Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships

CSI•Paducah, KY

About The Position

The Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships leads CSI’s strategic partnership function and manages relationships with third-party providers whose products CSI resells or refers, as well as organizations that distribute CSI solutions. The role oversees a portfolio of partnerships and ensures alignment with CSI’s corporate strategy, product portfolio, customer needs, and revenue-growth objectives. It coordinates with Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Risk, Technology, and Operations teams to evaluate opportunities, support business cases and due diligence, negotiate agreements, coordinate onboarding and launches, oversee renewals and exits, monitor performance, and resolve issues affecting partners or customers. The Senior Director tracks partnership revenue, profitability, contractual obligations, customer feedback, market trends, and other performance indicators to identify opportunities and risks and improve the portfolio. The position also leads the Strategic Partnerships team’s day-to-day work, prioritizes responsibilities, develops team members, and ensures appropriate partner coverage. In collaboration with executive and business leaders, the role communicates performance, recommends strategic actions, and advances partnerships that expand CSI’s product capabilities, market reach, and long-term value. CSI provides software and technology to community and regional financial institutions, including core banking, lending, digital banking, payments, financial crime prevention, and cybersecurity solutions. The position includes eligibility for incentive awards based on individual and business performance, in addition to a competitive salary and a comprehensive range of benefits. CSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is unable to offer visa sponsorship; applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, marketing, technology, or a related field.
Seven or more years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, channel management, product partnerships, or a related discipline.
Demonstrated ability to manage complex vendor, referral, reseller, and strategic partner relationships.
Experience negotiating commercial agreements and working with pricing, revenue-sharing, and reseller models.
Strong understanding of partnership lifecycles, including evaluation, contracting, onboarding, performance management, renewal, and termination.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives without direct authority over all participating teams.
Strong analytical, financial, negotiation, communication, and executive-presentation skills.
Ability to manage competing priorities, resolve ambiguity, and exercise sound business judgment.
Experience using CRM, reporting, and analytics tools to manage partner activity and measure performance.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

An advanced degree.
Experience in financial technology, banking technology, SaaS, payments, or financial services.
Experience managing or developing employees.

Responsibilities

Lead the day-to-day strategic partnership function and direct partnership team members.
Develop and execute partnership strategies aligned with CSI’s corporate and product objectives.
Manage executive-level relationships with assigned strategic partners.
Identify, evaluate, and prioritize new partnership opportunities.
Lead or coordinate partner due diligence, business-case development, selection, negotiation, and contracting.
Oversee partner onboarding, integration coordination, launch readiness, ongoing management, renewals, and exits.
Establish partner governance practices, performance standards, scorecards, and recurring business reviews.
Monitor partnership revenue, profitability, performance, contractual commitments, and customer impact.
Coordinate with Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Risk, Technology, and Operations to drive partnership execution.
Identify and resolve issues affecting partner performance, internal execution, or customer outcomes.
Support partner enablement, go-to-market planning, sales readiness, and joint growth initiatives.
Monitor industry trends, competitive partnerships, emerging technologies, and potential market opportunities.
Prepare partnership recommendations, portfolio updates, and decision materials for senior leadership.
Represent CSI in partner meetings, industry events, conferences, and other external forums.
Coach and develop partnership team members and ensure effective allocation of partner responsibilities.