Manager, Strategic Partnerships

Velera

1d•$117,000 - $187,200•Remote

About The Position

The Manager, Strategic Partnerships ensures that Velera receives timely, accurate service and operational support from its largest card processing vendor relationships, including Fiserv, FIS, Visa, and Mastercard. The role leads experienced professionals who manage these relationships, oversee escalation processes, resolve issues and incidents, monitor service and operational metrics, and initiate process improvements with internal teams and business partners. The manager acts as a senior point of contact to partners’ service and relationship teams, promoting accountability, setting priorities, and optimizing two-way engagement. The position manages staff and resources, serves as a subject matter expert for internal customers, and maintains knowledge of Velera’s products, services, processing environments, and client base. It directs partner service relationships, monitors contractual service-level agreements and other KPIs, and holds partners accountable for corrective actions and improvements. The role also addresses internal process gaps, coordinates resolution of complex and high-urgency issues, and oversees billing issues, overpayment recovery, contractual penalties, reimbursements, credits, and fee waivers. The manager provides leadership, coaching, and staff development, and handles personnel activities including interviewing, hiring, performance appraisals, compensation, counseling, and termination. The role supports special projects and fosters a collaborative environment focused on strong results.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, or a combination of education and experience.
Ten years of experience in relationship or service management with an outside, third-party card payments processing provider.
At least seven years serving as the primary manager of escalated service and operational issues.
Experience managing revenue-generating partnerships and leading a team.
Expert-level knowledge of card processing relationship management, particularly navigating service and operational support organizations to obtain high levels of support.
Strong knowledge and experience with vendor management programs, including the ability to create, define, and implement policy and best practices.
Strong knowledge of and experience with payment and/or financial services industry best practices, policies, and procedures.

Nice To Haves

Prior supervisory experience.

Responsibilities

Manage Strategic Partner Managers and ensure high-quality engagement with assigned partners and effective support for internal customers.
Align staff resources with partner demands and ensure staff maintain expertise in assigned partners and supported books of business.
Serve as an internal subject matter expert on service and operational relationships with business partners.
Maintain understanding of products, services, processing environments, client bases, setup, implementation, testing, pricing, billing, and reporting.
Direct partner service relationships, establish priorities, communicate business needs and objectives, and negotiate to achieve desirable results and service for client financial institutions.
Collaborate with partner management at multiple levels to improve alignment and support.
Review, monitor, and report partner performance against contractual SLAs and other KPIs.
Hold partners accountable for corrective actions and process improvements.
Identify internal process or proficiency gaps affecting partner performance and influence stakeholders to implement improvements.
Coordinate and conduct meetings to resolve complex issues.
Negotiate, escalate, and resolve high-urgency issues with internal stakeholders and partner liaisons, including production incidents that affect clients and their members.
Direct recovery of overpayments and contractual penalties; identify and resolve billing issues and manage related resolution efforts.
Manage loss reimbursement requests, billing credits, fee waivers, and other contract-related reimbursements.
Support, assist with, implement, and monitor special projects within Strategic Partnerships.
Provide staff direction and leadership, including coaching, mentoring, development, and ensuring compliance with processes and procedures.
Handle staff interviewing, hiring, promotions, transfers, performance appraisals, compensation, counseling, and termination.
Develop staff through training and leadership to support internal growth and advancement.
Ensure staff duties are performed according to department performance standards.
Create a collaborative work environment and recognize and reward desired behavior and results.
Perform other duties as assigned.