Senior Manager, Channel Partnerships

About Us: Tamara is a leading fintech platform in Saudi Arabia and the GCC region with a mission to help people own their dreams built on being simple, trusted, and everywhere our customers need us. Today, more than 25 million customers and over 130,000 partner merchants depend on Tamara every day for reliable financial solutions across retail, travel, education, healthcare, and beyond. Tamara is backed by Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and SNB Capital, among others. About the Role: The Senior Manager, Channel Partnerships, UAE owns the commercial execution and performance of an assigned UAE partner portfolio, from identifying and negotiating new opportunities to coordinating launches, enabling partner teams, and growing active merchants and transaction volume. Working within Tamara’s broader channel strategy and UAE commercial priorities, this role translates market opportunities into practical partner plans and delivers measurable outcomes across merchant acquisition, activation, GMV and MDR. The role combines hands-on business development, senior partner relationship management, commercial analysis, and cross-functional delivery. Your responsibilities: UAE partner strategy and pipeline development • Translate UAE commercial priorities and the wider channel strategy into a focused partner acquisition and growth plan. • Map and prioritise payment service providers, acquirers, POS networks, e-commerce platforms, software providers, aggregators, referral partners, and relevant vertical ecosystems. • Assess opportunities against addressable merchant base, category and segment fit, distribution reach, technical readiness, activation potential, risk profile, and expected economics. • Build and manage a qualified pipeline, with clear next steps, accountable owners, and realistic contract, launch, and revenue timelines. • Identify opportunities to extend partner distribution across online and in-store merchant journeys. Partner acquisition and commercial negotiation • Originate and develop new channel relationships and build trusted connections with commercial and technical decision-makers. • Prepare business cases covering merchant potential, expected conversion, GMV, revenue, revenue share, integration requirements, costs, and time to value. • Recommend the appropriate approved partnership model, including integrated referral, non-integrated referral, or reseller arrangements. • Lead negotiations within delegated authority on commercial terms, incentives, partner commitments, service levels, and joint go-to-market activity. • Coordinate contracting with Legal and obtain required pricing, risk, compliance, and commercial approvals; escalate exceptions rather than committing outside approved authority. Partner enablement and merchant activation • Build joint business plans with priority partners, including target merchant segments, acquisition motions, activation milestones, and commercial commitments. • Equip partner sales and support teams with training, product knowledge, sales playbooks, collateral, and clear escalation routes. • Coordinate co-marketing, campaigns, referrals, and merchant outreach with Marketing and UAE Sales teams. • Establish clear rules for lead registration, attribution, routing, ownership, and handoffs to avoid channel conflict and duplication. • Improve conversion from partner-sourced lead to onboarded merchant, first transaction, and sustained activity. • Identify expansion opportunities within partner portfolios, including additional merchant categories, online and in-store adoption, and eligible product propositions. Portfolio growth and partner relationship management • Own the performance and health of the assigned UAE partner por