Senior Business Development Manager (Channel Partnerships)

About this role

Convera is seeking a commercially driven Senior Business Development Manager to generate net-new pipeline and win strategic channel partnerships across North America. This is a dedicated proactive new business development role, focused on creating and converting new opportunities rather than managing established partner portfolios.
The near-term priority is workforce payments, with primary emphasis on payroll and pension and selected opportunities across travel and expense and global mobility. The role will target partners with recurring cross-border payment flows and a strong strategic fit with Convera’s network reach, compliance capabilities, foreign exchange expertise, local payout rails, and relationship-led service model.
Key responsibilities

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Net-new pipeline generation: Build a continuously growing, high-quality pipeline across payroll, pension, travel and expense, and global mobility partners, with primary focus on payroll and pension.

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Territory strategy: Develop and execute a North American account and territory plan based on addressable whitespace, strategic fit, corridor opportunity, competitive position, and route to revenue.

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Ideal partner targeting: Prioritise partners with a large customer book, recurring cross-border flows, attractive corridor mix, mature KYC practices, limited high-risk exposure, and influence over payables or receivables.

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Prospecting and market development: Create opportunities through targeted outbound activity, executive networking, referrals, advisers, technology ecosystems, conferences, and coordinated marketing.

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Consultative discovery: Understand the partner model, end-customer journey, payment flows, statutory-payment needs, FX economics, technical requirements, implementation dependencies, and commercial value.

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Value proposition: Lead with Convera’s strengths in global network and currency coverage, compliance, FX expertise, local payout rails, hedging capabilities, and relationship management.

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Complex sales leadership: Own opportunities from initial engagement through qualification, business-case development, solution design, commercial negotiation, contracting, and internal approval.

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Anchor partnerships: Identify strategically important partners that can provide brand value, market credibility, learning, or co-development potential in addition to direct revenue.

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Cross-functional orchestration: Mobilise Product, Solutions Consulting, Technology, Legal, Compliance, Pricing, Finance, Operations, Implementation, and Marketing to progress opportunities and resolve barriers.

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Disciplined handover: Transition signed partners to the appropriate implementation, partner activation, and account-management teams with clear commercial commitments, success measures, and ownership.

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Selective future-vertical development: Maintain informed coverage of marketplace and AP automation opportunities, but pursue selectively and in line with product and technology readiness.

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Sales discipline: Maintainaccurate CRM data, next steps, qualification, forecasting, risks, and commercial assumptions; use insight to improve conversion and sales velocity.

Measures of success

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Pipeline creation: Value, quality, coverage, and progression of net-new qualified pipeline.

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New partner wins: Signed partnerships and contracted revenue potential in priority workforce-payment verticals.

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Strategic fit: Proportion of pipeline aligned to the target partner profile, priority verticals, and North American growth agenda.

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Commercial quality: Sustainable economics, FX capture opportunity, scalable operating model, and clear route to downstream customer adoption.

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Execution: Forecast accuracy, stage progression, internal alignment, and clean handover after signature.

What you bring

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Experience: 7+ years in B2B business development or enterprise sales, ideally within payments, fintech, payroll, pension, HR technology, SaaS, or financial services.

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Proactive new business development track record: Demonstrated success creating pipeline from the ground up and closing complex net-new business.

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Channel sales: Experience selling through partnerships, platforms, intermediaries, or embedded distribution models, including an understanding of downstream customer economics.

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Payments knowledge: Understanding of cross-border payments, mass payments, local payout rails, foreign exchange, hedging, compliance, and partner-led payment models.

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Technical confidence: Ability to sell integrated and API-enabled solutions credibly while matching the solution to current product capability and implementation readiness.

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Commercial acumen: Strong skills in qualification, opportunity sizing, business cases, pricing, negotiation, and multi-party deal structuring.

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Executive influence: Confidence engaging senior commercial, product, technology, finance, treasury, compliance, and operations stakeholders.

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Ways of working: High ownership, persistence, sound judgement, curiosity, and the ability to operate effectively in a remote, cross-functional environment.

Preferred qualifications

• An established network across North American payroll, pension, HR technology, workforce management, travel and expense, global mobility, or enterprise payments.

• Experience with complex partner models involving end-customer onboarding, activation, revenue sharing, FX capture, or joint go-to-market activity.

• Experience working across the United States and Canada.

Role boundaries

• The role is accountable for net-new partner acquisition and is distinct from the ongoing account management and development of established partner portfolios.

• Post-signature end-customer activation, ongoing cross-sell, joint partner marketing, and operational issue management will be led by the designated activation and account-management owners, with the Senior Business Development Manager supporting an effective transition.

• Aggressive pursuit of marketplace and AP automation partnerships…