Business Development Manager

Hiring – Business Development Manager Location: Thane, Mumbai Experience: 4–7 Years Required Skills: Partner Management, Business Development, Vendor Management, SLA Management, Fintech & Digital Lending. Summary Identify, evaluate, onboard, and manage technology and service partners that support AHFL's digital lending application across the loan lifecycle, in line with RBI requirements.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the partnership strategy for AHFL's digital lending stack, covering payments (payment aggregators, e-NACH/UPI Auto. Pay, payout), verification (KYC, credit bureau, account aggregator, fraud checks), and communications (SMS, WhatsApp Business, IVR, email).
• Scout new technologies, providers, and market developments that can improve the app's conversion, disbursement, collection efficiency, or cost per loan, and present recommendations to Management.
• Manage the full partner pipeline: prospecting, evaluation, commercial comparison, negotiation, and closing.
• Prepare business cases and vendor comparisons (pricing, success rates, uptime, integration effort, regulatory standing) for each proposed partnership.
• Negotiate commercial terms, SLAs, and contracts in coordination with Legal and Finance.
• Conduct vendor due diligence with Compliance before onboarding, including regulatory authorisation, data security, and data storage location.
• Coordinate with the Technology, Product, Operations, Compliance, and Finance teams to ensure integration and onboarding are completed per procedure and agreed SLAs.
• Monitor partner performance (success rates, downtime, delivery rates, cost) and drive corrective action, renegotiation, or replacement where required.
• Maintain backup providers for critical services to avoid single-vendor dependency.
• Maintain the vendor register, contract renewal calendar, and partnership documentation.
• Report regularly to Management on pipeline, partner performance, cost trends, and market insights.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree; MBA preferred.
• 4–7 years in partnerships, vendor management, or BD within an NBFC, fintech, or digital lending company in India.
• Existing network among payment aggregators, KYC/verification providers, and communication API providers.
• Working knowledge of the RBI digital lending and outsourcing framework.
• Strong negotiation, commercial analysis, and cross-functional coordination skills.