Partnership Development Director, Network Growth – Digital Assets

About this role

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose The Director, Network Growth Partnerships – Digital Assets will lead institutional participation expansion and network growth for Early Warning’s digital asset ecosystem, onboarding banks, fintechs, and strategic participants into a scalable participation model. This role will focus on growing network participation for stablecoin-enabled, banks, financial institutions, fintechs, processors, and other network participants that can help scale adoption of Early Warning’s digital asset solutions.

The Director will develop partner business cases, define participation models, align executive stakeholders, and coordinate across Product, Engineering, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Strategy, and Operations to support scalable ecosystem growth

Essential Functions • Act as the primary promoter of all Early Warning vision, products and solutions across partner executive teams and business units and assists the customer in maximizing the effectiveness of existing products.

• Develop and execute strategies to onboard and grow participation from banks, fintechs, processors, and ecosystem participants for digital asset–enabled solutions.

• Define scalable engagement playbooks and participation frameworks (readiness, eligibility, operating expectations) to support consistent adoption.

• Lead executive relationship management across participating institutions, aligning internal Product/Engineering/Risk partners to deliver outcomes.

• Support development of participation agreements and commercial constructs aligned with ecosystem governance and risk requirements.

• Support international expansion and cross-border alignment initiatives.

• Hold primary responsibility for identification, evaluation, and onboarding of new Early Warning partners, driving new revenue streams, capabilities, client platforms and data exchanges.

• Develop and provide both internal and external vision and business cases to support partner development.

• Working with Corporate Strategy, Product, external clients and internal teams to identify and nurture prospective partnerships aligned with the Early Warning Strategy.

• Utilize strong understanding of partner strategy and organizational structure to develop and articulate value proposition around using Early Warning products, ensure continued product usage and identify additional opportunities for growth.

• Ensure partners understand and adhere to Early Warning’s rules, data governance policies, data security polices and business practices and standards.

• Support the company’s commitment to protect the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications • Education and experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor’s degree in business, finance or other related field

• Typicaly 12+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, network development, financial institution partnerships, delationship development or related partner facing roles

• Experience identifying, evaluating, and onboarding strategic business or technical partners in regulated financial services, payments, banking, fintech, platform, network, or digital asset environments.

• Demonstrated ability to develop strategic partner business cases, define value propositions, and advance complex partnerships from evaluation through execution.

• Strong understanding of network-based businesses, platform adoption, participant onboarding, and regulated financial services operating environments.

• Ability to work cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Strategy, Operations, and executive stakeholders to deliver partnership outcomes.

• Excellent executive presence, active listening, verbal communication, written communication, and presentation skills.

• Demonstrated professionalism, sound judgment, and ability to operate in a fast-moving, ambiguous, and highly collaborative environment.

• Must be able to travel up to 50%, including internationally.

• Must be able to satisfy international travel requirements necessary to perform the role.

• Background and drug screen.

Preferred Qualifications • Experience with digital assets, stablecoins, tokenization, blockchain-enabled financial services, cross-border payments, remittances, or emerging payment networks.

• Proven experience developing and executing strategic partnerships with banks, fintechs, processors, payment networks, or other regulated financial ecosystem participants.

• Executive-level partner business case development experience, including the ability to present a clear recommendation, strategic rationale, roadmap, commercial model, and implementation plan for priority partners.

• Experience building or expanding participation in a payments, banking, fintech, marketplace, or network-based ecosystem.

• Experience supporting international expansion, cross-border payment initiatives, foreign financial institution partnerships, or remittance market growth.

• Strong understanding of bank and fintech decision-making processes, operating models, integration considerations, and regulatory expectations.

• Experience aligning partnership strategy with product capabilities, risk controls, governance requirements, and operational readiness.

Physical Requirements Ea

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