Product Partnerships Manager

About the role

The Product Partnerships Manager is responsible for managing and operationalizing integrations with banks and financial institutions that enable Lean's payment, open banking, and digital asset products. This is a product-adjacent partnerships role focused on technical enablement, compliance onboarding, and operational alignment, rather than commercial sales or pipeline generation.

You will drive the end-to-end lifecycle of a bank partnership - from initial requirements gathering, to onboarding and account opening, as well as managing the bank relationship throughout the product integration, testing, go-live process, and ongoing operational management.

This role is ideal for someone who is structured, highly cross-functional, technically curious, and comfortable navigating banking, regulatory, and operational complexity.

The Moment

Lean has tripled in size over the past twelve months. We're on track to triple again next year.

What started as the region's pioneering Open Finance platform is now becoming something bigger: a multi-product infrastructure company powering payments, data, and lending across MENA. We're expanding into new markets, opening offices, acquiring businesses, and building capabilities that didn't exist here before.

We've processed billions of dollars in transactions. We're trusted by 350+ clients - from Binance and Careem to Etisalat - and backed by General Catalyst, Sequoia, and Shorooq. Our $67.5M Series B was just the beginning.

What you'll own

Operational Relationship Management

• Act as the operational owner for assigned bank relationships.
• Maintain strong working relationships across the bank.
• Manage operational issues, incident escalations, and day-to-day coordination.
• Lead weekly or biweekly operational syncs with bank partners and Lean internal teams.
• Organize and maintain operational runbooks, escalation paths, and integration documentation.

Bank Account Opening & Operational Setup

• Drive the account opening lifecycle across multiple banks for multi-currency accounts
• Coordinate documentation with internal Legal, Compliance, Finance, Treasury teams.
• Manage signatories, mandates, pricing schedules, and bank operational requirements.

Cross-Functional Project Management

• Own cross-functional workstreams between Product, Engineering, Compliance, Finance, and Operations.
• Maintain shared project plans, dashboards, and integration timelines for internal visibility.
• Drive structured communication to ensure all teams stay aligned and unblock roadblocks promptly.
• Prepare internal briefs, integration memos, and updates for leadership

FI Outreach and Engagement

• Work with product and engineering teams to identify operational gaps and product partnership needs
• Support the engagement and outreach to new FI and bank partners
• Identify and engage strategic partners to support product operations

What we're looking for

• 5+ years of experience in product operations, product partnerships, or technical partnership management roles within the fintech space.
• Experience managing complex integration projects involving engineering, compliance, and operations
• Familiarity with bank compliance and regulatory requirements
• Strong project management capabilities and comfort coordinating multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Strong analytical, structured thinking, and documentation skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with ambiguity and shifting priorities.
• Able to maintain calm, clarity, and organization when dealing with bank bureaucracy or operational issues.