Head of Partnerships, Pliant
Embedded SaaS/FinTech, US
+ Performance-based incentives
Digital corporate credit card solutions
Open for applications
Digital corporate credit card solutions
201-500 employees
Open for applications
+ Performance-based incentives
201-500 employees
Company mission
To empower businesses to grow by providing a smart payment option that grows with their business.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of experience in B2B commercial roles, with a strong focus on partnerships, channels, or embedded finance
- A strong and relevant network of contacts across vertical SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and fintech service providers in the U.S. market
- Track record of building and scaling strategic partnerships with platforms, marketplaces, or vertical SaaS companies
- Deep understanding of embedded finance models, revenue-sharing structures, and technical integrations
- Strong commercial acumen and experience negotiating complex agreements
- Excellent relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills (internally and externally)
- Familiarity with the U.S. fintech and payments landscape, particularly indirect sales channels
- Experience managing sales forecasts, partner enablement processes, and CRM hygiene
- Entrepreneurial drive, strategic mindset, and ability to thrive in a fast-moving environment
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Head of Partnerships, Embedded SaaS/FinTech - US (m/f/d) to drive our commercial growth through indirect sales and strategic channel partners
- You’ll lead our efforts to embed Pliant’s offering into the ecosystems of platforms, service providers, and vertical SaaS companies that serve our target customers
- This is a unique opportunity to build a highly-leveraged growth channel by working with partners who already own distribution, data, or trust in our target verticals
- Your goal will be to develop partner frameworks, sign and launch new revenue-generating alliances, and enable both technical and commercial success through close collaboration
- You will report to global commercial leadership and work cross-functionally with product, compliance, marketing, and legal to deliver partner-led growth at scale
- Define & Own the Partner Sales Strategy: Develop the U.S. roadmap for acquiring and growing non-banking partnerships. Identify key categories (e.g., spend platforms, procurement software, travel tech, affiliate networks) and prioritize high-value partner types
- Partner Sourcing & Negotiation: Source strategic partner opportunities and lead commercial negotiations through to agreement. Evaluate both embedded finance and co-sell/white-label models
- Partner Enablement & Activation: Collaborate with internal teams to support partner onboarding, integration, co-marketing, and joint pipeline generation
- Revenue Leadership: Own KPIs for sourced revenue, new partner activation, and joint customer acquisition. Establish a clear reporting cadence and growth targets
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Product to support integration use cases (e.g., issuing APIs, spend control, onboarding flows). Coordinate with Legal and Compliance on deal structures and risk considerations
- Go-to-Market Development: Co-create messaging, enablement materials, and campaigns with Marketing and Growth that drive partner success
- Relationship Management: Maintain long-term partner relationships and drive ongoing optimization based on performance data, feedback, and evolving market opportunities
Our take
The corporate credit card industry, historically dominated by giants like AmEx, has seen rapid disruption and growth over recent years. An influx of VC investment boosted smaller outfits like Divvy and Brex Inc. to multi-billion dollar operations, and this has cracked open the market to a host of smaller fintech startups.
Pliant is a German company entering the scene, but it’s a competitive one. It's hoping to stand out by prioritising seamless software integrations, competitive cashback, and a new optional feature offsetting travel-related CO2 emissions. The latter is incredibly novel and has undoubtedly won the company some press in an increasingly sustainability-oriented climate.
Pliant’s offering of both physical and digital cards, as well as its suite of advantages and services, has enabled the company to successfully adapt to the growing payments market. The company has, thus far, entered seven additional European markets and expanded its customer portfolio sixfold. Following successful funding rounds, Pliant is set to further expand operations and its business reach, with a focus on the US.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
233% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Apr 2025
$41.3m
SERIES B
Apr 2024
$21.2m
SERIES A
Total funding: $123.5m
Company benefits
- Home office and remote work
- Flexible working hours
- Mobility discount
- Budget for professional development and training
- Railcard
- Monthly food allowance
- Gympass
- Weekly mindfulness sessions
- Team events
Company HQ
Kollwitzkiez, Berlin, Germany
Leadership
Fabian Turner
(Co-Founder & CPO)Previously the Head of Operations at Lendico, and went on to serve as CPO at FinCompare.
Malte Rau
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously a Portfolio Manager and Head of Fintech Investments at Global Growth Cap, they then went on to found Geldspeicher GmbH.
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