Partnerships Specialist, Business Unit Strategy

Vanguard; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanguard is seeking a Strategic Partnership Specialist to join our new Partnership Enablement team, shaping the partnership ecosystem across the UK and Continental Europe. This role offers exposure to strategy, partnerships, commercial analysis and market intelligence to influence key decisions.

You’ll collaborate with distribution, product, strategy and senior leadership, turning data into insights and delivering clear, impactful recommendations.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategy, partnerships, business development, or related function.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with data interpretation.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills influencing senior stakeholders.
• Curiosity about market trends and competitive dynamics.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and drive workstreams from concept to recommendation.

Responsibilities

• Lead analytical workstreams to evaluate and optimise Vanguard's partnership portfolio.
• Deliver meaningful commercial analysis to inform decisions across operations, data, and client outcomes.
• Understand market developments and identify partnership opportunities and competitive insights.
• Create concise narratives and executive presentations to brief senior stakeholders.
• Collaborate across distribution, product, strategy, operations and leadership.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder management

Commercial acumen

Strategic storytelling

Market intelligence

Job description

Vanguard is embarking on an exciting new phase of growth and is seeking a Strategic Partnership Specialist to join our newly created Partnership Enablement team. This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in expanding and strengthening Vanguard's partnership ecosystem across the UK and Continental Europe. Working at the intersection of strategy, partnerships, commercial analysis, and market intelligence, you'll help drive key decisions that influence how Vanguard collaborates with some of Europe's most important distribution, advisory, and investment partners. This role is ideal for a commercially minded professional who enjoys solving complex problems, turning data into strategic insight, and influencing senior stakeholders through clear recommendations and compelling storytelling.

Vanguard is embarking on an exciting new phase of growth and is seeking a Strategic Partnership Specialist to join our newly created Partnership Enablement team. This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in expanding and strengthening Vanguard's partnership ecosystem across the UK and Continental Europe. Working at the intersection of strategy, partnerships, commercial analysis, and market intelligence, you'll help drive key decisions that influence how Vanguard collaborates with some of Europe's most important distribution, advisory, and investment partners. This role is ideal for a commercially minded professional who enjoys solving complex problems, turning data into strategic insight, and influencing senior stakeholders through clear recommendations and compelling storytelling.

Working at the intersection of strategy, partnerships, commercial analysis, and market intelligence, you'll help drive key decisions that influence how Vanguard collaborates with some of Europe's most important distribution, advisory, and investment partners.

This role is ideal for a commercially minded professional who enjoys solving complex problems, turning data into strategic insight, and influencing senior stakeholders through clear recommendations and compelling storytelling.

What You'll Be Doing

You'll lead analytical workstreams that support the development, evaluation, and optimisation of Vanguard's partnership portfolio. By combining commercial, market, and competitive intelligence, you'll help shape partnership strategies and business decisions that drive long-term growth.

Deliver Meaningful Commercial Analysis

You’ll tackle complex partnership opportunities, evaluating bespoke arrangements and assessing their impact across operations, reporting, data, and client outcomes. Your ability to connect insights with commercial objectives will help guide decision-making at every stage.

Understand the Market and Spot Opportunities

You’ll stay closely connected to industry developments, emerging partnership models, and competitor activity, translating market intelligence into actionable recommendations that help Vanguard maintain its leadership position.

Create Clear and Compelling Narratives

Whether developing executive presentations, partnership review materials, or strategic insight packs, you'll transform complex information into concise, impactful stories that resonate with stakeholders at all levels.

Collaborate Across the Business

You’ll work closely with partnership teams, distribution, product, strategy, operations, and senior leadership, building strong relationships and acting as a trusted partner in driving business priorities forward.

What It Takes

We’re interested in candidates who bring a combination of analytical rigour, commercial thinking, and stakeholder management skills, ideally gained within asset management, wealth management, financial services, consulting, fintech, or a related industry.

You’ll need to have:

• Experience in strategy, partnerships, business development, commercial analysis, consulting, or a related function
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with the ability to interpret complex data and identify meaningful insights
• Commercial acumen and confidence evaluating opportunities, risks, and trade‑offs
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with experience influencing a range of stakeholders
• A natural curiosity about market trends, industry developments, and competitive dynamics
• The ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and drive workstreams from concept through to recommendation
• Experience creating high-quality presentations, business cases, and strategic recommendations for senior audiences

Special Factors

• Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position
• This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)
• Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis and may close this role early if there is a high level of interest. To avoid missing out, we recommend applying as soon as possible

Why Join Vanguard?

This is an opportunity to join a newly established, high-visibility team with the mandate to shape how Vanguard's partnership ecosystem evolves across Europe. You’ll gain exposure to senior stakeholders, strategic initiatives, and some of the firm's most important growth opportunities.

If you’re excited by the prospect of combining commercial strategy, partnerships, market insight, and business transformation in a role with real impact, we’d love to hear from you.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.