Lead Partnerships Manager

Apata is one of Ireland’s fastest-growing fintech companies and a global leader in 3DS authentication services. Founded and led by serial entrepreneurs Niall Hogan and Shekinah Adewumi, Apata builds on deep industry experience — their previous company, Touchtech Payments, was acquired by Stripe in 2019.

Headquartered in Dublin 2, Apata’s 30-person team designs, builds, and delivers modern 3DS solutions for traditional banks, digital banks, issuer processors, and fintech issuers around the world.

The role

We are seeking an experienced Lead Partnership Manager to drive strategic growth through our reseller and partner ecosystem. This is a senior, relationship-focused role responsible for building deep connections with partner sales organizations, account management teams, and product leaders to enable channel sales success and capture new revenue opportunities.

The ideal candidate will act as an extension of our partners' organizations, understanding their business intimately and developing creative strategies to help them sell more effectively while identifying cross-sell and expansion opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner Relationship Management: Build and maintain deep, strategic relationships across partner organizations including sales teams, account managers, and product managers. Become embedded within partner organizations to understand their deal pipelines, customer base, and business objectives.
• Sales Enablement & Pipeline Visibility: Work closely with partner sales organizations to understand their deal flow, lost deals, and negotiated deals. Help partners sell more effectively to new customers and capture their existing customer back book.
• Scheme & Network Partnerships: Manage and grow relationships with payment schemes (e.g., MasterCard Engage), building connections with key account managers and engage partners across all target regions.
• BIN Sponsor Relationships: Develop and maintain a global network of BIN sponsor relationships to identify opportunities with new card issuers and leverage existing card issuer relationships.
• Incentivization Strategy: Design and implement creative partner incentivization models including SPIFFs, discount campaigns, and custom programs tailored to individual partner needs. Develop multiple strategic approaches to drive partner engagement and sales performance.
• Cross-Sell & Upsell Opportunity Identification: Identify expansion opportunities by understanding partner pain points and customer needs. Take a problem-first approach to surface opportunities, then collaborate with product teams to match or develop solutions.
• Market Mapping & Partner Expansion: Map the ecosystem of companies that interact with target customer demographics, including consultants, RFP writers, and adjacent service providers. Identify and evaluate new partnership opportunities.
• Internal Collaboration: Serve as the relationship bridge between partners and internal teams, using relationship capital to expedite resolution of issues and secure attention for partner priorities.

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in partnership management, channel sales, business development, or strategic account management
• Proven track record of building and maintaining relationships with sales organizations at partner companies
• Experience in the payments, fintech, or card issuing industry strongly preferred
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute partner incentivization programs
• Strong understanding of B2B sales cycles, deal structures, and channel dynamics
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with ability to influence without direct authority

What We Offer

• Equity in a fast growing company
• Pension
• Generous annual leave (25 days)
• Work-from-home flexibility (2 days per week)
• Office in the heart of Dublin City Centre