Partnership Development Manager

About the Role

Your job is to build our Referral Partnership network from the ground up — and then scale it.

This is a 0-to-1 builder's role. You won't inherit a mature program or a warm book of partners. You'll prospect and develop net new partnerships from scratch, negotiate the commercial terms yourself, and then land, expand, and operationalize those relationships into a sustained revenue engine.

Closing deals is just the beginning. You'll structure the payout models, incentive frameworks, and joint GTM plans that make partners want to send business our way — and keep sending it. Then you'll quarterback those leads to our Sales team and own the revenue numbers that come out the other side.

You'll work closely with Product, Marketing, Sales, and Legal to build partnerships that are mutually beneficial, commercially sound, and built to last. Success is measured in pipeline generated, revenue sourced, and partner-driven growth — not activity metrics.

If you have a strong network in SMB payments, fintech, or channel sales for verticals like field services and personal services — and you've built a referral partnership business from the ground up — we want to hear from you.

About CardFlight

We build SwipeSimple — an easy-to-use, cloud-based payment solution designed for and used by over 125,000 small businesses to accept credit cards via mobile apps, Bluetooth card readers, and terminal hardware. It enables "on the go," in-store, or virtual terminal payments, allowing merchants to manage transactions, inventory, and invoices through a centralized dashboard.

We're a remote-first team spread across 25+ US states, moving fast and building for impact. Every role here touches real businesses and real livelihoods.

What You Will Own

• Prospect and source net new partners — identify, qualify, and build relationships with partners from zero: no warm intros, no inherited pipeline
• Own the full deal cycle — lead negotiations end-to-end including commercial terms, revenue-share and referral payout structures, SLAs, and joint GTM plans; be able to speak specifically to how you incentivized partners and why the deal structure worked
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of prospective partners across target verticals
• Land and expand — not just sign partners, but deepen existing relationships over time to grow referral volume and expand into new use cases
• Quarterback leads to Sales — collaborate tightly with the Sales team to convert partner-sourced leads into closed revenue, and own the revenue numbers that result
• Enable partners and internal teams — develop onboarding frameworks, enablement resources, and playbooks; ensure Sales, Marketing, and other cross-functional stakeholders can execute effectively against each partnership
• Define and report on KPIs for partnership performance to executive stakeholders
• Collaborate with Marketing on co-branded campaigns and joint events
• Work with Legal to draft and execute partnership agreements and NDAs
• Represent CardFlight at conferences and in the broader ecosystem
• Map the competitive partner landscape and surface strategic insights to leadership

What You Bring

Required

• 5+ years in partnerships, business development, or strategic alliances with direct responsibility for building a referral partnerships business — ideally from early stage
• Demonstrated 0-to-1 track record: you've prospected and developed net new partnerships without a warm handoff, and can speak to exactly how you identified, approached, and won those partners
• Deep commercial ownership: you've personally structured revenue-share, referral payout, and co-sell models — and can walk through the negotiation, the incentive design, and why it worked
• Revenue accountability: you have real numbers — pipeline generated, revenue sourced, or deals closed — that came directly from partnerships you built and quarterbacked to a sales team
• Cross-functional operator: you've worked across Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Product to enable partnerships and drive execution, not just signed agreements and moved on
• Strong relationship network in SMB payments / fintech or in channel development for a vertical like field services
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; confident executive presence
• CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot) for pipeline management and reporting

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with how SaaS solutions are sold through partner networks and distribution channels
• Experience managing partnerships across multiple verticals simultaneously

• US location-neutral work environment
• Home-office equipment stipend
• Flexible paid time off
• Employee Engagement (Lunch & Learns, team building events)
• Learning & Development culture
• Comprehensive Health Benefits
• Competitive compensation including:
  • Annualized Base Salary Range: $100,000 – $150,000
  • Annualized Incentive / Performance Bonus: $50,000 – $100,000
  • Annualized Company Performance Bonus: $5,000 – $10,000
  • Company Stock Options: 8,000 – 10,000
• Remote flexibility and autonomy

Send us your resume and a brief cover letter answering: What's the most impactful partnership you've built from scratch? Tell us what you started with, how you structured the deal and incentivized the partner, how you worked with Sales to drive revenue from it, and what the business result was. We'll aim to respond within 5 business days.

Our process

Intro call with Talent → Hiring Manager conversation → Case study / working session → Meet the CEO and a Board Member → References → Offer