Head of Rewards Capabilities & Partnerships - Director

The Head of ThankYou Rewards Capabilities & Partnerships is a senior leadership role responsible for defining and executing the strategic vision for the ThankYou Rewards ecosystem. This leader owns the capabilities, partnership, and strategic roadmap that drive member engagement, rewards value, and economic performance across the program.

This person will lead the development and execution of a multi-year strategy focused on enhancing redemption experiences, expanding partnership value, accelerating innovation, and strengthening competitive differentiation. The role requires balancing customer-focused innovation with financial discipline, ensuring that the ThankYou program delivers industry-leading experiences while optimizing rewards economics and business outcomes.

This leader will influence senior stakeholders across Product, Marketing, Digital, Technology, Analytics, Finance, Operations, Risk, and external partners to drive enterprise-wide alignment and execution excellence.

Key responsibilities:

Rewards Strategy & Business Leadership

• Define and execute the long-term vision and strategic roadmap for ThankYou Rewards capabilities and partnerships.

• Lead initiatives that enhance customer value, strengthen program engagement, and improve rewards economics across the portfolio.

• Identify emerging market trends, customer needs, and competitive opportunities to ensure the program remains a leading loyalty platform.

• Develop and manage business cases supporting investments, capability enhancements, and partnership expansion.

Partnership Strategy & Ecosystem Development

• Own the end-to-end partnership strategy for the ThankYou Rewards program.

• Lead a portfolio of high-impact strategic partnerships while identifying and pursuing new growth opportunities across travel, retail, dining, entertainment, lifestyle, and digital ecosystems.

• Negotiate and manage complex partner relationships to maximize customer value and financial performance.

• Establish executive-level relationships with key partners and represent the ThankYou program in strategic external engagements.

Rewards Capabilities & Customer Experience

• Own the portfolio of redemption capabilities and experiences across the ThankYou ecosystem.

• Drive innovation and modernization of rewards platforms, digital experiences and redemption journeys.

• Partner with Technology and Product teams to prioritize investments that improve scalability, efficiency, personalization, and customer satisfaction.

• Ensure seamless end-to-end customer experiences across all redemption channels.

Enterprise Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Drive alignment across multiple business units, ensuring strategic priorities and investments support enterprise objectives.

• Lead complex cross-functional programs that require coordination across numerous teams and stakeholders.

• Present strategic recommendations, business performance, and investment opportunities to executive leadership.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead and develop a high-performing organization consisting of multiple leaders and cross-functional teams.

• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, customer obsession, and continuous improvement.

• Build organizational capabilities that support long-term growth and succession planning.

• Manage budget, resource allocation, performance management, and talent development across the organization.

Risk & Governance

• Ensure all business activities are conducted in accordance with applicable regulations, policies, and control standards.

• Maintain a strong risk and control environment while supporting business growth and innovation.

• Promote sound governance practices and effective decision making across partnership and capability portfolios.

Qualifications:

Required Experience

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in loyalty, rewards, partnerships, product management, customer engagement, payments, financial services, travel, or related industries.
• Proven success leading large-scale strategic initiatives with significant customer and financial impact.
• Extensive experience managing and growing executive-level strategic partnerships.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional organizations through transformation and change.
• Strong understanding of loyalty ecosystems, rewards economics, customer engagement strategies, and digital experiences.

Leadership Capabilities

• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into measurable business outcomes.
• Exceptional executive presence with strong communication and influencing skills.
• Proven ability to build alignment across senior stakeholders in highly matrixed organizations.
• Strong commercial mindset with demonstrated ability to balance customer outcomes and financial performance.
• Experienced people leader with a track record of building and developing high-performing teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading loyalty, rewards, marketplace, or partnership businesses at scale.
• Deep understanding of digital product development, customer experience design, and data-driven decision making.
• 15+ years sales management experience. People management experience.
• Strong knowledge of consumer banking products. A proven team-worker who can get things done through working hand-in-hand with peers and subordinates in a result-driven environment.

Education:

• Bachelor’s/University degree, Master’s degree preferred and managerial experience

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Job Family Group:

Consumer Sales

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Job Family:

Consumer Product Sales

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Time Type:

Full time

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Primary Location:

Wilmington Delaware United States

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Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$170,000.00 - $300,000.00

In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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Anticipated Posting Close Date:

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Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.

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