Vice President, Strategic Partnerships

Job Summary

The Vice President, Strategic Partnerships is responsible for growing MAG’s membership and sponsorship base, strengthening MAG’s position as “the voice of the merchant” in the payments ecosystem, and working with C-suite executives at the MAG’s partner organizations. Reporting to the COO, this role sets the external engagement and growth strategy, defines profitable strategic priorities, and drives measurable outcomes across acquisition, renewals, retention, and revenue performance.

Guided by MAG Values, this executive leads the Strategic Partnerships team and collaborates closely across MAG departments to ensure programs, benefits, and engagement moments deliver clear value for all partners. The role ensures the MAG leverages data and performance insights to inform decision-making, strengthen execution, and support financial goals in alignment with MAG processes and policies.

• Set and execute MAG’s external engagement strategy with payments leaders and the broader merchant ecosystem to elevate MAG as “the voice of the merchant.”
• Own the U.S. merchant membership and sponsorship growth strategies—defining target segments and leading acquisition and renewal approaches with measurable outcomes.
• Translate MAG’s mission and market dynamics into clear growth priorities for membership, sponsorship, and engagement programs.
• Define, refine, and communicate MAG’s value proposition to support sustainable growth and relevance across merchant verticals and partners.
• Maintain current knowledge of payments industry trends and proactively identify implications for MAG programming, partnerships, and revenue strategy.
• Identify/evaluate emerging market and opportunities to inform new revenue models and long‑term growth.
• Manage oversight of the MAG competitive landscape to determine threats and opportunities for the MAG.

• Own revenue growth outcomes for sponsor ships and memberships—setting annual revenue targets, growth priorities, and accountability for results.
• Develop and own MAG’s multi‑year revenue strategy, including identifying, validating, and launching new revenue opportunities with clear business cases, targets, and execution roadmaps.
• Establish the pipeline strategy and operating cadence for sponsor and member growth.
• Set strategy for sponsor and member offerings ensuring alignment to MAG’s strategy/market needs.
• Define and govern performance management for acquisition, renewal, retention, and pipeline health; use insights to prioritize improvements and remove barriers that constrain growth.
• Lead Strategic Partnerships’ contribution to annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting cadence in partnership with the COO and Finance; ensuring revenue plans are measurable and achievable.
• Partner with Conferences and Events and other internal business teams to enable domestic conference revenue growth, aligning sponsorship/member strategy to event‑related opportunities.

• Ensure a high-quality end-to-end experience for members and sponsors—from initial engagement through onboarding, delivery of benefits, and renewal/retention.
• Maintain executive-level relationships with key sponsor and member stakeholders; anticipate needs, resolve issues, and protect long‑term partnership value.
• Support clear service standards and handoffs across the organization to ensure consistent delivery.
• Champion continuous improvement of sponsor and member journeys, using feedback and program insights to enhance value and engagement.

• Devise strategies that maximize merchant collaboration, networking, and education; ensuring programs and engagement opportunities strengthen MAG’s community.
• Represent MAG at key conferences and related events to expand MAG’s network.
• Partner across the organization to ensure member and sponsor benefits drive measurable outcomes.

• Ensure Strategic Partnerships’ strategy and execution are supported by accurate, timely data
• Align on AMS data…