Strategic Partnerships Director

Human Interest

2d•$195,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Human Interest is a high-growth fintech company working to make retirement benefits affordable and accessible to small and medium-sized businesses. The Director, Strategic Partnerships owns a key growth channel by expanding the ecosystem of partners that bring Human Interest’s retirement platform to businesses. Reporting to the Head of Strategic Partnerships, this individual-contributor role sources and closes business partnerships across payroll providers, benefits brokers and advisors, accountants, financial institutions, PEOs, and embedded fintech distribution. The role combines partnership strategy, business development, complex dealmaking, and operational execution. The Director signs high-value, often multi-year agreements, models channel economics, negotiates terms, and works with leadership to shape partnership strategy. This is a builder-oriented, quota-focused role suited to someone who can develop new channels amid ambiguity, pursue net-new relationships, manage long sales cycles, and coordinate cross-functional teams. The Director owns a portfolio’s strategy and prioritization, leads partnerships through signature and initial activation, and hands them off in a structured way to Partner Management. The role works closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Finance, and Operations, and communicates partnership strategy, pipeline, and results to senior leadership. The position offers a base salary range of $195,000–$200,000, depending on geography, skills, and experience, plus a variable target of $200,000.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, or channel sales.
Track record of personally owning and growing a book of strategic partnerships.
Demonstrated success sourcing, structuring, and closing complex, high-value partnership and distribution agreements with measurable revenue impact.
Deep experience in fintech, retirement or wealth, payroll, benefits, or an adjacent financial-services ecosystem, with a working understanding of how these distribution channels buy and sell.
Ability to mobilize Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, and Sales around a partnership without direct authority over those teams.
Ability to negotiate with and present to senior executives internally and across partner organizations with confidence and credibility.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, scaling environment, bring structure to ambiguity, and build new motions from scratch.
Strong commercial and financial instincts, including the ability to model channel economics and prioritize investment.
Alignment with Human Interest’s principles, especially Customer Obsession, Long-Term Orientation, and Leading with Autonomy.

Responsibilities

Shape and own the strategy for a portfolio of partnerships, prioritizing channels, partner types, and deals that drive high-quality growth in collaboration with the VP of Partnerships.
Identify, pursue, and close strategic partnerships across payroll, benefits brokers and advisors, financial institutions, PEOs, and embedded or distribution partners.
Personally lead complex partnership negotiations and structure deals end-to-end, including economics, terms, integration scope, and go-to-market commitments, working with Legal and Finance.
Coordinate cross-functional execution: scope integrations with Product and Engineering, develop co-marketing and enablement with Marketing, and operationalize partner-sourced demand with Sales.
Own partner relationships through signature and initial activation, then provide a structured handoff to Partner Management with relevant context, relationships, and commercial intent.
Communicate partnership strategy, pipeline, and results clearly to the VP of Partnerships and senior leadership, and represent Human Interest with senior partner stakeholders.
Monitor the retirement, payroll, fintech, and benefits landscape and surface competitive and regulatory developments that may affect the partnership roadmap.
Perform other duties as needed.

Benefits

401(k) plan with dollar-for-dollar employer match up to 4% of compensation, immediate vesting, and no plan fees.
Health insurance plans.
Dental insurance.
Vision insurance.
Competitive time off and parental leave.
Unlimited access to digital financial tools, financial professionals, and a knowledge center through Addition Wealth.
Enhanced mental health support for employees and dependents through Lyra.
Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits through Carrot.
Student loan resources through Candidly.
Monthly work-from-home stipend.
Quarterly lifestyle stipend.
Team-building events and team offsites.