roles
- Deep experience negotiating complex commercial agreements and interpreting legal frameworks
- Strong background in financial services, payments, retail technology, or merchant processing ecosystems
- Experience working with ISVs, POS providers, processors, or SaaS platforms strongly preferred
- Proven program management capability—driving technical and business implementations across cross-functional teams
- Strong analytical and quantitative skills with a data-driven approach to decision-making
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, matrixed, high-growth environment
- Willingness to travel (approximately 10–40%)
- MBA or advanced degree preferred
What the job involves
- Upside is seeking a Retailer & Channel Partnerships Senior Director to lead the strategy, growth, and execution of our partner ecosystem—from merchant SaaS startups to the largest financial institutions and payment platforms
- As a senior leader on the Business Development team, you will define and scale Upside’s merchant and channel partner strategy, cultivate executive-level relationships, structure and negotiate complex commercial agreements, and ensure partnerships deliver measurable growth. You will serve as the connective tissue across Sales, Product, Operations, and Marketing to bring high-impact partnerships from inception to full-scale execution
- Build and operationalize a scalable, one-to-many enablement strategy to accelerate merchant adoption of Upside’s Pay and marketplace products
- Drive meaningful merchant growth through channel and referral partnerships across POS platforms, processors, hardware providers, SaaS companies, and fintech partners
- Explore and execute marketplace and embedded distribution opportunities within SaaS ecosystems while maintaining strong unit economics
- Act as the voice of the merchant in all partner relationships
- Develop and execute a long-term partnership strategy aligned with Upside’s growth goals and vertical expansion
- Lead cross-functional deal teams to build operational plans for each partnership and manage execution end-to-end
- Establish performance metrics, monitor results, and ensure on-time, in-full delivery of contractual commitments
- Champion prioritization of initiatives that maximize holistic impact while balancing product and engineering investment
- Structure and negotiate multi-year commercial agreements across fintech, merchant processing, and retail technology ecosystems
- Partner with Legal, Finance, Product, and Operations to deliver scalable, durable agreements that unlock long-term value
- Serve as a senior external ambassador for Upside at industry forums, partner events, and merchant coalitions
- Position Upside as the leading incremental-profit platform for brick-and-mortar businesses
Our take
Loyalty systems, vouchers, and other special offers have a proven track record at winning over new customers for businesses. However, customers can be reluctant to sign up due to the sheer number of these schemes. Upside exists to unify these loyalty schemes with a single flexible reward app.
While retail reward platforms are nothing new, Upside functions more like a marketplace, linking participating businesses to potential customers. It also rewards customers with cash back on eligible purchases, a more flexible reward than is traditional in loyalty schemes.
With over 50,000 businesses enrolled and 30 million app users, Upside has grown into a major player in this sector. The company is well-funded and ever-expanding its offering, with a product that is increasingly appreciated by consumers in an expensive world, as well as the businesses who depend on their custom.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
24% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (1 round)
Apr 2022
$65m
SERIES D
Total funding: $65m
Company benefits
- Health and Wellness - We’re happy to provide our team members with generous health, vision, and dental insurance options
- Lunch - We cover the cost of lunch everyday for team members onsite to enhance our team building and encourage collaboration. Plus local restaurants appreciate it!
- Stock Options - Our team’s success is our company’s success, and we should all have a stake in that. We’re glad to offer our team members valuable stock options
- Unlimited PTO - Yes, you read that right. When you need time off, we’ve got you covered
Company HQ
Dupont Circle, Washington, DC
Leadership
Alex Kinnier
(CEO & Co-Founder)Experience as Group Product Manager for Google from 2005 to 2008. Senior Vice President of Products and Engineering for Opower from 2012 to 2015.
Wayne Lin
(CPO & Co-Founder)Experience as Product Manager for Google from 2005 to 2010. Vice President of Product Management & Analytics for Opower from 2010 to 2015.
Rick McPhee
(Co-Founder)Experience as Vice President of Engineering for HP's Fortify Software from 2008 to 2012. Senior Vice President of Engineering for Opower from 2012 to 2015.
Joanna Kochaniak
(Engineer & Co-Founder)Experience as Programmer Analyst for the Institute for Physical Sciences from 2007 to 2010. Lead Software Engineer for Opower from 2010 to 2015.
Jan Rubio
(Designer & Co-Founder)Experience as Research Assistant for George Washington University from 2009 to 2011. Senior Software Engineer for Opower from 2011 to 2016.
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