Partnerships Strategy Lead

Cypress HCM; United States; On-site; USD 247,916,000 - 266,769,000; Full time

Job summary

Cypress HCM seeks a Memberships Partnerships Strategy Lead to act as the operational and strategic engine behind Membership partnerships. You will own end-to-end deal flow, coordinate across global teams, and directly negotiate key partnerships with leadership and external partners.

You will continually refine the partnership strategy, identifying innovative models and products that differentiate our ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Significant experience (10+ years) in strategy consulting, corporate development, partnerships, or brand marketing; loyalty industry experience is not required.
• A true “consultant mentality” - able to structure ambiguous problems, build frameworks, and back recommendations with data and judgment.
• Direct experience on the partnerships side of a business, including structuring and negotiating deals with external partners.

Responsibilities

• Deal Flow Project Management: Own end-to-end management of all membership-related deal flow, keeping partners, timelines, and deliverables organized and on track.
• Negotiation: Lead negotiation of a select set of deals directly, always with leadership and legal.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Serve as the primary organization point across global Partnerships and XFN membership teams.
• External Representation: Represent in meetings with partners alongside Director and Partnerships team.
• Strategy Iteration: Refine and evolve the Membership partnership strategy to innovate within the ecosystem.
• Segment-Based Partner Evaluation: Assess partners against guest segments, host types, and regions.
• Executive Partnership: Work with the Director to shape partner prioritization and engagement.

Skills

Strategy

Partnerships

Deal negotiation

Cross-functional coordination

Project management

Data-driven

Executive presence

Job description

Description

• The Brand and Membership Partnerships team sits at the intersection of brand and its emerging membership business, working to build a partnership ecosystem that is distinct from, and stands in deliberate contrast to, the discount-and-points loyalty models common across the industry. We believe partnerships should create genuine, differentiated value for specific segments of our guest and host community, not generic, one-size-fits-all perks.
• The Difference You Will Make: As the Memberships Partnerships Strategy Lead, you will be the operational and strategic engine behind Membership partnerships. Your top priority is running deal flow: project managing every partnership in motion end to end and driving measurable value from the partnerships you touch, including leading the negotiation of a select set of deals yourself. Strategy is your second, always‑on responsibility; you will continually refine and evolve the Membership partnership strategy, identifying new strategic models and products that innovate within our existing ecosystem and beyond it, so the strategy never goes stale even while deal execution is the main event. You must demonstrate the knowledge to know a good deal and the right deal, deliver to the Brand, identify the right mix of consumer and commercial benefits while working cross functionally.
• You bring the background of a consultant’s mindset mixed with a deal maker: comfortable with ambiguity, skilled at building and refining frameworks, and driven to find the next unlock rather than defend the status quo. This role requires a point of view being provided rather than validation and consultation. You do not need to be a loyalty industry veteran, in fact, we’re wary of that background unless you already believe, as we do, that most loyalty programs in market today are a race to the bottom built on discounting and freebies, and that our approach (documented in our internal strategy) is intentionally different.
• You will be the connective tissue for all membership‑related deal flow: project managing work across the global Partnerships team and the cross‑functional (XFN) membership team, and working directly alongside the Director of Brand and Membership Partnerships in partner meetings and negotiations. You’re equally comfortable running the process behind the scenes and representing us in the room with external partners.

Duties

• Deal Flow Project Management: Own end‑to‑end project management of all membership‑related deal flow, keeping partners, timelines, and deliverables organized and on track across the full pipeline.
• Negotiation: Lead negotiation of a select set of deals directly, always in partnership with leadership, the Global Partnerships team and/or Legal.
• Cross‑Functional Coordination: Serve as the primary point of organization across the global Partnerships team and the XFN membership team, aligning stakeholders and unblocking work.
• External Representation: Represent directly in meetings with existing and prospective partners, alongside the Director and/or in partnership with the Partnerships team members who own existing accounts.
• Strategy Iteration: Continually refine and evolve the Membership partnership strategy, identifying new strategic methods and partnership products that innovate within our existing ecosystem and with potential new partners.
• Segment‑Based Partner Evaluation: Assess prospective and existing partners against specific guest segments, host types, and geographic regions, identifying who a partnership is genuinely best for, and the tangential partners or segments it may positively or negatively affect.
• Executive Partnership: Work directly with the Director of Brand and Membership Partnerships to shape partner prioritization, strategy, and external engagement.

Requirements

• Significant experience (10+ years) in strategy consulting, corporate development, partnerships, or brand marketing; loyalty industry experience is not required.
• If you do come from a loyalty background, you see the current landscape of points‑and‑discount‑driven programs as a race to the bottom, and you’re excited to build something built on genuine value rather than buying loyalty.
• A true “consultant mentality” - able to structure ambiguous problems, build frameworks from scratch, and back recommendations with both data and judgment.
• Direct experience on the partnerships side of a business, including structuring and negotiating deals with external partners.
• Strong external presence - able to hold your own in partner meetings and negotiations alongside senior stakeholders.
• Exceptional project management and organizational skills; proven ability to manage complex, multi‑stakeholder deal flow across a matrixed organization.
• Comfortable working cross‑functionally across global and XFN teams to drive alignment and progress.
• Data‑driven approach to partner evaluation - able to combine quantitative analysis with strategic judgment on segment fit.
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills for both internal and external audiences.

What Success Looks Like

• Primary: Deal Flow & Value Delivered: The membership partnership pipeline runs cleanly end to end; nothing stalls for lack of ownership and the partnerships in motion deliver measurable value against the segments they were built for. You personally lead negotiation of a select set of deals.
• Secondary: Strategy, Always On: The membership partnership strategy keeps evolving in parallel, never paused, even when deal execution is the priority in a given week.

Compensation

• $86.52 – 93.10/hr W—2