Trifecta Consulting Services
Global Director - Strategic Brand Partnerships and Merchandise
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Global Director - Strategic Brand Partnerships and Merchandise
Global Director – Strategic Brand Partnerships & Merchandise
Location: Remote (Europe or UK) Reporting to: Chief Marketplace Officer
About the Role
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 programmes
- Employee recognition platforms
- Incentive systems
- Banking and financial engagement
- Airline and customer engagement programmes
Through:
- AI-driven catalogue infrastructure
- Global merchant networks
- White-label rewards marketplaces
Their mission is 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 shifts beyond third-party gift cards and products. The future belongs to organisations that deliver:
- Exclusive merchandise
- Premium brand partnerships
- Curated collections
- Differentiated reward experiences
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
- 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
- Strategic supplier partnerships
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Brand Partnerships & Global Supplier Strategy
- Develop and execute the global supplier and partnership strategy across:
- Merchandise
- Experiences
- Reward content
- Build long-term strategic relationships with:
- Internationally recognised consumer brands
- Manufacturers
- Distributors
- Regional suppliers
- Optimise the supplier ecosystem across:
- Strategic partnerships
- Aggregators
- Direct merchants
- Identify opportunities for exclusive partnerships that create meaningful competitive differentiation.
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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
- Middle East
- Japan
- Latin America
- Sustainability-led product ranges
- Celebrity and influencer collaborations
- Limited-edition reward campaigns
"Differentiated merchandise has become one of the biggest drivers of engagement within loyalty and recognition programmes."
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 (not just transactional 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:
- Global consistency and regional relevance.
AI-Driven Marketplace Performance Partner with Product and AI teams to develop:
- 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 (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods)
- Employee recognition
- Loyalty
- Incentive programmes
- Customer engagement platforms
Help clients move beyond standard reward catalogues by creating:
- Unique branded merchandise propositions
- Exclusive experiences to strengthen loyalty and engagement.
Leadership
- Lead an international team of:
- Supplier partnership managers
- Regional content leads
- Catalogue specialists
- Build a high-performing, commercially focused team with:
- Accountability
- Collaboration
- Continuous improvement across markets
Performance Optimisation Monitor and continuously improve:
- Catalogue coverage
- Product availability
- Supplier performance
- Conversion
- Margin
- Customer engagement
- Data quality
- Assortment performance
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Cross-Functional Collaboration Partner closely with:
- Commercial
- Product
- AI
- Platform Engineering
- Marketplace Operations
- Finance
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 just managed marketplace operations.
You’ll likely bring 8–12+ years’ of 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 (Gross Merchandise Volume) 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
- 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
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
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