manager, Payments

Starbucks • Seattle, WA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that not only celebrated coffee and the rich tradition, but that also brought a feeling of connection. We are known for developing extraordinary leaders who share this passion and are guided by their service to others.
The payments manager contributes to this mission by making payments a key driver of the customer experience, ensuring that every payment-powered connection is secure, seamless, personalized, and optimized for cost.
At Starbucks, we believe every transaction is a chance to deliver a great experience. As a Payments Manager, you’ll support projects that make paying easier and more secure. You’ll work across teams to help bring payment improvements to life. This role sits within our Global Brand business unit, specifically embedded in the Digital division that drives customer engagement through innovation, personalization, and seamless digital experiences. While based on the digital team, the Payments, Fraud & Data Science team works across all customer touchpoints — retail, digital, and licensed stores — to build capabilities that power our entire payments ecosystem. We’re looking for someone who’s eager to learn, ready to roll up their sleeves, and passionate about solving big, complex problems in scrappy, creative ways. This position reports to the Group Manager, Payments and works closely with payments strategy leads in collaboration with a wide range of internal teams — including Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, and Operations — and collaborate closely with external vendors and partners to execute the planned solutions. Whether enabling new ways to pay, optimizing the systems behind them, or participating in large-scale modernization programs, your work will directly impact the customer journey and help Starbucks continue to lead through innovation.

Requirements

• Experience: 5–7 years in payments, fintech, or digital commerce, with a proven track record of delivering impactful payment initiatives.
• Payment Ecosystem Knowledge: Deep understanding of the end-to-end payments ecosystem — including card networks, tokenization, payment processors, gateways, stored value systems, and relevant regulatory environments.
• Strategic & Analytical Acumen: Demonstrated ability to build and evaluate business cases, analyze tradeoffs, and optimize for cost, performance, and customer impact.
• Actionable Payments Insights: Experience analyzing transaction response and cost data to diagnose payment performance issues, identify optimization opportunities, and translate insights into actionable recommendations in partnership with technical teams and/or payment providers.
• Execution & Agility: Experience delivering complex projects using agile methodologies across matrixed teams and evolving priorities.
• Technical Fluency: Comfortable working across system design, integration architecture, and vendor onboarding.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong relationship-building and communication skills; able to align stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Finance, Operations, and Legal.
• Leadership Qualities: Independent, proactive, and grounded in a bias for action. Capable of navigating ambiguity with resilience and focus.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with tokenization and data security concepts is a plus.
• MBA or advanced degree in business or technical field preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support the delivery of key payment capabilities that support frictionless checkout, loyalty-enabling payment types, and reload/payment optimization across channels.
• Translate business objectives into product requirements, and support Product, Engineering, and Vendor teams in shaping system designs, roadmaps, and delivery plans.
• Support business case development, vendor evaluations, and cost/benefit analysis to guide prioritization and ensure strategic alignment.
• Conduct market scans, competitive analysis, and rapid prototyping to inform new product opportunities and next-generation capabilities.
• Contribute to platform modernization efforts to optimize outcomes and meet program timelines.
• Monitor performance and use insights to optimize customer experience, revenue capture, and payment acceptance costs.
• Manage cross-functional delivery plans, timelines, and communications across internal stakeholders and external vendors.
• Ensure alignment between roadmap intent and implementation by actively managing change, risk, and feedback loops.

Benefits

• As a Starbucks partner, you (and your family) will have access to medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, and other voluntary insurance benefits.
• Partners have access to short-term and long-term disability, paid parental leave, family expansion reimbursement, paid vacation from date of hire, sick time (accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked), eight paid holidays, and two personal days per year.
• Starbucks also offers eligible partners participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match, a discounted company stock program (S.I.P.), Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock), incentivized emergency savings, and financial well-being tools.
• Additionally, Starbucks offers 100%25 upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, student loan management resources, and access to other educational opportunities.
• You will also have access to backup care and DACA reimbursement.
• Starbucks will comply with any applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, and in accordance with its plans and policies.
• This list is subject to change depending on collective bargaining in locations where partners have a certified bargaining representative.
• For additional information regarding partner perks and more detailed information about benefits, go to starbucksbenefits.com

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager