Strategic Partner Manager (San Francisco/Menlo Park)

Our Customer’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Through their family of apps and services, they are building a different kind of company that connects billions of people around the world, gives them ways to share what matters most to them, and helps bring people closer together.

We are seeking a Strategic Partner Manager on a contract basis to help support our customer’s business needs. This role is hybrid in San Francisco or Menlo Park.

This position will 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 (not narrow SME depth), a strong strategic mindset, and the ability to communicate clearly and influence effectively at every level—from corss-functional ICs 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 a 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 up and down the org effectively: concise leadership updates, clear asks, strong stakeholder management, and thoughtful escalation when needed.
• Use AI thoughtfully in daily work (e.g., drafting, summarizing, analysis support, workflow automation) to increase speed and quality while maintaining strong judgment.

Skills and Qualifications:

• BS/BA or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in payments (e.g., networks, PSPs, processors, issuers, platforms, or payments partnerships), with demonstrated breadth across business, product, and partner execution.
• Proven track record of leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing without authority.
• Experience in structuring and negotiating commercial agreements, including comfort with financial models, pricing, and key contractual terms.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to tailor messages to executives, cross-functional teams, and external partners.
• Experience with payments cost optimization

Preferred Qualifications:

• 12+ years of relevant payments and/or partnerships experience, including ownership of complex, multi-threaded negotiations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate strategically in ambiguous environments, create frameworks, and drive alignment across competing priorities.
• Experience working with large global partners and executive stakeholders.
• Strong operational rigor: setting goals/metrics, running QBRs, and driving accountability.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools to improve productivity (prompting, synthesis, analysis support, automation), with good data-handling judgment.

We offer a competitive salary range for this position. Most candidates who join our team are hired at the median of this range, ensuring fair and equitable compensation based on experience and qualifications.

Contractor benefits are available through our 3rd Party Employer of Record (Available upon completion of waiting period for eligible engagements)

* Health Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k, FSA.

* Accrued PTO: Up to 15 days per 12 months on assignment

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.