Associate Director - Special Projects and Partnerships

About Zeta

Zeta is a Next-Gen Banking Tech company that empowers banks and fintechs to launch banking products for the future. It was founded by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati in 2015.

Our flagship processing platform - Zeta Tachyon - is the industry’s first modern, cloud-native, and fully API-enabled stack that brings together issuance, processing, lending, core banking, fraud & risk, and many more capabilities as a single-vendor stack. 20M+ cards have been issued on our platform globally.

Zeta is actively working with the largest Banks and Fintechs in multiple global markets transforming customer experience for multi-million card portfolios.

Zeta has over 1700+ employees - with over 70% roles in R&D - across locations in the US, EMEA, and Asia. We raised $280 million at a $1.5 billion valuation from Softbank, Mastercard, and other investors in 2021.

Learn more @ www.zeta.tech, careers.zeta.tech, Linkedin, Twitter

About the Role

Zeta’s partner ecosystem comprises of dozens of vendors across multiple categories including Fraud, Origination, Collections, Investments, Web 3, Contact Center, Operations and more.

As Associate Director, Product Partnerships, you will lead and scale Zeta’s product partner ecosystem as a strategic extension of our product. Reporting to the CEO, you’ll own the full partnership lifecycle - strategy, identification, evaluation, deal structuring, negotiation, contracting, onboarding, and governance - working cross-functionally to deliver platform and customer value. Ideal candidates bring deep fintech or banking experience, strong commercial acumen, and a track record of driving high-impact partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

• Product-Centric Partner Strategy
• Treat the partner ecosystem as an extension of Zeta’s product strategy, identifying key categories where external partnerships are critical to delivering comprehensive platform value.
• Define capability requirements, evaluation criteria, gap analysis, and a partner integration roadmap, ensuring third-party products align with Zeta’s platform vision and customer needs.

• Market Mapping & Partner Scouting
• Conduct structured market scans to identify high-potential partners across lending, card fulfilment, customer communication, fraud, and other key surround domains.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive landscape view of third-party providers aligned with Zeta’s evolving ecosystem needs across geographies.

• Strategic Evaluation & Partner Fit
• Assess partners across product, technical, commercial and compliance dimensions.
• Provide clear recommendations on suitability and alignment with group needs.

• Commercial Structuring & Deal Execution
• Own end-to-end negotiations - from commercials and incentives to risk-sharing and SLAs.
• Work with Legal and Finance to structure win-win agreements that drive long-term value and scale.

• Onboarding & Relationship Governance
• Drive seamless onboarding by defining structured integration processes and coordinating cross-functional execution.
• Establish governance models, performance tracking frameworks, and operating rhythms to ensure sustained partner performance and joint success.

Skills and Attributes Required

• Executive Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills, particularly in working with senior executives and external partners.
• Strategic Negotiation: Proven experience negotiating and securing strategic partnerships in the fintech or banking space.
• Technical Understanding: In-depth knowledge of SaaS Products and Cloud platforms.
• Leadership: A collaborative leader who can engage cross-functional teams to drive results.
• Analytical Skills: Data-driven approach to problem-solving, with the ability to synthesize complex information into actionable insights.

Experience and Education

• Bachelor's degree in engineering. MBA or an equivalent advanced degree is strongly preferred
• 8+ years of experience in one or more of Business Development, Product Management, Partner Management, Strategic Alliances, or Corporate Development
• Experience in structuring and scaling B2B technology partnerships
• Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills, and understanding of financial technology ecosystems

Equal Opportunity

Zeta is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, cultures, and communities to apply and believe that a diverse workforce is key to our success