As the Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships, you will drive growth by building and scaling key relationships across the US payments ecosystem. You'll own the strategy and execution for partnerships with major networks, digital wallets, and payment processors, aligning them with Zip’s commercial goals to expand market reach and optimize revenue.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end management of strategic partnerships, from negotiation to performance tracking, ensuring alignment with business objectives
- Analyze market trends and payment innovations to identify new opportunities across verticals
- Use AI-powered tools to extract insights, streamline reporting, and uncover optimization paths within the payments stack
- Develop data-backed strategies for issuing, acquiring, and partner economics to improve margins and scalability
- Collaborate with product and sales teams to shape RFP responses and deliver commercial outcomes
- Design co-marketing initiatives that amplify visibility and drive merchant acquisition
- Educate internal stakeholders on evolving payment landscapes and partnership potential
- Monitor KPIs including transaction volume, merchant growth, and incentive performance to guide strategic decisions
- Coordinate with regional teams to share best practices and align on cross-market strategies
Qualifications
You bring at least five years of experience, with a strong focus on payments, partnerships, or strategy. You have directly managed relationships with major players such as Visa, Mastercard, Apple, or Google, and have a track record of driving revenue through commercial innovation. Proficiency in Excel for financial modeling, Salesforce for pipeline management, and AI tools for decision support is essential. You think critically, act decisively, and influence effectively across teams.
Consulting experience or demonstrated use of AI in optimizing partnership workflows is a plus. You thrive in fast-moving environments and are motivated by solving complex challenges with simple, scalable solutions.
Work Environment
This is a hybrid role open to US-based employees, with flexibility to work remotely or from the Manhattan office. The culture emphasizes ownership, collaboration, and customer-centric innovation. Benefits include unlimited PTO, generous parental leave, 401k matching, comprehensive health coverage, and stipends for learning and wellness.
Zip is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, religion, identity, or background.
