Head of Partnerships - Asia

Xero; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global accounting software company is seeking a Head of Partnerships for Asia to drive its growth through strategic partnerships. The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of experience in channel and product partnerships, showcasing strong leadership and executive influence. This role involves executing high-value deals and ensuring partnerships align with business goals. Attractive benefits include generous paid leave, mental health resources, and a supportive work environment.

Benefits

Generous paid leave

Employee Assistance Program

26 weeks of paid parental leave

Qualifications

• 10+ years of proven experience in channel and product partnerships.
• Ability to define strategic-level partnership plans.
• Strong internal and external executive influence skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and champion a partnerships strategy for Asia.
• Independently execute complex, high-value deals.
• Ensure partnerships deliver against strategic and financial objectives.

Skills

Partnership Experience

Strategic Vision

Executive Influence

Commercial Expertise

Business Acumen

Leadership in Tech

Relationship Building

Fast-Paced Ownership

Job description

Our Purpose

At Xero, we’re here to help supercharge small businesses. We do this by automating routine tasks, surfacing actionable insights and connecting businesses with the right data, advisors and apps. When that happens, we’re not only making life better for small business, we’ll be building a stronger economy that can change the world.

How you’ll make an impact

As the Head of Partnerships for Asia, you will play a pivotal role in driving Xero's growth across the region. You will be responsible for shaping partnerships strategy, and originating and executing high-performing partnerships that drive meaningful value for Xero and our customers in Asia. These partnerships will be broad and encompass channel, product and key ecosystem/app partnerships that enable Xero to acquire new customers, and supplement its product offering with unique partner propositions.

As the sole partnerships lead in the region, you will form a key part of the regional leadership team, collaborating closely with global and regional executives to align partnership initiatives with overall business and product strategies. This is a hands‑on, individual contributor role where you will be expected to act with strong commercial acumen, an entrepreneurial mindset, and be a master of negotiation. You will operate with a high degree of independence, influencing and collaborating with senior stakeholders to advance Xero's strategic goals across Asia.

What you’ll do

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and champion a comprehensive partnerships strategy for the Asia region, synthesising market insights and external perspectives to influence Xero's direction across product and ecosystem partnerships, as well as building new distribution partnerships for Xero.
• Partnership Execution: Build executive relationships with key strategic partners, and independently identify, own and execute complex, high-value deals, ensuring they align with Xero’s business and product goals.
• Operational Excellence and Influence: Ensure partnerships deliver against strategic and financial objectives. Demonstrate a strong sense of ownership by analysing challenges and identifying simple, effective solutions. Navigate obstacles efficiently, manage risks and dependencies, and provide actionable solutions to stakeholders to ensure timely execution.
• Partnerships Evangelism: Represent and champion the partnerships agenda within Asia as part of the regional leadership team. Provide a global mindset to the team and stakeholders, championing Partnerships as a strategic function to deliver Xero’s goals in Asia. As needed, represent Xero at key internal & external events, and media opportunities.

What you’ll bring with you

• Extensive Partnership Experience: 10+ years of proven experience in channel and product partnerships, with a solid track record of driving customer value through innovation.
• Strategic Vision: Ability to define broad, strategic-level partnership plans that align directly with Xero’s product and investment strategies.
• Executive Influence & Communication: Strong capability in achieving executive influence (internal and external) paired with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Commercial Expertise: Expertise in commercial and contract negotiations, including coaching and developing these capabilities within teams.
• Business Acumen: A strategic mindset for assessing the commercial viability of partnership deals and products, assisting with build/buy/partner evaluations.
• Leadership in Tech: Proven leadership experience within the technology business sector.
• Relationship Building: Demonstrated success in building effective relationships across all levels of the business and with critical external Partners.
• Fast-Paced Ownership: High ownership mentality and the ability to thrive and deliver results in a fast‑paced environment.

Why Xero?

Offering very generous paid leave to use however you’d like (plus statutory holidays!), dedicated paid leave to care for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as an Employee Assistance Program to access mental health care for you and your family, life insurance, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, beautiful offices with weekly fitness and yoga classes, flexible working, career development, and many other benefits that reflect our human value, you’ll do the best work of your life at Xero.