Title: Strategic Partner Manager V
Duration: 6 Months
Location: Menlo Park/ San Francisco, CA (Hybrid)
 

Overview:

The Global Payments Partnerships team builds and manages relationships with companies that provide critical payment services across commerce products and partners that unlock new payment experiences on our platforms. We’re seeking a Strategic Partner Manager to own high-impact partner workstreams end-to-end—from strategy and business case development through negotiation, execution, and ongoing performance management.

This role is ideal for a leader who brings broad payments experience, a strong strategic mindset, and the ability to communicate clearly and influence effectively at every level—from cross-functional (XFN) individual contributors to executive stakeholders, and from partner operators to C-level counterparts. You will be expected to move quickly, operate with sound judgment amid ambiguity, and apply modern AI tools to accelerate analysis, synthesis, and day-to-day execution.

Responsibilities

• Lead major partner workstreams with key payments ecosystem partners (e.g., networks, processors, issuers, PSPs), including quarterly planning, executive reporting, and issue resolution.

• Develop and drive partnerships strategy: identify opportunities, prioritize bets, define success metrics, and align internal stakeholders on the path forward.

• Structure and negotiate complex agreements, including commercials, technical scope, performance expectations, privacy/data protection terms, and operational readiness requirements.

• Partner closely with Product & Engineering to translate strategy into executable roadmaps; provide crisp tradeoffs and recommendations grounded in business and platform constraints.

• Run cross-functional execution across Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Tax, Ops, and Marketing to launch and scale initiatives.

• Create decision frameworks and operating mechanisms that improve how we select partners, sequence builds, and manage ongoing partner performance.

• Communicate effectively across the organization: provide concise leadership updates, clear asks, strong stakeholder management, and thoughtful escalation when needed.

• Utilize AI thoughtfully in daily work (e.g., drafting, summarizing, analysis support, workflow automation) to increase speed and quality while maintaining strong judgment.

• Travel 10–30% depending on project phase and partner needs.

What Success Looks Like

• Clear, aligned strategy for priority partnerships with measurable outcomes.

• High-quality deals closed with minimal friction and strong long-term scalability.

• Faster, smoother XFN execution through a strong operating cadence and crisp communication.

• Trusted, durable partner relationships and internal stakeholder confidence.

Must-Have Skills

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven track record of leading complex initiatives and influencing without authority.

• Commercial Negotiation: Experience structuring and negotiating commercial agreements, including comfort with financial models, pricing, and key contractual terms.

• Communication Excellence: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to tailor messages to executives, XFN teams, and external partners.

• Payments Expertise: Experience with payments cost optimization and a broad understanding of the payments ecosystem.

 
 
At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position’s starting pay is: $ 78.94/hr.