Head of BD & Partnerships - Remote

Sardine is the leading agentic risk platform for fighting financial crime. Our integrated solution unifies data across risk teams to help organizations stop fraud in real time, prevent AI-driven attacks, and automate fraud and AML operations. Sardine’s platform is strengthened by one of the fastest-growing fraud consortiums in the market, spanning more than 6 billion profiled devices, 800 million consumers, and 3 million businesses worldwide. We have hubs in the Bay Area, NYC, Austin, Toronto, and São Paulo. However, we maintain a remote-first work culture. #We value performance and not hours worked. We believe you shouldn't have to miss your family dinner, your kid's school play, friends get-together, or doctor's appointments for the sake of adhering to an arbitrary work schedule.

Hybrid (Berkeley, California) - Candidates must be located in the San Francisco Bay Area and able to commute to our Berkeley office on a regular basis.

We are a remote-first company with a globally distributed team. You'll be Sardine's dedicated Head of Partnerships, owning the strategy, leading the team, and personally closing the relationships that matter most. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll partner with the executive team to architect an ecosystem spanning banks, data providers, AI platforms, and global channel networks.

You will own the full partnership lifecycle- sourcing, negotiating, launching, and maintaining the relationships that power Sardine's growth. You'll serve as the primary representative of Sardine's interests externally while championing partners' needs internally, working closely with product, engineering, marketing, sales, and legal to ensure the right alliances are in place to make payments safer and faster.

Own the partnership strategy end-to-end. Define the taxonomy (banking, data, AI, channel), set the roadmap, and align it to revenue and product goals alongside the CEO.

Build and scale the partnerships team. Lead a small high-performance team as we grow; Cultivate deep ties with Tier 1, regional, and correspondent banks as distribution, data, and co-sell partners.

Develop data partnerships. Structure commercial relationships with credit bureaus, alternative data providers, and consortium networks that extend Sardine's signal coverage.

Engage cloud providers, LLM platforms, and core banking vendors to embed Sardine in the AI-native financial services stack.

Identify, prioritize, and activate regional partners across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM to support international go-to-market and compliance requirements.

Work with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Sales to structure integrations, co-sell motions, and joint GTM plans that create durable commercial value.

10+ years in partnerships, BD, or alliance leadership at a fintech, RegTech, fraud/risk platform, or financial infrastructure company with at least 2 of those years in a senior leadership role owning a partner portfolio with measurable revenue attribution.

• Deep financial services and payments experience. You understand how fintechs and banks buy and partner, who the real decision-makers are, and you've sat across the table from Chief Risk Officers, CTOs, and Heads of Compliance.
• Data partnership credibility. You've negotiated and managed relationships with credit bureaus, identity data providers, or financial data networks.
• You understand how AI platforms, cloud hyperscalers, and core banking vendors fit into a modern financial services stack, and how to position within them. You lead by example, roll up your sleeves, and understand that at this stage, your personal execution matters as much as your strategic judgment.
• Regulatory fluency. Commercial instinct. You can structure complex partnership economics, evaluate strategic vs. revenue-driving relationships, and build business cases that hold up to board scrutiny.
• Bonus for active relationships in Canada, EMEA, APAC, or LATAM.

Generous compensation in cash and equity

• Remote-first Culture
• Flexible paid time off and Year-end break
• Health insurance, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents - US and Canada specific
• One-time stipend to set up a home office — desk, chair, screen, etc.
• To learn more about how we process your personal information and your rights in regards to your personal information as an applicant and Sardine employee, please visit our [ Applicant and Worker Privacy Notice ]( .