5-7 years of experience in payments strategy, products, or operations, preferably in SaaS or fintech
Strong understanding of merchant acquiring and card processing
Direct experience with card-present payment devices
Proven track record of enhancing payments revenue while optimizing costs
Experience managing relationships with payment processors and banks
Knowledge of payment compliance and card brand rules
Strong analytical skills with experience in large dataset manipulation
Responsibilities
Develop and execute the payments strategy and roadmap for the SaaS business
Identify opportunities to enhance payments adoption and reduce costs
Lead payments initiatives from concept through launch and management
Collaborate with cross-functional teams on product requirements and go-to-market plans
Oversee daily payments operations and manage processor relationships
Evaluate payment costs and implement efficiency improvements
Monitor compliance and manage risks associated with payment processing
Benefits
Opportunity to lead and shape the payments function in a growing SaaS company
Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams
Access to cutting-edge payment technologies and strategies
Potential for international market expansion
Professional development opportunities in a dynamic field
Full Job Description
Job Summary
The Director of Payments will lead the strategy, product roadmap, and day-to-day performance of the company's payments function across domestic and international markets. This hands-on role will grow the value and monetization of payments within the core SaaS business while ensuring that payment products, operations, and partner relationships support a secure, compliant, and positive customer experience.
The Director will oversee card-present processing and payment facilitator activities; manage payment economics across a multi-processor environment; and identify opportunities to increase revenue, improve adoption, and reduce costs. This leader will work closely with executive leadership and teams across Product, Engineering, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Onboarding, Underwriting, and Risk to bring payment capabilities from concept through launch and ongoing management.
Payments Strategy and Growth
Develop and execute the company's payments strategy, including a roadmap that supports the core SaaS business and creates profitable revenue opportunities.
Identify ways to increase payments adoption, improve conversion, grow revenue, and reduce processing costs.
Develop strategies for expanding payments products and services into international markets.
Assess opportunities to build or improve the payments engine, expand the solution set, and create new customer-facing commerce experiences.
Establish priorities and performance measures for payments initiatives and communicate progress, risks, and recommendations to executive leadership.
Product and Commercialization
Lead payments initiatives from concept and validation through development, launch, and ongoing product management.
Partner with Product and Engineering on payment requirements, including card-present devices, processing functionality, technical integrations, and complex use cases.
Define product requirements and feature requests based on customer needs, business opportunities, compliance obligations, and partner capabilities.
Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Customer Success on go-to-market plans, commercialization, and customer
Create an iterative approach to payments product development that applies best practices and supports a strong customer experience.
Processing, Economics, and Partnerships
Own day-to-day payments oversight across the business, including card-present processing and payment facilitator activities.
Manage relationships with payment processors, acquiring banks, gateways, card networks, and other strategic partners.
Evaluate processor fees, interchange qualification, conversion performance, and other drivers of payment costs and margins.
Identify and implement opportunities to improve processing efficiency, payment economics, and portfolio performance.
Negotiate commercial agreements and lead cross-functional programs with strategic partners.
Build strong working relationships across the payment ecosystem to support customer acquisition, adoption, and growth.
Compliance, Onboarding, and Risk
Manage payment compliance and administrative requirements, including adherence to card brand rules and annual reporting.
Own direct relationships with card networks and support payment facilitator registration and ongoing compliance obligations.
Partner with Onboarding and Underwriting to ensure merchant setup and related processes meet payment and card network requirements.
Work with Risk teams on merchant oversight, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, chargeback controls, and portfolio exposure.
Monitor payment losses and emerging operational or compliance risks, and recommend appropriate actions.
Support compliant cash discounting practices and related card network requirements.
Analytics and Executive Reporting
Extract, manipulate, and interpret large transactional datasets to evaluate payment performance, costs, risks, and growth opportunities.
Develop reports that track processing performance, fees, margins, portfolio exposure, and losses.
Translate findings into clear recommendations for executive leadership and relevant cross-functional teams.
Use data to assess the impact of product changes, partner decisions, and operational improvements.
Leadership
Build trust and credibility with partners, colleagues, and team members.
Build and develop high-performing teams as the payments function grows.
Lead cross-functional teams and dispersed stakeholders toward shared priorities and successful execution.
Requirements
Experience leading payments strategy, products, or operations, ideally in integrated software, SaaS, fintech, or commerce technology.
Strong knowledge of merchant acquiring, card processing, card-present payments, and payment facilitator models.
Direct experience with card-present payment devices and processing functionality.
A record of identifying and pursuing payments revenue opportunities while improving costs, margins, or adoption.
Experience managing processor, acquiring bank, gateway, card network, or other strategic payment partner relationships.
Knowledge of card brand rules, payment compliance, administrative requirements, annual reporting, and payment facilitator obligations.
Experience partnering with Onboarding, Underwriting, and Risk teams on merchant setup, transaction monitoring, fraud, and chargebacks.
Experience evaluating interchange qualification, processor fees, and other factors that affect payment economics.
Strong analytical skills, including experience preparing, manipulating, and interpreting large transactional datasets.
Ability to build clear performance reports and present findings and recommendations to executive leadership.
Experience partnering with Product and Engineering to define requirements and deliver payment capabilities from concept through launch.
Strong cross-functional leadership, communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience using SQL to query and analyze transactional data.
Experience applying AI or machine learning in practical payments workflows, such as improving transaction monitoring, identifying processing or revenue patterns, forecasting performance, or supporting fraud and chargeback analysis. Candidates should be able to explain how they validated results, addressed data quality and privacy, and put insights into operational use.
