Director, Strategic Partnerships (SaaS & Marketplace Ecosystems | Platform Integrations | Partnership Channel Growth)

Kiavi is one of the nation’s largest private lenders to residential real estate investors (REIs). We harness the power of data & technology to offer our customers a simpler, more reliable, and faster way to access the capital they need to scale their businesses. 

Formerly known as LendingHome, we’re committed to helping REIs revitalize the approximately $25 trillion worth of aged U.S. housing stock to provide move-in ready homes and rental housing for millions of Americans across the country.

Combining our technology and industry expertise, Kiavi has grown to a team of over 400 and has won many awards over the years including Forbes Fintech 50, Finovate Awards, Best Digital Mortgage Platform, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and many more. 

• Loans Funded: $28 billion in loans funded
• Homes financed: 100,000+ projects funded for our customers across the country
• Geography: 45 states + D.C. where we lend to REIs so they can revitalize neighborhoods
• Employees: Over 450 employees with competitive benefits and perks

This position can be based remotely in any of our approved hiring regions. Our hybrid distributed workforce philosophy allows us to find the best talent in the country and build diverse teams, while allowing our colleagues to work from the location that works best for them. 

The Director of Partnerships is a critical growth driver for the business. Reporting to the Head of Marketing, this role is focused on creating Kiavi’s overall partnership strategy and framework, including developing, managing, and scaling partnerships that (in)directly generate qualified leads, new referrals, and loan submissions across all of Kiavi’s existing product lines.

This role requires a deep understanding of the real estate investment ecosystem and can build programs with a clear ROI, compliance oversight, and technical feasibility. You will be responsible for turning a top-level strategy into a scalable, high-performing lead generation partnership program. This is an opportunity to build Kiavi’s partnerships program from the ground up, creating a high-velocity growth channel that scales Kiavi’s customer acquisition efforts.  

• Strategy and Framework: Create and establish the overall partnership strategy and framework for partner identification, sourcing, selection, business models, etc. 
• Strategic Sourcing: Define the target partner profile and aggressively pursue high-value relationships with entities that have direct access to Kiavi’s target customers (REIs), including lenders with adjacent loan products, PropTech platforms, property marketplaces, real estate investor education companies, brokerage networks, and other complimentary FinTechs. 
• Full-Cycle Management: Own the entire partnership lifecycle from initial outreach and negotiation to contract signing, technical integration, launch, and performance optimization.
• KPI Ownership: Manage the partnership channel against strict performance metrics, including Lead Volume, Lead-to-Submit Conversion Rate, Funded Loan Volume (ROI), and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Regularly present performance insights and forecasts to the Head of Marketing and executive leadership.
• Partnership Roadmap: Develop a clear execution roadmap for new and existing partnerships, detailing expected lead flow, resource requirements, and go-to-market plans.

• Compliance & Risk Alignment: Work closely with the Compliance, Risk, and Legal teams to ensure all partnership agreements, marketing disclosures, and lead generation mechanics adhere to regulatory requirements and minimize credit or legal risk.
• Tech Integration: Collaborate with Technology and Data Science teams to define and implement necessary API integrations, data sharing protocols, and tracking mechanisms to ensure seamless lead transfer, accurate reporting, and efficient borrower experience.
• Sales Enablement: Partner with Sales/Account Management to develop smooth lead handoff processes, create training materials for partner referral teams, and ensure high conversion rates for referred leads.
• Marketing Alignment: Work with Marketing to ensure partners are equipped with the latest product knowledge, compelling positioning, and effective sales enablement materials for all Kiavi loan products.

• Program Optimization: Oversee and optimize Kiavi’s existing referral programs, refining incentive structures and performance tiers to maximize engagement and output.
• Financial Discipline: Manage the partnerships budget, clearly articulating the ROI of channel investments and making data-driven recommendations for resource allocation.
• Team Management: Lead the Partnerships team, including hiring and managing new team members as necessary. 
• Market Intelligence: Serve as an internal expert on the partnership landscape, identifying emerging trends, competitive partnership activities, and new channels for lead generation within the REI space.

• 8-10+ years of experience in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, or Channel Sales, with a strong focus on lead generation and performance-based marketing.
• 4+ years of leadership/management experience in developing and executing a formal partnership strategy.
• Demonstrated experience building partnerships within the financial services, FinTech, mortgage, or PropTech sectors is highly preferred.
• A proven track record of meeting or exceeding quantifiable growth targets (e.g., loan volume, revenue, pipeline) driven by the partnership channel.
• Exceptional negotiation skills and the ability to structure complex incentives and technical agreements.
• Highly data-driven with expertise in utilizing CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and partner management platforms to track performance and attribute ROI.
• Strong understanding of the risk and compliance implications inherent in financial product referral and partnership agreements.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-change environment and manage multiple executive stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, or a related field.

Kiavi takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. The expected annualized base pay range for this full-time role to be performed remotely is $140K to $230K + 15% bonus + benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Your recruiter can share more about the specific base pay range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Please note that the pay range listed above reflects the base salary only, and does not include the target value of bonus, equity, or benefits.

Benefits and Perks 

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Kiavi offers free employee-only coverage for medical, dental, and vision plans. Dependents receive a heavily discounted premium, competitively placed in the 90th percentile for cost.
• Health Savings Account (HSA): For those enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), Kiavi provides an annual employer contribution to HSAs: $1,000 for individual coverage and $2,000 for dependents.
• Disability and Life Insurance: Immediate access to short-term and long-term disability insurance, as well as group life and AD&D insurance, with coverage at 1x annual salary.
• Remote Work Policy: Kiavi supports working remotely for day to day activities for most roles and occasionally may ask employees to gather in person for key meetings, training, team building etc. For remote workers, Kiavi offers a one-time office setup reimbursement of up to $500 and a monthly $85 stipend for internet and phone expenses. For in-office workers, Kiavi offers employer contributions to commuter benefits account, either for parking or public transportation.
• Flexible Time Off: Employees are empowered to manage their own time off, with no strict limits, as long as it's approved by their manager.
• Paid Leaves: Up to 8 weeks of paid leave for medical or caregiver purposes, and 12 weeks of paid maternity/paternity leave. Short-term disability leave is also available for birthing mothers.
• 401(k) & Company Match: A 401(k) plan managed by Fidelity, with Kiavi matching 100% of contributions up to 3% of compensation or $8,000 (whichever is less). All employer contributions are immediately vested.

Protect yourself from recruitment scams:

• If you are offered an interview or a role with Kiavi, this will be communicated with you through email, via an official email address ending in @kiavi.com or @lendinghome.com. 
• You will never be asked for payments of any kind during the process.
• We also never communicate with candidates via Whatsapp at any point during the recruitment process. 
• We won’t ask for personal information or data via text message. If you have any concerns regarding how genuine a text message is, please contact your recruiter.
• You can find our official Kiavi careers page here. We advise you to check that the page details and website addresses match if you have any concerns.