Strategic Partnerships Lead

Column; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 375,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans

401k plan with brokerage options

Flexible time-off policy

Catered lunches and dinners

Job summary

Column is seeking a strategic deals person to drive high-value partnership development. This role involves managing complex deals and collaborating with leadership to enhance Column’s offerings. Ideal candidates should have extensive experience in strategic partnerships, drive sales cycles, and demonstrate subject matter credibility in financial services.

The position is based in San Francisco or remote with ~50% travel. Comprehensive benefits and a competitive salary range of $200,000–$375,000 OTE are offered.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in strategic partnerships or business development.
• Proven ability to run autonomous deal cycles.
• Subject matter credibility in financial services.

Responsibilities

• Drive full commercial cycle from prospecting to close.
• Navigate multi-stakeholder organizations effectively.
• Contribute to development of sales playbook.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Business development

Sales cycle management

Problem-solving

Relationship building

Job description

About Column

For companies building financial technology and transforming the financial services space, the biggest bottleneck to their growth and innovation is often the underlying banks and infrastructure stack they rely on. We have spent our careers founding and scaling companies like Plaid, Square, Meta, Blend, and Affirm, and have seen this problem firsthand—builders and developers needing to partner with traditional banks, and creating API and abstraction layers over the patchwork that is the bank, its core, and many other vendors. All of this results in a complex (and often expensive) banking supply chain involving a user, fintech, BaaS middleware provider, bank, core and the Federal Reserve.

At Column, we set out to simplify and fix this. We are a bank and a software company built from the ground up, offering builders and developers technology-forward banking solutions that cut out the hundreds of vendors, middleware providers, and abstraction layers. This means a safer, more transparent, and less costly banking supply chain. Come build with us!

The opportunity

We’re hiring a strategic deals person to own high‑value relationship development and deal execution across Column’s most important partnerships. You’ll drive the full commercial cycle—from identifying and qualifying strategic accounts to structuring and closing agreements with companies building financial products on Column’s API infrastructure. Working closely with leadership and the broader Business team, you’ll develop a deep understanding of each prospect’s product roadmap and articulate Column’s value proposition and differentiation at every stage of the deal. Success looks like a portfolio of trusted, long‑term partnerships and a consistent track record of closing complex, high‑impact deals.

We win on speed and expertise. If you move fast, love becoming an expert, and are able to build relationships and influence quickly, this opportunity might be for you.

This role reports to the Head of Sales & Partnerships and is based in San Francisco or remote, with ~50% travel expected, always dependent on deal needs.

What you’ll do:

Deal Execution

• Run the full sales cycle: discovery, scoping, negotiation, and close across complex, multi‑stakeholder organizations.
• Navigate procurement, compliance, legal, and technical stakeholders simultaneously; proactively identify and overcome blockers before they stall deals.
• Partner with Solutions Engineering, Legal, Risk, and Compliance to structure solutions that address novel customer use cases.

Market & Product Expertise

• Develop deep fluency in Column’s API suite and how it applies across financial services use cases; position yourself as a credible thought partner for prospects’ Product and Compliance teams.
• Maintain a strong pulse on market dynamics, competitive positioning, and regulatory developments affecting Column’s target customers.

Pipeline Development

• Build and maintain account plans with clear milestones, stakeholder maps, and commercial targets.
• Source and qualify new opportunities through outbound prospecting, industry relationships, and market intelligence — you’re building pipeline, not waiting for it.

Team & Playbook Building

• Contribute to the development of Column’s sales playbook—deal structures, qualification frameworks, and processes that the broader team can learn from and build on.
• Operate in accordance with safe and sound business practices and applicable regulatory requirements.

What you’ll need to be successful:

• 8+ years in strategic partnerships, business development, strategic accounts sales, or a commercial‑adjacent function, including investors or capital markets professionals who have spent meaningful time sourcing, evaluating, and closing complex deals with sophisticated counterparties.
• Proven ability to run structured, autonomous deal cycles from pipeline generation through close
• Demonstrated ability to navigate large, multi‑stakeholder organizations: you know how to find the decision maker and move deals forward when the path isn’t obvious
• Subject matter credibility in your space — prospects and partners seek out your perspective
• High agency and a builder’s orientation: you’re comfortable operating without a fully defined playbook and contribute to building one as you go. You take ownership and adapt on the fly.
• Competitive, curious, and coachable — you solicit feedback, iterate quickly, and hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else would
• (nice to have) Direct experience selling into or partnering with financial services companies; familiarity with embedded finance, APIs, or regulated product environments strongly preferred

A note on fit: This role is built for someone who enjoys betting on themselves. This isn’t SaaS, a relationship management role or an inbound motion. If your sales motion has been straightforward, your pipeline has historically been handed to you, or you’re looking to maintain accounts rather than build them, this will not be a fit.

What you’ll get from us:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including options that are 100% covered by Column for you and 100% covered for your dependents!
• Comprehensive family planning and fertility benefits via partnership with Carrot, including reimbursement of up to $20,000 in qualified expenses
• Up to $2,000 (post‑tax) monthly rent subsidy for employees living within 2 miles of Column’s office
• FSA and HSA account options to enable use of pre‑tax money for medical and dependent care expenses
• 401k plan, including self‑directed brokerage options
• Flexible time‑off policy – take the time off that you want and need to relax and recharge
• 100% paid parental leave, including 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers
• Up to $4,500 in annual reimbursements for backup childcare
• Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees
• Commuter benefits
• Regular team building events, including annual offsite

Pay transparency

The annual OTE range for this position is $200,000–$375,000 + equity.

The range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings (“OTE”) range, which is inclusive of base salary and incentive compensation. New hire offers are made based on a candidate’s experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

We look forward to hearing from you

Column is committed to working with the best and brightest people from the broadest talent pool possible. We value bringing together a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences, and believe a diversity of ideas is what allows us to develop the best solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application and recruiting process, please reach out to [e-mail].

We participate in the E‑Verify program in certain locations as required by law. Learn more about the E‑Verify program here.