Director of Partnerships & Marketing, US

Nice to Meet You! We are Ascenda
Ascenda provides the rewards infrastructure for leading financial services brands across the world.Our clients include the world’s largest banks, top tier card issuers and fintechs who utilise our rewards infrastructure to power their earn & burn rewards programs. These include American Express, CapitalOne, HSBC, Brex, Virgin Money, SMBC, ICBC, Bradesco, ANZ, HDFC and Top 10 financial services brands in many other countries.With a best-in-class technology suite and the world’s broadest rewards content marketplace, we are the engine behind winning premium rewards propositions for financial services all around the globe.Our clients are spread across continents, and we serve over 1 billion customers globally. No matter where you are in the world, you’ll recognize our footprint!We believe that nothing should stand in the way of companies who strive to drive growth via compelling and effortless rewards propositions that their customers love.

Welcome to the future of customer growth. Join us as we shape the future of rewards in financial services!

Join us as Director of Partnerships & Marketing, United States

Take on an exciting role from your home office in the United States as Director, Partnerships & Marketing with ownership of Ascenda’s merchant partner relationships across North America.

Focusing predominantly on our airline and hotel loyalty partners, you will be instrumental in developing and executing Ascenda’s multi-year growth plans. With significant scope and responsibility for driving the North American partnership strategy, your core focus will be the growth of existing programs, in addition to supporting your BD colleagues in the forging of new relationships and elevating the company’s brand in the market.

Working closely with Ascenda’s global teams, you will enable our industry partners to maximize revenues and customer engagement using our platforms, including key initiatives such as the conception & execution of major marketing campaigns, as well as rewards content innovation.

As a Director, Partnerships & Marketing you will:

• Drive the financial performance of existing partnerships in North America to grow revenue and profitability, focusing on Loyalty Partner relationships for Ascenda’s industry-leading TransferConnect rewards exchange
• Build relationships with senior decision-makers and functional leaders in the partners organizations to understand their strategies, identify win-win growth opportunities and lead senior management reviews
• Develop & deploy new loyalty currency partnerships that increase the value of the TransferConnect network. You’ll be driving the full partner onboarding cycle including the development of win-win commercials, negotiation of contracts, facilitation of launches, and design of cutting-edge launch marketing campaigns
• Measure and analyze the performance of Ascenda’s partnerships and marketing campaigns, develop insights and advise clients on options to increase performance
• Build the company’s corporate brand, marketing, and communications strategy across owned and paid channels in North America, elevating the visibility and reputation of Ascenda as a technology leader in rewards
• Pitch Ascenda’s solutions to major financial services players to secure new client opportunities
• Support the development of new products and strategic opportunities, including the creation of new sales narratives and collaboration with Ascenda’s business development teams to attend industry events

What we are looking for:

• At least 10 years of related business experience, of which 5+ years should cover partnerships and/or account management.
• Exposure to one or several of the following sectors (the more of them, the better!): Financial services, rewards & loyalty, technology, travel & retail.
• The ideal candidate has experience managing rewards partnerships for a rewards program or has worked within a a bank, a card issuer or a major B2C brand. You may have worked within and managed a bank /co-brand partnership
• A solid understanding of customer engagement & loyalty strategies across different consumer industries, of the regional payments and retail banking landscape, and of digital marketing
• Proven ability to establish and manage relationships at the senior level, driving win-win commercial outcomes
• A business development mindset with appetite to identify and pitch new strategic opportunities to partners along with the drive to follow through and execute them quickly
• The ability to think strategically, understand the needs of partners and their consumers to present solutions & campaign concepts that meet their objectives and create mutual commercial benefit
• Strong drive for action and appetite to create, build and make things happen - ideally with demonstrated project management abilities
• An eye for compelling marketing and design in both B2C and B2B, with the ability to clearly articulate directions for Ascenda’s creative team to develop unique buzzworthy copy & visual assets for partners and for Ascenda’s own corporate marketing
• A team player that can engage in rigorous debate and drive consensus towards well-informed, expeditious decisions
• Curiosity, sense of urgency, and strong appetite to make things happen