Strategic Account Director - Issuer Partnerships (Paze)

Early Warning Services • New York City, NY

16d • $200,000 - $225,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose The Strategic Account Director is responsible for Paze’s most strategic issuer partnerships including EWS’s owner banks. This role drives partner strategy and manages senior relationships to ensure Paze’s top partnerships grow and thrive over time. The Strategic Account Director will play a critical role in the early success of Paze, launching new strategic partnerships, iterating on go-to-market approach, and helping to build out the strategic accounts team. The primary objective of the role is to drive Paze transaction growth by ensuring our top partners deliver best-in-class deployments of Paze.

Requirements

• Education and experience typically obtained through completion of a bachelor’s degree in business, finance, or related field.
• 10+ years in partner-management roles, such business development, relationship management, and/or consulting and 8+ years of experience working on financial services products, including payments.
• Experience managing complex strategic accounts with a myriad of decision makers.
• Proven ability to develop and foster impactful relationships with senior leadership. Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong internal and external relationships.
• Track record of driving change and accomplishing strategic objectives within partner organizations.
• Consultative, conceptual, and strategic selling skills. Strong influencing skills, able to sell concepts internally and drive streamlined decision making across partners.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with the ability to recruit top talent, mentor and develop team members, and motivate a highly engaged team.
• Executive communication skills – experience coordinating and running impactful meetings, strong written communication, excellent presentation skills, and an active listener.
• Strong analytical skills, capable of evaluating opportunities from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives and driving performance tracking.
• Self-starter who is capable of delivering results within the dynamic environment of a new venture.
• Ability to travel up to 30%.
• Background check and drug screen.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working at a card issuing bank, payment network, or an established payments fintech as an issuing bank partner.
• Deep payments expertise, namely in digital wallets, tokenization, and eCommerce and NFC payments.
• Product development experience and passion for great consumer financial products.
• MBA.

Responsibilities

• Develops trusted, influential relationships with key decision makers at our largest, most strategic accounts. This includes Paze advisory committee members and leaders in product/digital, marketing, risk, technology, or other functions critical to Paze’s success.
• Primary owner of assigned strategic accounts. Requires foremost expertise of partner organizational structure/decision making, company performance, strategic initiatives, product/services, state of EWS-wide relationship, as well as a consistent pulse on the state of Paze performance (e.g., KPIs, user experience), active opportunities and challenges/threats.
• Recruits, launches, and develops select new strategic partnerships.
• Ensures the retention, growth and customer satisfaction of key accounts.
• Develops overall strategic account plan (annual, quarterly, and monthly priorities) in close coordination with Paze cross-functional teams and senior leadership. Aligns and gains commitment from strategic partners on overall account plan, holding partners and internal stakeholders accountable for execution and results.
• Drives and meets Paze KPIs via strategic partners (e.g., active users, transactions). Ensures best-in-class Paze user experience within partner channels (mobile app, marketing touchpoints) that meets and exceeds Paze standards.
• Evaluates program trends and provides analysis and recommendations to management.
• Plays a key role in defining product market fit for Paze products, driving influence across Paze as the voice of the partner and market.
• Supports financial analyses, long-range forecasting and analytics associated with key partnerships.
• Supports new business development and innovation agenda – fostering both Paze-initiated and partner-generated opportunities.
• Monitors competitor activity in accounts and implements strategies to drive Paze prioritization over competing investments.
• Provides effective leadership to strategic accounts team. Recruits, develops and manages a highly engaged, high-performance team.
• Supports the company’s commitment to risk management and protect the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees