Role overview

Tamara is a fintech platform serving the Saudi Arabia and GCC region, trusted by over 25 million customers and 130,000 partner merchants for financial solutions across retail, travel, education, healthcare, and other sectors. As Senior Manager, Channel Partnerships, you will lead the commercial strategy and execution of Tamara’s partner portfolio in the UAE, managing the full lifecycle from identifying new opportunities through negotiation, launch coordination, and performance optimization to drive merchant acquisition, activation, and transaction growth.

Key responsibilities

Develop and execute a focused partner acquisition and growth strategy for the UAE market, translating commercial priorities into actionable plans that identify and prioritize payment service providers, acquirers, POS networks, e-commerce platforms, software providers, and vertical ecosystems.
Originate new channel relationships and lead commercial negotiations on partnership terms, revenue shares, incentives, and service levels within delegated authority, while coordinating legal, pricing, risk, and compliance approvals.
Build joint business plans with priority partners that define target merchant segments, acquisition approaches, activation milestones, and commercial commitments.
Enable partner teams through training, product knowledge, sales playbooks, and clear escalation routes, and coordinate co-marketing campaigns and merchant outreach with internal Marketing and Sales teams.
Establish rules for lead registration, attribution, and handoff procedures to minimize channel conflict and ensure smooth merchant onboarding.
Manage the assigned partner portfolio against agreed metrics for acquisition, activation, GMV, revenue, and quality through regular performance reviews and quarterly business reviews supported by scorecards and action plans.
Analyze partner performance data including lead-to-conversion rates, GMV velocity, cohort retention, and yield to diagnose underperformance, evaluate channel ROI, and optimize strategic prioritization across the portfolio.

Requirements

Significant experience in channel partnerships, business development, platform partnerships, payments, fintech, e-commerce, or ecosystem-led distribution businesses, with a track record of building and scaling partner channels that delivered measurable merchant acquisition, activation, revenue, and GMV growth.
Deep knowledge of referral, reseller, aggregator, marketplace, payment-provider, acquirer, and POS partnership models, and proven ability to negotiate complex commercial agreements including revenue shares, pricing structures, and multi-year commitments.
Experience managing technical integrations and cross-functional launch programs with Product, Engineering, Operations, Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Finance teams.
Strong commercial and analytical skills across pipeline management, conversion analysis, unit economics, partner profitability, cohort quality, and revenue forecasting.
Demonstrated expertise in designing partner tiering structures, enablement programs, performance scorecards, quarterly business reviews, and incentive models.
Strong senior stakeholder management and executive communication abilities with both internal leadership and external partners, and experience leading distributed or multi-market partnership teams.
Familiarity with GCC commerce platforms, PSPs, acquirers, POS providers, and merchant ecosystems is strongly preferred; Arabic capability is advantageous, and excellent English communication is required.

What makes this role worth considering

You will operate within a market-leading fintech platform backed by major institutional investors including the Public Investment Fund, working at scale across a region with significant merchant and customer opportunity. The role combines strategic planning with hands-on business development and relationship management, offering the chance to build and grow a high-impact partner channel that directly drives growth across Tamara’s core metrics.

How to apply

Use the Apply button to view the official job posting and submit your application on Tamara Dubai Jobs: Essential Guide to Careers (2026)'s careers site.

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