Head of Partnerships Activations San Francisco, CA, US - Block, Inc.

Description

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

The Role

We believe everyone should be able to participate and thrive in the economy. Our tools help sellers and consumers start, run, and grow whether that's a small business owner expanding their presence, a creative brand launching new experiences, or partners reimagining how commerce comes to life.

The Head of Partnerships Activations is a senior leadership role overseeing all partner-led events and activations across Cash App, Square, Afterpay, and Bitcoin products. You will bring our partnerships to life in ways that drive cultural relevance, brand impact, and business growth across the entire Block portfolio.

You will build, scale, and evolve the partnership activations framework across Block—extending the foundation established at Cash App and creating new models from the ground up for Square, Afterpay, and Bitcoin. You will define how partnerships show up across brands, customer segments, and channels, while maintaining a cohesive and high-impact Block-wide approach.

You are a curious, creative, and pragmatic leader with deep experience in building and scaling activation programs. You bring a blend of creative excellence, operational rigor, and commercial acumen with a proven ability to manage complex productions, large budgets, and senior stakeholders while delivering memorable, culturally resonant experiences. You are both a coach and a doer - setting the strategy, building and mentoring teams, and remaining deeply invested in executional quality.

You Will

• Define and lead the vision for Partnerships Activations across all Block brands, ensuring cohesive storytelling, strategic alignment, and clear investment priorities
• Establish the long-term activation framework and operating model across brands, translating partnership opportunities and brand priorities into scalable, repeatable activation strategies
• Translate partnership and brand priorities into innovative activation frameworks that drive awareness, engagement, and brand affinity
• Partner with marketing channel teams, comms, creative, strategy, legal, data science and customer insights across Block to ensure activations align with overall business objectives and customer insights
• Serve as the senior owner for partnership activation decisions, making tradeoffs across brands, partners, budgets, and timelines
• Oversee the end-to-end development and execution of partner activations, from concept creation to production, on-site leadership, and post-activation evaluation
• Develop event marketing programs that integrate third-party partners alongside Block brands, creating mutually beneficial collaborations and potential funding opportunities for the overall production budget
• Set and maintain a high bar for creative excellence and executional rigor — while a strategic mind is necessary, we also recognize that the execution is how customers experience the brand magic.
• Ensure all activations are on-brand, innovative, and culturally resonant, pushing the boundaries of traditional event models
• Establish clear measurement frameworks in partnership with Analytics to evaluate performance, impact, and ROI across awareness, consideration, conversion, and longer-term brand lift
• Balance bold, culturally relevant risk-taking with disciplined measurement and learning, using insights to inform future strategy and investment decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement by applying insights and learnings to future activations

You Have

• 10+ years of experience leading large-scale events, activations, or live brand programs, with at least 8 years in a senior leadership capacity
• Proven success managing complex productions, large budgets, and cross-functional teams
• Extensive and well-established network of industry contacts, with a demonstrated ability to leverage this network to create strategic opportunities, drive collaboration, and secure impactful partnerships
• Strong creative instincts paired with operational and financial acumen
• Ability to travel 50%
• Experience in fintech, technology, or consumer brands a bonus

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page .

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

To find a location's zone designation, please refer to thisresource . If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.

Zone A:

$198,000 — $297,000 USD

Zone B:

$198,000 — $297,000 USD

Zone C:

$198,000 — $297,000 USD

Zone D:

$198,000 — $297,000 USD

Use of AI in Our Hiring Process

We may use automated AI tools to evaluate job applications for efficiency and consistency. These tools comply with local regulations, including bias audits, and we handle all personal data in accordance with state and local privacy laws.

Contact us here with hiring practice or data usage questions.

Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we're helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.