Partnerships Manager

Location: Dubai, UAE · Onsite office Abu Dhabi

Introduction

We're WorldFirst, an international payments business helping move money around the world. We became part of Ant Group in 2019, accelerating our mission to create the world's best platform for international trade — serving over a million SMEs and connecting to 100+ marketplaces globally through the World Account.

Our shared purpose is to make it easy to do business anywhere. Our Partnerships team turns that purpose into growth: we build the referral, affiliate and enterprise relationships that bring the next generation of SMEs onto WorldFirst.

This is a player-coach role for UAE region (local office in Abu Dhabi). You will own the partner portfolio end to end — from first conversation to referred revenue — and carry real commercial targets from day one.

What You'll Do

Source & acquire

• Own the acquisition, management and growth of key partner relationships with companies able to introduce clients to WorldFirst — across referral, affiliate and enterprise (API) partnership types.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of new partners across marketplaces, free zones and corporate services providers, negotiating commercial terms that protect margin and drive volume.

Activate & enable

• Lead smooth partner onboarding with internal teams across multiple disciplines, securing buy-in from senior stakeholders on an expanding portfolio of large-scale partnerships.
• Train partner sales teams to pitch WorldFirst credibly — including live, hands-on tag-along support to help a partner's salesperson close referred business — and keep partners accountable to agreed KPIs (revenue numbers).
• Work with partners and internal teams on co-marketing: webinars, trade shows, campaigns and marketing collateral that generate quality referrals.

Manage & grow

• Run a regular cadence with the partner network — surfacing issues, feeding back solutions, and keeping partners current on World First's latest products so they can promote them with confidence and integrity.
• Personally onboard high-value partner-referred clients and ensure they deliver the volumes committed by the partner.
• Represent WorldFirst at industry events, webinars and client settings — including CXO-level engagements at partner companies — wherever the partnership needs you.

Report & improve

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date partner pipeline and CRM/management-information (MI) reporting so leadership can make data-informed decisions — and keep improving the process behind it.

What We're Looking for as our Ideal Candidate:

Must-haves

• Experience: Bachelor's degree in business or a related field, with 6+ years in consultative sales or partnerships within fintech/payments, selling to the e-commerce and international import/export ecosystems — both directly to clients and through channel partners, with a track record of delivering and exceeding demanding targets.
• Strategic Network: You arrive with warm, deep connections within the following networks are a significant advantage for lead generation:
• Marketplace (Noon / Amazon) seller recruitment teams.
• Marketplace (Noon / Amazon) service provider networks.
• Marketplace (Noon / Amazon) advertising teams.
• Ecom enabler businesses like TikTok, Shopify etc.
• UAE Free Zones and Corporate Service Providers (CSPs) focused on e-commerce and SMEs engaged in international trade.
• Eco-system of Importers and Re-exporters (example: Importers in Vegetable and Fruit Market, Dragon Mart, Yiwu Market etc)

Ways of working

• Results-driven — you have thrived under demanding sales targets and the pressure that comes with them.
• A problem solver — you execute clear, concise strategies that deliver value for WorldFirst, our partners and their clients and have ability to work under ambiguity.
• Comfortable across levels — you are senior to communicate as easily with a partner's sales floor as with its CXO suite, understanding the roles and priorities of different stakeholders across client portfolios.
• Disciplined and data-informed — you are open to improving processes so MI stays accurate and decisions stay grounded in data.
• Hands-on — a small, dynamic team within one of the world's leading fintech payments businesses; you roll up your sleeves to get the result.

What's In It for You:

• Competitive UAE salary plus bonus linked to your KPI (revenue number) achievement.
• Employment visa, medical cover and other standard benefits of a Dubai-based fintech role.
• The backing of Ant International: products, brand and executive access not many companies can match. Ant International is amongst the largest companies in the world in Fintech business.
• A lean and nimble team with real ownership — your portfolio, your pipeline, your wins.

Who We Are

WorldFirst is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where our people feel that they belong and can reach their full potential. We believe our differences are our strengths and are committed to recruiting, developing and retaining a team from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills.

We encourage applications from all individuals regardless of race, age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, and marriage and civil partnership.

How to Apply

Send your CV via the LinkedIn application, or directly to our talent speciality Cecilia Zhang https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-z-834948195/.

Shortlisted candidates can expect an intro call, a commercial deep-dive and a final conversation with leadership — we aim to move quickly.