Global Director - Strategic Brand Partnerships and Merchandise

Location: Remote (Europe or UK)

Reporting to: Chief Marketplace Officer

Build the Supply Backbone of the World's Most Differentiated Rewards Marketplace

Our client pioneered the global rewards marketplace category and is now redefining it for the AI era. Their technology powers some of the world's leading loyalty, employee recognition, incentive, banking, airline and customer engagement programmes through AI-driven catalogue infrastructure, global merchant networks and white-label rewards marketplaces. Their mission is simple yet ambitious: to become the trusted custodian of gratitude, connecting brands with their most valuable audiences - customers, employees and channel partners through exceptional reward experiences.

As the rewards industry evolves, competitive advantage is shifting away from simply aggregating third-party gift cards and products. The future belongs to organisations that can deliver exclusive merchandise, premium brand partnerships, curated collections and differentiated reward experiences. To support this vision, we are seeking a Global Director – Strategic Brand Partnerships & Merchandise to lead the global commercial strategy for supplier partnerships, premium merchandise, branded collections and catalogue development.

This is a unique opportunity to build one of the industry's most compelling AI-powered rewards marketplaces, where exclusive content, strategic partnerships and intelligent merchandising become true commercial differentiators.

The Role

This is far more than a supplier management or catalogue leadership position. You'll own the global strategy for building a world-class reward ecosystem by combining premium global brands, exclusive collections, AI-powered merchandising and strategic supplier partnerships. Working closely with Commercial, Product, Marketplace Technology, AI and Finance teams, you'll create a scalable global rewards infrastructure capable of supporting millions of reward choices while delivering exceptional commercial performance. You'll transform the marketplace from a traditional reward catalogue into a highly differentiated destination for premium merchandise and exclusive brand experiences.

What You'll Do

• Strategic Brand Partnerships & Global Supplier Strategy
  • Develop and execute the global supplier and partnership strategy across merchandise, experiences and reward content.
  • Build long-term strategic relationships with internationally recognised consumer brands, manufacturers, distributors and regional suppliers.
  • Optimise the supplier ecosystem across strategic partnerships, aggregators and direct merchants to deliver the strongest commercial and customer outcomes.
  • Identify opportunities for exclusive partnerships that create meaningful competitive differentiation.
• Premium Merchandise & Exclusive Collections
  • Lead the strategy and development of premium merchandise propositions including:
  • Exclusive branded collections
  • Private-label reward ranges
  • Seasonal merchandise launches
  • Curated premium collections
  • Regional collections across Europe, the Middle East, Japan and Latin America
  • Sustainability-led product ranges
  • Celebrity and influencer collaborations
  • Limited-edition reward campaigns
• Commercial Leadership
  • Lead complex supplier negotiations and commercial agreements.
  • Improve profitability through:
  • Margin optimisation
  • Strategic pricing
  • Commercial contracting
  • Supplier economics
  • Category profitability
  • Faster onboarding of new partners
  • Build commercial relationships that create long-term strategic value rather than purely transactional supplier arrangements.
• Global Catalogue Strategy
  • Build and scale one of the world's largest AI-enabled reward catalogues
  • Lead:
  • Assortment planning
  • Product lifecycle management
  • Category strategy
  • Product taxonomy
  • Catalogue governance
  • Data quality
  • Content enrichment
  • Localisation
  • AI-ready product structures
  • Ensure every catalogue reflects both global consistency and regional relevance.
• AI-Driven Marketplace Performance
  • Partner with Product and AI teams to develop intelligent merchandising capabilities including:
  • AI-assisted assortment optimisation
  • Personalised reward recommendations
  • Automated catalogue enrichment
  • Intelligent merchandising
  • Regional assortment optimisation
  • Data-driven supplier insights
• White-Label Marketplace Strategy
  • Develop differentiated catalogue strategies for global clients across:
  • Banking
  • Airlines
  • Retail
  • FMCG
  • Employee recognition
  • Loyalty
  • Incentive programmes
  • Customer engagement platforms
  • Help clients move beyond standard reward catalogues by creating unique branded merchandise propositions and exclusive experiences that strengthen customer loyalty and employee engagement.
• Leadership
  • Lead an international team of supplier partnership managers, regional content leads and catalogue specialists.
  • Build a high-performing, commercially focused team that delivers at pace while driving accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement across multiple international markets.
• Performance Optimisation
  • Monitor and continuously improve:
  • Catalogue coverage
  • Product availability
  • Supplier performance
  • Conversion
  • Margin
  • Customer engagement
  • Data quality
  • Assortment performance
  • Work closely with Pricing, Marketplace Operations and Commercial teams to maximise marketplace performance.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Partner closely with Commercial, Product, AI, Platform Engineering, Marketplace Operations and Finance to ensure supplier strategy aligns with broader commercial objectives and marketplace innovation.

What You'll Bring

We're looking for someone who has genuinely built differentiated merchandise propositions—not simply managed marketplace operations. You'll likely bring 8–12 years' experience within:

• Loyalty and rewards
• Employee recognition
• Incentive and engagement
• Marketplace businesses
• Premium retail
• Global sourcing
• Brand licensing
• Consumer goods
• Corporate gifting
• eCommerce
• Merchandise strategy

You'll have demonstrated success in:

• Global sourcing strategy
• Strategic brand partnerships
• Premium branded collections
• Exclusive supplier agreements
• Private-label development
• Assortment planning
• Seasonal product launches
• Commercial negotiations
• Margin optimisation
• Global supplier relationship management
• Large-scale catalogue management
• API-enabled marketplace ecosystems
• Leading distributed international teams

Experience within the loyalty, rewards or incentive industry would be highly advantageous.

How Success Will Be Measured

• Growth in exclusive brand partnerships.
• Expansion of premium merchandise collections.
• Global catalogue coverage and availability.
• Supplier performance and strategic partner mix.
• Margin improvement and commercial performance.
• Speed of supplier onboarding.
• Catalogue quality and AI readiness.
• Customer engagement and marketplace conversion.
• Contribution to GMV growth.
• Successful delivery of differentiated white-label reward propositions.

What's In It For You

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonus.
• Fully remote role based in Europe or the UK.
• The opportunity to build and lead a strategically critical global function.
• Work at the intersection of AI, commerce, loyalty and strategic partnerships.
• Shape the future of the global rewards marketplace industry.
• Collaborate with some of the world's leading brands and loyalty programmes.
• Play a defining role in creating the next generation of AI-powered reward experiences.