Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Importance of the role 

At Setu, we believe that every company can become a fintech company. The sales function within Setu is the equivalent of becoming a “fintech doctor” for all our partners. Partnerships executives work with clients to deeply understand their business objectives and propose the right financial products and partnerships. Only then do they move to close the deal. We exist to solve our clients’ problems and enable a seamless fintech experience within any application. With Setu foraying into new product lines, it also gives us the opportunity to talk to market leaders in those domains and start building strategic partners, both to co-sell and co-create.

Any tech-enabled business which wants to offer or build financial products will consume Setu APIs. Talking to our clients is always an exciting challenge as they can come from any type of company including— 

1. Financial institutions like Banks 
   

2. Reach to the market leaders in complementing domains and use them to push our products or to co-sell.
   

This role is special since it will give you a deep look into multiple companies’ business objectives and technical architecture. The learning potential is immense! 

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Requirements

What will you do at Setu?

In this role, your sole objective will be to forge business partnerships infused with trust and loyalty. You’ll spend your time—

• Finding new partners and creating a win-win proposition to close them: 
  

• Setu works with multiple types of channel partners including Banks, Bureaus and other complementing domain leaders like card networks to sell and co-create products.
  

• You will be expected to build and deliver a strong pipeline of strategic partners across these categories using various methods including—direct outreach, event-based networking and desk research.
  

• In case of Banking partnership, it would be two-fold - 
  

• Establish a rapport with the Bank to encourage them to co-create unique and exclusive offerings to Setu.
  

• Sell products to Banks developed by Setu or Setu’s partners which meets the requirement for Banks. 
  

• The approach in Banks will have a strategic long term angle to it as well as medium term revenue linked goals as well.
  

• Get partners to sign up and start growing the business. We have stitched together some stellar partnerships like credit bureaus, card networks, etc. The expectation will be to groom those partnerships and add to the list.
  

• What is the value prop for the partner? Why should they work with Setu?
  

• Who are the key decision-makers at the partner org? How do we get their full buy-in?
  

• How do you identify the Total Addressible Markets (TAM)?
  

• Which Setu products should be positioned first?
  

• Which partner clients would benefit most? 
  

• How should a joint GTM strategy be defined and executed?
  

• Tell stories and demos that sear themselves into the partner's memory!
  

• Managing and growing partners to create a multi-year multi-product relationship: 
  

• Develop deep relationships once you’ve signed up key strategic partners— Conceptualise and execute alliances with partners. This means defining:
  

• Help partner business teams in preparing pitch materials and product demos for each product line and tuning it for different segments of customers.
  

• Conduct sales training regularly and accompany partner sales reps on calls to ensure their team pitches the products well.
  

• Support GTM with marketing collateral created jointly with help of the Setu team.
  

• Conduct monthly business reviews with senior management to ensure continuous drive and business buy in.
  

• Make friends with everyone in the partner org!
  

• Coordinating with internal stakeholders with Setu to ensure the partners always have the right support:
  

• With the Business team: Identify and prioritise high-potential products from both growth and revenue perspectives.
  

• With Product Management team: Ensuring the right partner feedback is delivered to ensure continuous product improvements.
  

• With the Marketing team: Create GTM plans and campaigns that can help the partner communicate the right value prop to their customers.
  

• With the Onboarding team: Ensure best-in-class onboarding timelines and world-class customer support for partner clients.
  

• With Legal team: Quick turn around on agreements, and standardising process for both legal and commercial approvals.
  

• Building and maintaining relationships with key executives and decision-makers in the partner's organisation, with a primary focus on business expansion.
  

• Continuously grow the relationship and revenue potential with these strategic partners.
  

• Closing commercial agreements and handing them off for integration support and account management. 
  

• Manage partner loyalty — appreciation, advocacy and awarding.
  

• On-going learnings and reviews:
  

• Learn and maintain in-depth knowledge of our products, partner priorities, industry trends and competition. 
  

• Day to day management of partnership operations using: analytics-based sales planners (we use Pipedrive as a CRM), partner review dashboards, ensuring FTRs, automation tools etc.
  

Who is the right fit for this role?

To excel in this role, you will need— 

• Empathy: We operate with a profoundly consultative approach. Empathy for the partner is a crucial requirement for this role. Asking relevant questions to understand their needs and motivations is critical. Making them feel heard can make all the difference between a transactional relationship and a true long-term partnership.
  

• Exceptional storytelling skills in both verbal and written form. Stories are the most effective way to communicate complex ideas. Your ability to craft compelling stories in the form of case studies will mean you close deals faster since your customers will understand the value proposition better.
  

• A burning desire to learn and develop deep fintech expertise. Selling API infrastructure is a lot harder (and more rewarding) than selling cashbacks. You will need to know about:
  

• How financial products work: You’re aware of how financial products are sold to large enterprises. 
  

• Architecture of legacy systems: In order to educate customers on how we can dramatically improve their business, you must first know where existing systems are broken.
  

• Hands-on experience in solution-based sales and a deep understanding of APIs.
  

• Relentlessness: Enterprise sales is all about two words. Following through. Partnerships are rarely closed in one conversation. You will need to be friendly, patient, and relentless.
  

• Agility and flexibility: Setu provides many solutions. You might walk into a conversation planning to sell a particular product, but your conversations might reveal a different and more pressing customer need. At that moment, you must have the presence of mind to alter your sales pitch to address that need and the pitch materials ready to go.
  

• Familiarity with CRM systems, such as Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho and Trello — A craftsman must know their tools.
  

Benefits

Why Setu?

We will spare no efforts to ensure that Setu empowers you to do the most important and impactful work of your career—

• Opportunity to work closely with the founding team who built and scaled public infrastructure such as UPI, GST, Aadhaar, etc. 
  

• We care deeply about your growth. So we work hard to provide you with— 
  

• Exposure to other verticals such as product, engineering, legal, etc.
  

• A fully stocked library and unlimited book budget.
  

• Tickets to conferences and industry events.
  

• Fortnightly learning sessions where we invite both team members and external experts to teach you something new.
  

• Learning and development allowance that gives access to subscriptions, courses, certifications, music classes, and much more. Grow, learn, and improve with Setu! 
  

• Kick-ass benefits including comprehensive health insurance for you and your family, personal accident and term life insurance, access to mental health counsellors, extraordinary coffee, and a beautiful office with lots of solid wood and natural light.
  

• We work hard to make sure our team is diverse and varied. We interview and hire purely on merit, skill, and competence—everything else is irrelevant.
  

Join us if you want to be part of a company that’s building infrastructure that will directly impact financial inclusion and improve millions of lives. No cashbacks, no growth-hacks, no bullshit. Just an audacious mission, and an obsession with craftsmanship in code.

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