Jobs

Description

Hybrid

US - CA - San Francisco/Menlo Park

Must-Have Skills             

• Proven track record of leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing without authority.
• Experience structuring and negotiating commercial agreements, including comfort with financial models, pricing, and key contractual terms.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to tailor messages to executives, client teams, and external partners.
• Experience with payments cost optimization

Nice-to-have Skills          

• 12+ years of relevant payments and/or partnerships experience, including ownership of complex, multi-threaded negotiations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate strategically in ambiguous environments, create frameworks, and drive alignment across competing priorities.
• Experience working with large global partners and executive stakeholders.
• Strong operational rigor: setting goals/metrics, running QBRs, and driving accountability.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools to improve productivity (prompting, synthesis, analysis support, automation), with good data-handling judgment.

Job Description

We’re seeking a Strategic Partner Manager to own high-impact partner workstreams end-to-end—from strategy and business case development through negotiation, execution, and ongoing performance management.

• This role is ideal for a leader who brings broad payments experience (not narrow SME depth), a strong strategic mindset, and the ability to communicate clearly and influence effectively at every level—from client ICs to executive stakeholders, and from partner operators to C-level counterparts.
• You will be expected to move quickly, operate with sound judgment amid ambiguity, and apply modern AI tools to accelerate analysis, synthesis, and day-to-day execution.

Key Projects/Day-to-Day Responsibilities:       
    

Responsibilities

• Lead major partner workstreams with key payments ecosystem partners (e.g., networks, processors, issuers, PSPs), including quarterly planning, executive reporting, and issue resolution.
• Develop and drive partnerships strategy: identify opportunities, prioritize bets, define success metrics, and align internal stakeholders on path forward.
• Structure and negotiate complex agreements, including commercials, technical scope, performance expectations, privacy/data protection terms, and operational readiness requirements.
• Partner closely with Product & Engineering to translate strategy into executable roadmaps; provide crisp tradeoffs and recommendations grounded in business and platform constraints.
• Run cross-functional execution across Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Tax, Ops, and Marketing to launch and scale initiatives.
• Create decision frameworks and operating mechanisms that improve how we select partners, sequence builds, and manage ongoing partner performance.
• Communicate up and down the org effectively: concise leadership updates, clear asks, strong stakeholder management, and thoughtful escalation when needed.
• Use AI thoughtfully in daily work (e.g., drafting, summarizing, analysis support, workflow automation) to increase speed and quality while maintaining strong judgment.
• Travel 10–30% depending on project phase and partner needs. What success looks like
• Clear, aligned strategy for priority partnerships with measurable outcomes.
• High-quality deals closed with minimal friction and strong long-term scalability.
• Faster, smoother client execution through strong operating cadence and crisp communication.
• Trusted, durable partner relationships and internal stakeholder confidence.

Years of Experience:      

• 8+ years of experience in payments (e.g., networks, PSPs, processors, issuers, platforms, or payments partnerships), with demonstrated breadth across business, product, and partner execution.

Degrees/Certifications Required:

• BA/BS    or equivalent practical experience.