Senior Manager DFS Commercialization and Partnerships job at KCB Bank

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Review, update, and manage the business development sales pipeline, tracking the status of ongoing negotiations with prospective fintechs, merchants, and strategic partners.
• Lead meetings and negotiations with prospective partners to structure commercial terms, revenue-sharing models, pricing tiers, and service agreements.
• Coordinate closely with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Compliance teams to align on integration requirements, technical scoping, and regulatory approvals for active partner onboarding.
• Conduct market research, identify emerging ecosystem opportunities, and proactively reach out to target enterprise clients, utility providers, and aggregators to pitch digital financial services.
• Review daily and weekly transactional metrics, throughput volumes, and active user growth across existing partner channels to ensure performance aligns with strategic targets.
• Ensure seamless operational handover by creating standard operating procedures (SOPs), training support teams, and establishing Tier-2/Tier-3 support escalation channels.
• Track post-launch product metrics (transaction success rates, system latency, user adoption, transaction volumes) during the hyper care phase.
• Define and execute the comprehensive business development and partnership strategy for Digital Financial Services (Mobile Money, Digital Wallets, Merchant Acquiring, Open Banking, and Value-Added Services).
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize strategic alliance opportunities with key market players, including fintech startups, utility providers, e-commerce platforms, and enterprise merchants.
• Lead end-to-end partnership lifecycles from initial outreach and pitch development to strategic alignment and pilot testing.
• Lead high-value commercial, financial, and legal negotiations with prospective partners, structuring revenue-sharing models, pricing tiers, and SLA agreements.
• Collaborate closely with Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams to draft watertight partnership contracts, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), and service agreements.
• Optimize existing partner relationships to continuously improve commercial terms, drive higher transaction throughput, and expand joint service offerings.
• Work together with DFS Product Management, and Project teams to scope out integration requirements for new partners and embedded finance channels.
• Champion open banking and API monetization strategies by onboarding third-party developers and corporate clients onto the organization's developer portal.
• Coordinate go-to-market (GTM) campaigns, joint promotional activities, and PR rollouts alongside Marketing and PR departments for newly launched partnerships.
• Own the DFS revenue targets, gross margin contributions, and transaction volume KPIs tied to partnership ecosystems.
• Maintain a robust business development pipeline, conducting regular performance reviews, forecast modelling, and competitive market analysis.
• Monitor market trends, competitor offerings, and regulatory shifts in the digital payments space to identify emerging business opportunities.

DAILY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Screen strategic fintech, merchant, and ecosystem partner pipelines; evaluate business models against revenue potential and compliance fit.
• Draft term sheets, negotiate revenue-share models, and align joint GTM terms with partner executive teams.
• Shepherd partnership agreements through Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Credit committees to ensure regulatory alignment before signing.
• Track key joint metrics, transaction volumes, partner-led customer acquisition, and API integration milestones to address underperformance early.
• Maintain high-level relationships with active partner C-suites while briefing internal business heads to ensure resource backing for ongoing integrations.

CHALLENGES:

• Internal legal, risk, and regulatory review cycles take months, causing fast-moving partners to lose interest or drop out.
• Business Development closes ambitious partnership deals, but internal engineering backlogs and legacy API limits block or delay execution.
• Fintechs demand low-margin, high-volume revenue splits, while bank risk committees push for high-margin, zero-risk terms.

• Review, update, and manage the business development sales pipeline, tracking the status of ongoing negotiations with prospective fintechs, merchants, and strategic partners.
• Lead meetings and negotiations with prospective partners to structure commercial terms, revenue-sharing models, pricing tiers, and service agreements.
• Coordinate closely with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Compliance teams to align on integration requirements, technical scoping, and regulatory approvals for active partner onboarding.
• Conduct market research, identify emerging ecosystem opportunities, and proactively reach out to target enterprise clients, utility providers, and aggregators to pitch digital financial services.
• Review daily and weekly transactional metrics, throughput volumes, and active user growth across existing partner channels to ensure performance aligns with strategic targets.
• Ensure seamless operational handover by creating standard operating procedures (SOPs), training support teams, and establishing Tier-2/Tier-3 support escalation channels.
• Track post-launch product metrics (transaction success rates, system latency, user adoption, transaction volumes) during the hyper care phase.
• Define and execute the comprehensive business development and partnership strategy for Digital Financial Services (Mobile Money, Digital Wallets, Merchant Acquiring, Open Banking, and Value-Added Services).
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize strategic alliance opportunities with key market players, including fintech startups, utility providers, e-commerce platforms, and enterprise merchants.
• Lead end-to-end partnership lifecycles from initial outreach and pitch development to strategic alignment and pilot testing.
• Lead high-value commercial, financial, and legal negotiations with prospective partners, structuring revenue-sharing models, pricing tiers, and SLA agreements.
• Collaborate closely with Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams to draft watertight partnership contracts, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), and service agreements.
• Optimize existing partner relationships to continuously improve commercial terms, drive higher transaction throughput, and expand joint service offerings.
• Work together with DFS Product Management, and Project teams to scope out integration requirements for new partners and embedded finance channels.
• Champion open banking and API monetization strategies by onboarding third-party developers and corporate clients onto the organization's developer portal.
• Coordinate go-to-market (GTM) campaigns, joint promotional activities, and PR rollouts alongside Marketing and PR departments for newly launched partnerships.
• Own the DFS revenue targets, gross margin contributions, and transaction volume KPIs tied to partnership ecosystems.
• Maintain a robust business development pipeline, conducting regular performance reviews, forecast modelling, and competitive market analysis.
• Monitor market trends, competitor offerings, and regulatory shifts in the digital payments space to identify emerging business opportunities.
• Screen strategic fintech, merchant, and ecosystem partner pipelines; evaluate business models against revenue potential and compliance fit.
• Draft term sheets, negotiate revenue-share models, and align joint GTM terms with partner executive teams.
• Shepherd partnership agreements through Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Credit committees to ensure regulatory alignment before signing.
• Track key joint metrics, transaction volumes, partner-led customer acquisition, and API integration milestones to address underperformance early.
• Maintain high-level relationships with active partner C-suites while briefing internal business heads to ensure resource backing for ongoing integrations.

• Business Development
• Partnership Management
• Negotiation
• Commercial Terms Structuring
• Revenue Sharing Models
• Pricing Strategies
• Service Agreements
• Product Integration
• Engineering Coordination
• Legal Coordination
• Compliance Coordination
• Market Research
• Ecosystem Opportunity Identification
• Client Outreach
• Digital Financial Services (DFS)
• Mobile Money
• Digital Wallets
• Merchant Acquiring
• Open Banking
• Value-Added Services
• Strategic Alliances
• Fintech Startups
• Utility Providers
• E-commerce Platforms
• Enterprise Merchants
• Partnership Lifecycle Management
• Pitch Development
• Pilot Testing
• SLA Agreements
• Partnership Contracts
• Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)
• API Monetization
• Developer Portal Management
• Go-to-Market (GTM) Campaigns
• Joint Promotional Activities
• PR Rollouts
• Revenue Target Ownership
• Gross Margin Contribution
• Transaction Volume KPIs
• Performance Review
• Forecast Modelling
• Competitive Market Analysis
• Market Trend Monitoring
• Regulatory Shift Analysis
• Business Model Evaluation
• Compliance Fit Assessment
• Term Sheet Drafting
• GTM Term Alignment
• Risk Management
• Credit Committee Briefing
• Metric Tracking
• Customer Acquisition Tracking
• API Integration Milestone Tracking
• Relationship Management
• Internal Stakeholder Briefing

• Experience in managing business development sales pipelines.
• Proven ability to lead meetings and negotiations.
• Experience coordinating with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Legal, Compliance).
• Experience in market research and identifying ecosystem opportunities.
• Familiarity with digital financial services (DFS) and related products.
• Experience in defining and executing business development and partnership strategies.
• Ability to identify, evaluate, and prioritize strategic alliance opportunities.
• Experience leading end-to-end partnership lifecycles.
• Experience in commercial, financial, and legal negotiations.
• Experience drafting partnership contracts, MoUs, and service agreements.
• Ability to optimize existing partner relationships.
• Experience with DFS Product Management and Project teams.
• Experience championing open banking and API monetization strategies.
• Experience coordinating go-to-market (GTM) campaigns.
• Ownership of DFS revenue targets, gross margin contributions, and transaction volume KPIs.
• Experience maintaining a business development pipeline, conducting performance reviews, forecast modelling, and competitive market analysis.
• Ability to monitor market trends, competitor offerings, and regulatory shifts.
• Experience screening fintech, merchant, and ecosystem partner pipelines.
• Experience evaluating business models against revenue potential and compliance fit.
• Experience drafting term sheets and negotiating revenue-share models.
• Experience shepherding partnership agreements through legal, risk, compliance, and credit committees.
• Experience tracking key joint metrics, transaction volumes, partner-led customer acquisition, and API integration milestones.
• Ability to maintain high-level relationships with partner C-suites and brief internal business heads.