Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships Lead

Vanguard • Malvern, PA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships Lead helps Vanguard identify, develop, and launch strategic partnerships that advance enterprise priorities and create value for clients. This role sits at the intersection of enterprise strategy, business development, and partnership execution and is responsible for helping Vanguard connect internal priorities with external capabilities and ecosystems. This role will lead partnership opportunities from early-stage opportunity development through launch and support the transition to long-term business ownership. The ideal candidate knows how to build and foster strong external relationships, work cross-functionally with internal teams, and support partnership negotiations and due diligence to execute inorganic transactions.

Requirements

• Minimum of 7 years related work experience.
• Two years’ experience in strategic partnerships, corporate development, management consulting, investment banking, private equity, or similar field required.
• Prior experience with strategic partnerships required.
• Excellent judgment, communication, presentation, negotiation, persuasion, and stakeholder-management skills, including experience working directly with senior executives.
• Undergraduate degree required in Business, Economics, Finance, or similar concentration.
• Graduate degree preferred.

Nice To Haves

• Asset management or financial services experience a plus.

Responsibilities

• Translate enterprise aspirations, strategic priorities, and business needs into partnership opportunities delivering both quantitative and qualitative analyses, including financial models and scenario analysis, to estimate potential value.
• Lead Build / Buy / Partner assessments for strategic capability gaps and growth opportunities, including business-case development and scenario analysis.
• Conduct market, ecosystem, and competitive analysis to identify emerging opportunities and assess potential partners based on strategic fit and complementary capabilities.
• Support the design, structuring, and negotiation of strategic partnerships by developing commercial models, governance frameworks, operating structures, and key business terms.
• Support development of partnership frameworks, tools, and best practices that improve how Vanguard identifies, evaluates, and structures strategic partnerships
• Work independently with attention to detail and sensitivity to deadlines. Lead individual workstreams of a deal and contribute to larger deal team.
• Coach less experienced crew in financial methodologies, partnership frameworks and approaches, and inorganic growth best practices based on deep knowledge of emerging trends and industry standards.
• Strong conceptual thinking and time management, as well as analytical, problem solving, negotiation, and persuasion skills.
• Participate in special projects and perform other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior