Partnerships Lead

Payflows is the agentic finance platform built for modern enterprises. Backed by Balderton Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Headline (€25M Series A), we help finance teams automate accounts payable, procurement, and payments — replacing manual processes with AI-driven workflows that deliver 90%+ touchless invoice rates and dramatic cost savings. Our customers are fast-growing mid-market and enterprise companies across Europe, and private equity-backed businesses are increasingly a cornerstone of our ICP.

The Role

This is a founding role. You'll build Payflows' partnerships and alliances function from scratch, designing the model, identifying the right partners across PE, technology, and advisory ecosystems, and turning those relationships into a repeatable, measurable pipeline.

You'll own three partnership pillars:

• Private equity & sponsors — value creation teams, operating partners, and portfolio finance leads at EMEA mid-market funds

• Technology & ecosystem — ERPs, accounting platforms, payments providers, and complementary finance tooling

• Advisory & SI — finance transformation consultancies, Big Four practices, and implementation partners who shape the buying decision

You'll sit at the intersection of partnerships, sales, and strategy. This is a high-autonomy, high-impact position that reports directly to the Head of GTM and works closely with the CEO and founding team. If you've built alliances functions at a high-growth SaaS company, or you've spent years inside PE, the ERP ecosystem, or a finance transformation practice and want to be on the building side of the table, this is the role for you.

What You'll Do

• Build the function from zero — define the partnership model, tier partners by fit across all three pillars, and develop the playbook for how Payflows engages with PE funds, technology partners, and SIs at every stage

• Own the relationship map — cultivate relationships with value creation teams and operating partners at target funds; with alliance, channel, and BD leaders at ERP and ecosystem partners; and with finance transformation leads at advisory firms

• Drive qualified pipeline — convert partner relationships into warm introductions, co-sell motions, and referrals; track and report on partnership-sourced revenue as a first-class number

• Develop partnership collateral — work with GTM and marketing to build partner-specific one-pagers, ROI tools, integration narratives, and co-branded materials that resonate with each audience

• Run the outreach motion — own outbound sequencing to new partners, attend LP/GP events, ERP and finance ecosystem conferences, and represent Payflows at industry forums

• Stand up co-marketing and co-selling — joint webinars, events, content, and field motions with anchor partners

• Collaborate on deal execution — stay involved through the sales cycle on partner-sourced deals; bring context on portco dynamics, fund priorities, integration positioning, and stakeholder maps

• Feed intelligence back into the business — surface themes from partner conversations that inform product roadmap, integrations, packaging, and ICP strategy

Why Join

• Greenfield ownership — you're not inheriting someone else's playbook, you're writing it

• Direct access to leadership — small team, fast decisions, high visibility

• Strong backer network — Balderton, Ribbit, and Headline open doors; you'll have investor relationships to leverage from day one

• Meaningful equity — early-stage, competitive package

• Category tailwind — agentic AI in finance is one of the most active investment themes in enterprise software.

Must-haves

• 5+ years in partnerships, alliances, business development, or value creation — at a B2B SaaS company building a partner ecosystem, at a PE fund (operating partner, value creation, portfolio ops), or at a technology/SI partner selling into finance buyers

• A genuine network across at least one of our three pillars (PE, ERP/fintech ecosystem, or finance advisory) in EMEA — particularly UK and European mid-market — and the credibility to build the other two quickly

• Strong commercial instincts — you understand how partners evaluate vendor relationships, how CFOs make buying decisions, and what "joint value" actually means in practice

• Track record of sourcing pipeline through partners — you can point to specific deals, ARR, or relationships you've built and closed through

• Excellent communication — you can speak fluently to a CFO, an operating partner, an ERP alliance lead, and a founder in the same day

• Self-starter mentality — you're comfortable with ambiguity and energised by building something new

Nice-to-haves

• Background in finance, fintech, or finance transformation (AP automation, P2P, ERP, payments)

• Experience standing up an alliances function at a high-growth Series A/B SaaS company

• Existing relationships with NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, or major finance advisory practices