Strategic Account Director - Issuer Partnerships; Paze

Position: Strategic Account Director - Issuer Partnerships (Paze)
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.

Essential Functions

* 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.

Minimum Qualifications

* 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…