Principal, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances

Galileo Financial Technologies•San Francisco, NY

About The Position

At Galileo, we aren’t just looking for where the market is today; we are looking for where the puck is going. As the Principal, Strategic Partnerships & Alliances , you will serve as our Head of Partnership Acquisition. You are a high-impact strategist and a relentless hunter tasked with identifying top-tier firms across the global fintech ecosystem. Your mission is to map new and existing markets, leverage a deep professional network to open doors, and secure partnerships that drive exponential ARR. You will sit at the intersection of business development, product strategy, and financial performance, ensuring Galileo remains the foundational technology for the next generation of financial innovators.

Requirements

You have 5+ years of experience managing strategic partnerships or high-ticket business development within the processing, payments or fintech industry.
You possess an exceptional "hunter" mentality. You are energized by a challenge and have the emotional intelligence (EQ) to navigate complex organizational structures.
You have a proven track record of negotiating high-stakes agreements with global card networks or major technology providers.
You pair a data-driven mindset with the ability to execute operationally. You understand the financial impact of every deal and can navigate the friction between commercial speed and technical constraints.
You are comfortable in fast-paced, high-growth environments where ambiguity is common, and you thrive on building the "playbook" as you go.
Expertise in market mapping and competitive analysis.
Deep understanding of issuer processor and core banking systems ecosystems.
Exceptional communication skills with the ability to influence internal stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Finance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Cloud Provider ecosystems (AWS/Azure/GCP) and Marketplace billing models is preferred.
Spanish language is a plus.

Responsibilities

Strategic Market Intelligence & Scouting Market Mapping: Conduct deep-dive research into established and emerging use cases to identify high-potential partners for our processing and core banking platform business across four key verticals: Consulting Partners, Banks, Card Networks, and Product Partners.
Predictive Analysis: Anticipate market shifts and competitive movements to position Galileo as the partner of choice in new verticals and geographies.
Financial Evaluation: Analyze a partner’s ability to drive Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and market expansion, ensuring every lead brought into the funnel is a "right fit" for long-term scalability.
High-Stakes Outreach & Negotiation Executive Engagement: Leverage your high-level industry contact list to reach and influence decision-makers and senior executives at target partner firms.
Commercial Negotiation: Design and help negotiate complex, multi-year agreements with global card schemes and strategic network partners, balancing commercial opportunities with product feasibility.
Value Proposition: Articulate Galileo’s complex technical value proposition in a way that resonates with both technical leaders and industry executives.
Ecosystem & Cloud Partnership Management Cloud Strategy: Define and execute a proactive partnership strategy with major cloud providers (e.g., AWS). This includes managing co-sell initiatives, managed services, and cloud migration plays in emerging markets like LatAm.
Marketplace Optimization: Oversee the onboarding and scaling of Galileo services through Partner Networks to drive incremental growth.
Multi-Party Alignment: Coordinate with 3rd-party integrators to uncover processing opportunities and migration planning at prospects.
Execution & Operational Excellence Pipeline Generation: Directly contribute to year-over-year increase in qualified opportunities by landing top-tier firms that feed the sales funnel.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Product, Finance, and Commercial teams to define go-to-market strategies and ensure the product roadmap aligns with the needs of high-value partners.
Seamless Handoff: Ensure a rigorous transition of new leads into the operational sales process, maintaining momentum from signed partner to active engagement.
Tooling & Integration: Drive the adoption of partnership tools (e.g., Salesforce connectors, marketplace billing platforms) to automate lead sharing and financial tracking.