Program Management

Lead is a fintech building banking infrastructure for embedded financial products and services. We operate an FDIC-insured bank headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, we have offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, where our technical, product, design, and legal teams operate.

We are built for a constantly evolving financial landscape, where new ventures and technological advancements emerge daily. Guided by a team of entrepreneurs and technologists with decades of experience navigating intricate banking and payments regulations, Lead blends regulatory and technological expertise to help our fintech partners scale their operations with compliance and creativity.

Simply put, Lead offers the essential attributes that every fintech seeks in a partner bank. First, unparalleled technical expertise from a distinguished team of developers with an extensive understanding of the banking and payments systems. Second, oversight expertise, automated compliance systems, and bespoke program management to navigate the ever-shifting regulatory landscape. Finally, a commitment to transparency and operational rigor to ensure everyone’s money does what it’s supposed to do.

We are seeking a Program Management Lead to own the program lifecycle for all of Lead’s Fintech partnerships, from early‑stage intake through onboarding, launch, ongoing program management, expansions, and offboarding. This role leads the Program Management Office (PMO) and is responsible for the operating model, governance, and execution of program management across the partner portfolio. You will manage a team of highly skilled program managers, and together will build and maintain scalable frameworks, templates, and reporting that keep partners and Lead team members aligned on status, risks, and decisions, while ensuring our programs remain well‑controlled, transparent, and exam‑ready.

The Program Management Lead should be motivated by a desire to deepen relationships, optimize productivity, create clarity across complex work streams, and nurture program success from inception to completion.

• Lead, coach, and develop the Program Management team responsible for partner onboarding, due diligence, launch, OPM, expansions, and offboarding

• Own and continue to drive the development of the end‑to‑end program management operating model for Fintech programs, including intake, scoping, planning, execution and tracking

• Work with strategic partners to understand their needs and projections, and deepen these relationships, ensuring Lead’s and its partners’ product roadmaps remain in alignment

• Lead and coordinate external‑facing partner meetings (e.g., kick‑offs, due diligence check‑ins, roadmap, expansion discussions and QBRs), ensuring deliverables, action items, and decisions are clearly documented and followed through

• Report on the overall health and hygiene of partner relationships to senior and executive management

• Lead and coordinate internal cross‑functional meetings (product, engineering, operations, legal, compliance, financial crimes, risk, information security, finance, and others), tracking progress and dependencies across all work streams for each partner

• Own the creation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of program management governance materials (playbooks, templates, trackers, checklists, and drive structures) across onboarding, due diligence, launch, OPM, and expansions

• Build and manage portfolio‑level Fintech program metrics and reporting, including views into pipeline, onboarding status, launch timelines, dependencies, risks, and overdue items for internal committees and stakeholders

• Partner closely with Product & Implementations, Enterprise Risk, Compliance, Financial Crimes, Information Security, Legal, Finance, and other teams to ensure program management workflows support regulatory expectations and audit/exam readiness

• Identify program and portfolio risks, facilitate mitigation plans with DRIs, and upscale appropriately to senior and executive leadership with clear, concise narratives

• Manage communication of progress, risks, and outcomes with the Executive Team,…