Head - Brand Partnerships & Merchant Network - FinTech

About the organisation:

Mai Labs is a global technology company specialising in blockchain infrastructure, Web3 automation, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation. Founded in India and operating across multiple international hubs, we design and deploy platforms that connect industries, simplify blockchain adoption, and open new frontiers for enterprises, developers, and communities worldwide.

The Role:

This role owns the supply side of the CorpCash ecosystem - the brand and merchant deals that make corporate wallets and people benefits worth spending. Demand side (corporate acquisition, channel distribution) sits with the Head of GTM & Growth. The ideal candidate has built a partnerships engine in benefits, loyalty, OTA, or B2B commerce - closing anchor national brands directly and running a scalable long-tail merchant motion in parallel.

Key Responsibilities:

- Category Coverage & Adoption: Build the redemption category map from actual employee spend patterns - food, travel, wellness, retail, entertainment, fuel, learning. Own monthly active redeemers as the north-star adoption metric.

- Marquee Brand Tie-ups: Sign 10 - 15 anchor national brands each year - category-leading, employee-relevant, with user-facing offer economics that stand out in the market.

- Commercial Discipline: Negotiate MOU commercials end-to-end - MDR share, cashback funding, settlement terms - within Board-approved cost bands. Right cost, not cheapest, not most expensive.

- Leverage & Exclusivity: Structure category exclusivity, co-marketing rights, and preferred-partner constructs. Build negotiation position from CorpCash's employee reach and committed spend.

- Long-tail Merchant & Orchestration: Build a scalable acquisition motion for regional and long-tail merchants across direct, aggregator-led, and API or BIN-based routes. Partner cross-functionally on integration depth, campaigns, MOUs, and settlement.

Candidate Profile:

Background:

- Large loyalty and rewards platforms with multi brand-partnership depth (Payback, Times Prime, Amex Membership Rewards, HDFC SmartBuy, ixigo Money)

- Partner side of fintech and credit card rewards ecosystem - supply and merchant side.

- Large OTA or B2B commerce with merchant and brand-alliance ownership (MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Amazon Business, aggregators merchant sides)

Strong Fit Indicators:

- Track record of signing anchor national brands with category exclusivity or preferred-partner constructs

- Direct MOU and contract ownership - has closed brand deals end-to-end, not just managed them post-signing

- Experience building tiered merchant networks (national + regional + long-tail); a live merchant and brand rolodex to activate from day one

Domain Knowledge:

- MDR economics, cashback funding structures, revenue-share models, and category exclusivity trade-offs

- Merchant acquisition motions across direct, aggregator, and API or BIN routes

- Redemption UX and integration depth trade-offs - deep-link vs API vs voucher (preferred)

Critical Success Factors (12 Months):

- 10 - 15 marquee national brands signed with category exclusivity or preferred-partner terms

- Category coverage live across defined verticals (food, travel, wellness, retail, entertainment, fuel, learning)

- Periodic active redeemers reaching target percentage of activated employees

- Blended commercial (MDR + cashback net cost)