Strategic Partnerships Manager, Bank & Program Launch

Cardless•San Francisco, CA

14d•$150,000 - $200,000•Onsite

About The Position

Cardless is building the infrastructure for the world's best companies to design, build, and launch financial products of their own. Companies like Coinbase and Bilt use Cardless to create credit cards that feel entirely their own. In an industry where branded financial products usually mean shared logos and shared control, Cardless is built to disappear. Our APIs and components shape the journey from the first application to every purchase, reward, and moment of support that follows, while we handle lending, compliance, and operations behind the scenes. In September 2025, we raised a $60 million Series C led by Spark Capital, bringing our total funding to $170 million. The team is over 70 people and scaling toward profitability by year-end 2026. We're looking for kind, humble people with high standards and low egos. We take the work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. We see what could be improved, make it so, and leave every product, system, and team better than we found it. We're looking for a Strategic Partnerships Manager to own the day-to-day relationship between Cardless and our issuing bank partners, and to help drive new co-brand card programs from signed deal to live launch. This role sits at the center of Cardless's most consequential relationships — our bank partners, who ultimately issue every card program we build. You'll manage their expectations, keep them aligned as new programs move through development, and act as the connective tissue between Cardless's internal teams (compliance, product, engineering, operations) and our partners' teams on the other side of the table. You'll also help launch new programs, working cross-functionally to make sure bank partners are informed, comfortable, and bought in at every stage — from kickoff through go-live. This is a strong fit for someone who's comfortable operating in a regulated, high-stakes environment, who can translate between technical/compliance detail and partner-facing narrative, and who wants ownership over how Cardless shows up to the banks that make our business possible.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in partnerships, account management, program management, or a related client-facing role — ideally in fintech, banking, or another regulated industry
Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder relationships where technical, legal, and business considerations all need to be balanced
Strong written and verbal communication skills — comfortable distilling complicated, cross-functional work into clear updates for partner audiences
A bias toward proactive communication; you'd rather over-communicate a risk early than let a partner be surprised later
Experience working cross-functionally with compliance, legal, product, and engineering teams
Comfort operating in ambiguity and building process where none exists yet
Based in or willing to work on-site in San Francisco

Nice To Haves

Experience with card issuing, co-brand credit card programs, or working directly with issuing banks
Familiarity with the regulatory considerations that shape bank/fintech partnerships (e.g., third-party risk management, program governance)
Experience launching a new product or program from contract signing through go-live

Responsibilities

Own ongoing relationship management with bank partners (e.g., First Electronic Bank, Column N.A.), serving as a primary point of contact for program status, open issues, and escalations
Manage bank partner expectations across active programs — proactively communicating risk, delays, and open items rather than letting them surface as surprises
Lead or support new program launches end-to-end: kickoff coordination, drafting partner-facing materials, tracking legal/compliance milestones, and driving alignment on launch timelines
Partner closely with Compliance, Legal, Product, and Engineering to translate internal workstreams into clear, partner-ready updates
Build and maintain trackers, status reports, and governance cadences (e.g., regular partner check-ins, steering committees) to keep programs on track
Represent Cardless in partner meetings, including with senior stakeholders at bank partners, and help prepare internal teams for those conversations
Identify and help resolve friction points between Cardless and partners on rewards, payments, disputes, and other program mechanics before they become escalations
Support due diligence and onboarding for new bank and brand partners as Cardless's portfolio grows