Sr. Banking Partnerships Manager

We're looking for an experienced Banking Partnerships Manager to join the North America Banking & Expansion team in Austin, TX. Wise sends more money into and out of USD than any other currency. Our bank and payment partner relationships and infrastructure determine the quality of our product and a large part of its economics. Our relationships with regulators, governments and domestic payment systems are also crucial. Additionally, we're seeking an experienced executor with a strong knowledge of payment systems and the regulatory landscape, an analytical mind and executive communication and project management skills to help deepen our presence in a critical region. This role is part of the Global Banking team, which is focused on expanding and deepening our presence in local markets. For us, this is the US and Canada. The team is led by a Head of Banking and Expansion, North America and has four additional team members covering the market (3 people in Austin, 2 in NYC). Your mission: • Advance our payment infrastructure in North America - Understand and help other teams understand in detail the existing and planned payments infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada and support our payments strategy to provide the best cross-border payments services to our customers in North America. - Have in-depth knowledge about North America payment systems (e.g., rails and schemes) and support direct payments systems integration efforts as well as integrations to payment systems via bank partners in the US and Canada . - Execute projects related to infrastructure growth, risk management, governance and regulatory/license expansion for us to have the best payment infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada. This might include projects related to integrating and expanding payment rails that Wise utilizes to receive and deliver payments in North America or expanding regulatory licenses and entity infrastructure to process payments directly with central bank payment systems. - Align closely with Government Relations and Legal teams to review and apply deep understanding of current and proposed payments and financial services regulations to support Wise's policy and regulatory goals to make North America payment systems more accessible, competitive and transparent. • Lead key bank and payment partner relationships for the North America region - Own key bank and payment partner relationships, collaborating between the partner and internal, cross-functional teams such as Product, Engineering, Platform, Compliance, Payment Operations and Legal. - Advocate for Wise's products and compliance goals with banks and payment partners and act as the bank's advocate within Wise to ensure we are meeting agreed compliance and payment processing requirements. - Drive and complete periodic and ongoing due diligences, to make sure bank partners are aware and comfortable with our operations and controls and that the bank is the right partner for Wise. Work closely with Compliance, Risk and Product teams for this. - Lead commercial negotiations and business reviews, pitch for Wise's new products, features and platform innovations. - Review and improve key metrics via business reviews to grow Wise's volume to ensure Wise is receiving the best possible leverage from our partners. • Working with the Product Leads, help define the opportunities and direction for our products in North America - Work closely with product teams (Product Managers and Product Engineers) to develop our vision and build better products and experiences for our customers. Your contribution will mainly be from the payments infrastructure, regulatory and operational banking partnerships point of view. - Work with North America and global teams (Product, Operations, Compliance, Finance, Treasury, etc.) to ensure our North American customers and products are at the center of our mission. - Partner with North American and Global product teams to identify Bank and other partnerships to support the strategy and launch for consumer and small business debit and credit cards. Understand the business and product needs to ensure identification of the right partners and structure the partnership to address strategy and implementation approach as defined by the product teams. • Independently execute high priority projects and workstreams to deepen North America presence - Leverage financial services and payments infrastructure knowledge to lead priority projects such as onboarding new bank and payment partners, integrating new payment methods, and completing discovery for new and innovative financial products. - Provide strategic support to Wise's efforts around operationalizing Bank / Trust licenses including managing OCC and Federal Reserve deliverables, managing delivery of pre-opening exam requirements in coordination with the Wise Bank management team and leading any banking relationships that the Wise Bank may need to deliver on its business plan. - Independently initiate and execute high priority projects that will deepen Wise's presence in North America. This includes identifying and communicating internally the potential impact, building conviction from other teams. Consequently, drive and execute the delivery of the project. Qualifications A bit about you: • Bachelor's degree in relevant fields such as Finance, Law, Accounting, Economics, Business Management. • 7+ years work experience with payments companies, transaction/corporate/investment banking, financial technology, financial consulting or a financial regulator. • An independent generalist who is able to get stuff done efficiently and isn't afraid to get into the details - no matter the subject area - to progress towards your goals. You'll need an entrepreneurial and collaborative mindset to thrive. This includes demonstrated ability to collaborate closely with product, engineering, compliance, operations and legal teams with a solid track record of execution and delivering results. • Detailed understanding of payment systems and FX regulation and experience with BSA/AML/KYC and risk management controls. Experience with US and Canada financial systems, including banking infrastructure, payment rails, regulatory agencies and payment regulations and scheme rules, with the ability to "speak the language" of these topics to senior internal and external stakeholders. • Ability to structure and independently lead external relationships (e.g., banks, regulators, or vendors) and cross-functional projects, including executive-level verbal and written communications, sharp analytical and numerical aptitude and critical thinking skills, and the ability to apply these skills to go-deep on payments/regulatory topics, take thoughtful decisions and then build buy-in for key outcomes and action items with internal and external stakeholders across levels. • Familiarity with how corporate banks, partner banks and financial institutions work and their decision makers. You're excellent at managing those relationships and are constantly creating opportunities to improve them. You are an outstanding negotiator. • Able to independently negotiate the most ideal terms with a clear product vision and understanding in mind and you can figure out the ideal operational and commercial process with every new partner or system. • Passion for the financial technology, payments and financial services industries and excited to work in a fast-paced, execution-oriented, entrepreneurial and collaborative environment. Additional Information Nice to have: • Knowledge and understanding of credit card products and related financials, understanding of fintech banks and technology providers who cater to the credit card industry.