Head of Partnerships, Pliant
Banking, US
+ Performance-based incentives
Digital corporate credit card solutions
Be an early applicant
Digital corporate credit card solutions
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
+ 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
- 8–10+ years of experience in B2B enterprise sales or partnerships, with a focus on banks or financial services
- A strong and credible network of decision-makers within U.S. regional and mid-size banks, credit unions, or issuer processors ideally built over years in banking, fintech, or vendor relationships
- Deep knowledge of the banking ecosystem in the U.S.—including regulatory, technical, and strategic drivers of card program innovation
- Demonstrated success selling fintech infrastructure, card issuing platforms, embedded finance, or payments APIs to banks
- Experience navigating complex procurement and compliance processes in regulated institutions
- Familiarity with card issuing economics, BIN sponsorship models, interchange, and risk-sharing agreements
- Proven ability to close multi-year, multi-stakeholder deals with clear business cases
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- High attention to detail, especially when managing commercial and legal agreements
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Head of Partnerships, Banking - US (m/f/d) to lead our go-to-market motion for partnerships with financial institutions. This role is focused on national banks, super-regional banks, and regional banks - institutions that are modernizing their B2B credit card offerings or exploring new embedded finance opportunities
- These banks represent the most strategic segments for Pliant due to their client scale, infrastructure readiness, and potential to serve as distribution partners. Pliant’s white-label card issuing platform enables banks to deliver modern, flexible credit card experiences to their business clients without overhauling their tech stack
- As Head of Sales – Banks, you’ll be responsible for building a strong pipeline of institutional clients and collaborating cross-functionally with product, compliance, and onboarding teams to drive long-term success
- You’ll operate as both an individual contributor and a strategic leader, laying the foundation for Pliant’s institutional partnerships in the U.S
- Develop a Bank-Focused Sales Strategy: Define and lead our commercial approach for selling into U.S. financial institutions. Prioritize sub-segments based on digital readiness, distribution potential, and product alignment
- Build a Pipeline of Institutional Clients: Identify, engage, and convert regional banks, card issuers, and credit unions into long-term platform partners
- Drive Enterprise Sales Cycles: Own complex, high-value deals involving multiple stakeholders (CIOs, Heads of Cards, Innovation, Treasury, and Legal/Compliance)
- Product-Market Fit Feedback: Work directly with Product to influence feature development based on the needs of financial institutions (e.g., BIN sponsorship, ledgering, card controls, etc.)
- Team Expansion: Over time, recruit and manage a team focused on banking and financial services verticals across sales and partner success
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate with Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams to manage regulatory implications, onboarding processes, and operational readiness
- Partnership Structure Innovation: Craft creative go-to-market models (white-label, co-brand, embedded finance) that align with each institution’s goals
- Industry Positioning: Represent Pliant in fintech/banking events, roundtables, and working groups focused on embedded finance, BaaS, and commercial card innovation
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
$41.2m
SERIES B
Apr 2024
$21.1m
SERIES A
Total funding: $123m
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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