Merchants Strategy Manager

🧡 Coverflex

Work changed. Pay didn’t.

Coverflex exists to make compensation work for everyone.

Pay is still rigid, fragmented, and hard to feel.

We turn compensation into choice — one platform, one card, one app — for benefits, meal allowance, insurance and more.

Our platform is simple for HR and meaningful for employees.

We provide choice, smarter compensation tools and empowerment.

⚙️ TL;DR (The Essentials)

Role: Merchants Strategy Manager
Seniority Level: Manager
Type: Individual Contributor
Languages: English (main) / Portuguese, Spanish or Italian (strong plus)
Main Tools: HubSpot, Excel/Google Sheets, Slides/Notion, AI tools
Location: Remote (Europe)
Contract Type: Permanent
Compensation:

• Base Salary: €50,000 - €75,000

• Bonus / Commissions: OTE 70/30

• Equity: Yes – Stock Options under our Equity Incentive Plan

• Benefits: you can check them below (at the end of the page)
  

💥 Your Impact

You’ll build and scale Coverflex’s merchant and partnerships strategy — unlocking new distribution channels and increasing the value captured from every euro spent on the platform.

Your mission is to drive more spend through Coverflex and capture more value from that spend, turning merchants and partnerships into a repeatable growth and monetization engine.

You’ll know you’re successful when, after 90 days, you’ve:

• Closed and started ramping strategic distribution partnerships

• Built a clear strategy and roadmap to monetize merchant spend

• Established strong cross-functional alignment to execute partnerships

How we’ll measure success:

Main KPI 1: Number and quality of strategic partnerships
Main KPI 2: ARR and ARPU impact generated through partnerships
Main KPI 3: Incremental revenue from merchants
Main KPI 4: Employee experience signals (e.g. NPS / feedback)

⚡ Reality Check – What Makes This Role Hard

Let’s be real — this is a 0→1, high-ambiguity role with real execution pressure.

Here’s what makes it challenging:

• You’re building repeatable partnership and merchant motions from scratch

• Success depends on multiple teams moving in sync (Product, Sales, Marketing, local markets)

• Deals are complex and custom, requiring strong commercial structuring and negotiation

• Sales cycles are long and uneven, especially with strategic partners

• You’ll operate across multiple markets, each with different dynamics and constraints

• Measuring impact requires clear attribution, discipline, and reporting rigor

👤 You

Must-haves

• 6+ years in Strategy, Partnerships, or Corporate Development

• Proven track record sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and closing partnerships end-to-end

• Strong ability to design commercial models (rev-share, commissions, incentives)

• Strategic operator: able to translate strategy into execution plans and measurable KPIs

• Experience working cross-functionally with Product, Marketing, and Sales

• Experience launching partnerships post-signature (enablement, GTM, optimization)

• Strong written and verbal communication (exec-ready materials)

• Fluent in English

Nice-to-have

• Experience in high-growth B2B SaaS, fintech, or HR tech

• Experience building merchant networks or marketplace dynamics

• Experience working across multiple European markets

• Experience in remote, distributed teams

🧬 Your DNA

• Builder mindset: you create from zero and turn ideas into repeatable systems.

• Commercial thinker: you understand how value is created, shared, and scaled.

• Ownership: you take full responsibility from sourcing to execution.

• Comfort with ambiguity: you move forward without perfect clarity.

• Cross-functional leader: you align teams without formal authority.

• Execution-focused: you don’t stop at strategy, you deliver outcomes.

You’ll probably find this frustrating if…

• You prefer strategy over hands-on execution

• You need clear structure and stable priorities to perform

• You avoid risk or experimentation

• You struggle to operate across multiple stakeholders and markets

• You’re uncomfortable owning outcomes end-to-end

👥 Manager & Team

Meet Your Manager

Hiring Manager: Quentin Demeestère — VP Strategy & Corporate Development
Location: Italy
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentindemeestere/

Profile Snapshot:

• Energy: Calm, thorough, and composed under pressure

• Communication: Clear, structured, and concise

• Feedback Style: Frequent, specific, and respectful

How to work with me - in the Manager's own words:

“Low-ego and collaborative. I care about impact and achieving ambitious goals with meaning.

I’m available, transparent, and supportive — I provide context, remove roadblocks, and expect strong ownership.

Once we have clarity and trust, I give full autonomy and expect people to drive outcomes. I stay close enough to help, without micromanaging.”

Your Team

You’ll work day-to-day with:

• You’ll be the first hire in this team, so you'll be working with your direct manager

Key Stakeholders:

• Sales

• Local Partnerships

• Product

• Customer Success

💜 Access & Belonging (Equal Opportunity)

We hire for impact and potential, not pedigree.
We welcome applications from people with non-linear careers, career breaks, caregiving gaps, and those changing fields.

No discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender identity/expression, marital or family status, pregnancy, neurodivergence, race/ethnicity, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation, or any other protected ground.

Assessment fairness:
We anchor on evidence of outcomes (what you shipped, moved, or influenced).
We actively de-bias by using structured rubrics, multiple assessors, and blind screening most of the time (we won’t know your name, gender, or personal info until the interview stage).

📬 Application Clarity

No cover letter required.
Apply with your LinkedIn or CV in English.
You may be asked a few short, relevant questions.

Total candidate time investment: ~2.30/3 hours end-to-end.

🧩 Hiring Stages (What to Expect, Why & How Long)

1. CV / LinkedIn Screen — Signal check vs must-haves
• Done by People + Hiring Manager.
• You’ll hear from us within 7 business days.

2. Hiring Manager Interview - Deep dive into your work • 30 min
Structured around outcomes, decisions, and collaboration.

3. Business Case - Let's peak into this role's challenges • 60 min
With Quentin Demeestère and Ólafur Pálsson (CRO). Exercises that represent potential challenges this role would have and how you'd approach them.

4. People Interview - Allow us to know you better! • 60 min
With People. Stress-free virtual coffee, focused on getting to know you as a person. We talk about culture, beliefs, and purpose.

5. Final Conversation (CEO) — Values, strategy, and your growth • 30 min

🤖 AI & Hiring Tools Transparency

We use a few tools to reduce bias and improve documentation, not to make hiring decisions.

Teamtailor anonymisation: profiles are reviewed without relying on names/personal identifiers.

Meeting recorder (e.g., Talka.ai): may be used to capture interviews so we can focus on the conversation.

ChatGPT: may be used to turn interview notes/transcripts into clear, structured summaries.

Important: every application is reviewed by a human, and no decision or rejection is made by AI. If recording is used, we’ll be transparent and (where required) ask for consent.

⏱️ Speed & Communication

• Decision: within 4 weeks of your application.

• Updates: weekly if the process runs longer.

• Scheduling: interviews between 10:00–16:00 CET (flexible across Europe).