Fintech Partnerships Lead

Job Summary

The Fintech Partnerships Lead supports UFCU's fintech and innovation agenda by managing key partnerships, pilots, and fintech ecosystem engagements. Reporting to the Director, Fintech Strategy & Partnerships, this role focuses on execution, coordination, and relationship management across the fintech portfolio.

This role works closely with Product Owners, Researchers, and cross-functional partners to ensure fintech collaborations are well-integrated, efficiently delivered, and generate measurable value for members. This role bridges external innovation with internal experimentation by coordinating fintech engagements, aligning pilot planning with member research, and tracking results to support decision‑making.

The Fintech Partnerships Lead also engages within the broader fintech ecosystem, including accelerators, investment networks, and peer credit unions, to identify emerging opportunities that align with UFCU's strategic goals.

Our Credit Union was founded in 1936 and has grown to serve members throughout Texas and beyond. At UFCU, we are more than just a financial institution, and our people are more than just employees. We are dedicated to our purpose of empowering our Members to achieve financial success and build brighter futures.

We are driven by a profound sense of empathy to deeply understand our Members' needs and preferences, what brighter futures means to them, and the obstacles in their way. We act in our Members' best interests, forever seeking to empower their financial success.

We are inspired to courageously experiment, learn, and iterate in pursuit of positive impact for our Members, UFCU, and coworkers. We challenge assumptions, embrace diverse perspectives, and make use of data and insights.

We do the right thing, always. We champion teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and celebrate successful outcomes of others, fostering an inclusive environment of excellence and collaboration.

• Manage day‑to‑day relationships with fintech partners, ensuring alignment with UFCU objectives and member experience priorities.
• Coordinate onboarding, integration, and partnership activities in collaboration with Product Owners, Technology, Compliance, and Operations teams.
• Maintain a comprehensive fintech portfolio tracker that captures partner status, performance metrics, and outcomes.
• Support vendor assessments, due diligence, and risk reviews for new and existing partnerships.
• Serve as the central point of contact between fintech partners and internal stakeholders to ensure coordination and transparency.

• Plan and coordinate pilot projects from initiation through completion, ensuring objectives, scope, and milestones are achieved.
• Facilitate internal readiness across business and technology teams for successful pilot launches.
• Partner with the Director, Fintech Strategy & Partnerships to evaluate pilot results and develop recommendations for scaling or next steps.
• Document learnings and process improvements to enhance UFCU's pilot management framework.

• Partner with UFCU's research team to integrate research, testing, and member feedback into fintech pilots and proofs of concept.
• Work with the Senior Researcher to align pilot timelines with research cycles, usability testing, and validation activities.
• Ensure findings from moderated and unmoderated research are incorporated into pilot planning and partner discussions.
• Coordinate with researchers to translate member insights into actionable design and experience improvements.
• Communicate research‑informed insights and pilot outcomes to internal stakeholders and partners.

• Monitor fintech trends and emerging technologies across key domains such as payments, lending, data enrichment, and member personalization.
• Build and maintain relationships with fintech accelerators, venture partners, and peer credit unions to identify future…