The Opportunity

The Channel Partner Manager is an individual contributor on AFA's channel sales team, responsible for building and managing relationships with credit unions, credit union leagues, and affiliated organizations to drive awareness, referrals, and qualified pipeline for AFA's executive benefit solutions. This role is the day-to-day point of contact for credit union partners educating stakeholders, nurturing relationships, sourcing introductions, and supporting the activities that convert partner relationships into revenue.

This is a relationship-first, activity-driven role. The Channel Partner Manager works closely with the VP, Channel Partners to execute on the channel strategy, manage a defined book of credit union partners, and develop new partner relationships within an assigned territory or vertical.

What You'll Do

Credit Union Partner Relationship Management

●       Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for an assigned portfolio of credit union partners, leagues, and affiliate organizations.

●       Build trust-based relationships with key decision-makers, including CEO, COO, HR Directors, and board contacts at credit union partners.

●       Conduct regular touchpoints — calls, meetings, site visits — to maintain engagement, share updates, and identify referral opportunities.

●       Represent AFA at credit union chapter events, league conferences, and regional gatherings to expand network and visibility.

Referral Generation and Pipeline Development

●       Generate qualified referrals by educating credit union partners on AFA's value proposition and executive benefit solutions.

●       Identify credit unions in the assigned portfolio with eligible executive populations and introduce AFA's services at the appropriate level.

●       Coordinate warm introductions between credit union leadership and AFA's sales team to advance opportunities through the pipeline.

●       Track all partner activity, referrals, and pipeline contributions in Salesforce CRM with accuracy and consistency.

Partner Onboarding and Enablement

●       Support the onboarding of new credit union partners, ensuring they understand AFA's offerings, referral process, and expected outcomes.

●       Deliver partner education sessions covering AFA's executive benefit products, the credit union market landscape, and relevant SERP and nonqualified plan concepts.

●       Provide partners with co-branded materials, leave-behinds, and marketing support developed in collaboration with AFA's Marketing team.

●       Serve as a resource for partners who have questions about AFA's services, solutions, or process — escalating to the VP or internal specialists as appropriate.

What You Bring

Required

●       3–5 years of experience in business development, relationship management, sales, or partnership roles.

●       Experience working with or selling into credit unions, financial cooperatives, or financial services organizations strongly preferred.

●       Demonstrated ability to build and maintain trusted professional relationships across multiple stakeholder levels.

●       Strong verbal and written communication skills; comfortable presenting to executives and conducting group education sessions.

●       Proficiency in Salesforce CRM or comparable platform; strong organizational and follow-through skills.

●       Self-starter comfortable working independently in a remote environment with minimal day-to-day oversight.

Preferred

●       Familiarity with executive benefit concepts, including SERP, split-dollar, nonqualified deferred compensation, or COLI/BOLI solutions.

●       Existing relationships within the credit union league system or America's Credit Unions affiliate network.

●       Experience in channel sales, referral-based selling, or partner account management.

●       Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Marketing, or a related field.

Acumen Financial Advantage serves as a strategic financial partner to banks and mission-driven organizations, including credit unions, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and nonprofits—focusing on the areas that most directly shape financial performance: leadership strength, capital discipline, and long-term stewardship. Our team brings deep, specialized experience and a holistic, outcome-first perspective, working alongside leadership to navigate complexity and build durable advantage over time.