Partnerships Manager

About the role

You will build the introducer network that brings business owners to manda, iwoca’s M&A platform. Your mission is to create a referral channel that produces a steady flow of business owners genuinely ready to sell, starting from scratch and scaling it so that referring a client to manda takes just a few clicks within advisers’ existing software.

Responsibilities

• Find and win firms worth working with: accountancy practices, corporate finance boutiques, solicitors, wealth managers and business transfer agents.
• Determine which types of firm actually refer and focus efforts there.
• Conduct outbound yourself: identify the firm, secure meetings, make the case, and follow up until a referral occurs.
• Design the referral proposition: how a referral is made, what the partner receives, what we commit in return, and how we keep them informed once their client is with us.
• Turn agreements into a steady flow: maintain regular contact, keep manda top‑of‑mind, brief partner teams, and be the go‑to contact.
• Track referral volume and quality by partner and be honest about which relationships aren’t performing so resources can be re‑allocated.
• Judge every partnership by whether it adds referrals without adding work; replace manual effort with scalable tech integrations.
• Identify partner technology worth plugging into (practice‑management/accounting software, tracked referral links, partner portals) and scope the commercial case with the Product Builder.
• Seek partners who can bring a book of clients rather than one‑off referrals.
• Leverage iwoca’s existing broker network and partnerships function to accelerate growth.
• Build a focused events programme (succession/exit planning, adviser gatherings, peer communities) and judge events by referral output, not attendance.
• Establish the true cost of a referral (your time, partner incentives, events) and measure conversion to signed mandates to validate the financial model.

Requirements

• Around 4+ years’ experience in partnerships, channel or business development, ideally B2B, where you built or substantially grew a referral channel rather than inheriting one that already worked.
• Background in M&A, marketplaces, business broking or business transfer.
• Discipline to keep a channel warm over months, not just weeks.
• Numerate and honest about performance: you track referrals by partner, know which relationships produce, and speak up when they don’t.
• Systems thinker: you can distinguish a scalable partnership from one that only works while you’re pushing it, and you prefer to replace manual work with an integration.
• Comfortable specifying technology without building it: you can map partner tools to our product and scope the needed integration for the product team.
• Genuinely hands‑on: you’ll build target lists, send emails, run meetings, and keep the CRM up to date yourself.
• Commercial thinker with a bias for action, able to navigate ambiguity in an early‑stage venture.

Qualifications

• Experience with accountancy, legal or wealth‑management referral channels.
• Experience running an event programme with commercial targets attached.
• Familiarity with the UK succession and exit‑planning landscape.
• Comfortable treating a CRM as a discipline, preferably HubSpot.
• Track record of shipping a partner integration, embedded referral flow, or software marketplace listing, or working closely with a product team on one.
• Knowledge of the software UK accountancy practices and advisers actually use, such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, IRIS or Dext.

Skills

• Relationship building and partnership negotiation.
• Outbound sales and lead generation.
• Referral programme design and incentive structuring.
• Performance tracking and data‑driven decision making.
• Technology integration scoping and vendor management.
• Event planning with measurable outcomes.
• CRM administration and pipeline hygiene.
• Commercial analysis and financial modelling.

Benefits

• Flexible working hours.
• Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership.
• Choice between a dedicated dental plan or a health cash plan that reimburses everyday medical expenses.
• Private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner and dependents.
• 25 days holiday per year, plus an extra day off for your birthday.
• Option to buy or sell up to five additional days of annual leave.
• Unlimited unpaid leave.
• One‑month, fully paid sabbatical after four years of service.
• Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions.
• 3 % pension contributions on total earnings.
• Employee equity incentive scheme.
• Generous parental leave and a nursery tax‑benefit scheme.
• Electric‑car scheme and cycle‑to‑work scheme.
• Two company retreats per year (recent destinations include France, Italy, Spain and further afield).
• Learning and development budget for every employee.
• Company‑wide talks with internal and external speakers.
• Access to learning platforms such as Treehouse.