Partnerships have become central for almost every firm I work with. Platforms partner with banks and comparison sites. Life companies partner with asset managers and DFMs. Asset managers co-manufacture for someone else's brand. And the banks and neobanks are building much of their investment offer through partners.
The role isn't just selling. It means structuring a deal that works commercially for both sides, then working across product, legal, compliance, marketing and operations to land it, and keeping the partnership healthy and growing long after launch. It's increasingly part of the skill set expected in senior distribution roles too, not only for people with "partnerships" in their title.
Where I place strategic partnership leaders
- Banks and neobanks
- Investment platforms
- Life and retirement providers
- DFMs
- Asset managers
- Fintech and wealthtech firms
Who I've worked with
I placed Insignis's Head of Wealth, Brooks Macdonald's Director of National and Network Distributors, and Strategic Account Directors for Vanguard.
How I work
Exclusive or retained, one brief at a time. That means a proper look across the whole market rather than the first ten CVs on a database, and a shortlist of people I've actually spoken to. Usually four, not forty.
If you're building partnerships into your growth plans, I'd like to hear about it.