Senior Manager, Strategic Payments Partnerships

About the role

Senior Manager, Strategic Payments Partnerships

Sezzle seeks a Senior Manager for strategic payments alliances in Minneapolis. This position leads critical relationships with payments, lending, and financial technology partners. The role sits at the intersection of partnerships, product, technology, and operations. You will own complex partner ecosystems, guiding integrations and performance while balancing product, tech, and operations demands. This role demands fluent communication with executives and engineers on payments, risk, and finance initiatives. You will navigate intricate commercial dynamics to protect merchant experience and growth.

This is a high autonomy role with significant visibility across Product, Engineering, Risk, Finance, and executive leadership teams. You serve as the primary relationship owner for Sezzle's most strategic payments, lending, and infrastructure partners. You lead executive business reviews, strategic planning sessions, and governance meetings with partner organizations. You identify and pursue opportunities to expand existing partnerships and unlock new revenue, product, and operational benefits. You represent Sezzle at partner meetings, executive briefings, and industry events.

You own strategic partner implementations end to end, from contract signing through integration, launch, and optimization. You serve as the internal subject matter expert on partner APIs, integration architecture, payment flows, and lending infrastructure. You drive alignment on integrations and product enhancements that improve customer, merchant, and operational outcomes. You monitor integration health, partner KPIs, and escalation paths, surfacing risks and resolving technical and operational issues.

You lead contract negotiations, renewals, and strategic expansion opportunities. You establish and monitor partnership KPIs, SLAs, operational health metrics, and performance scorecards. You build business cases and recommendations for partnership enhancements, operational improvements, and new integration opportunities. You identify, assess, and mitigate strategic, operational, and partner-related risks. You drive resolution of complex commercial, technical, and operational issues.

You champion partner intake, aligning stakeholders, and defining clear requirements for critical integrations. You architect scalable solutions by coordinating engineering, product, and operations for demanding implementation timelines. You synthesize partner feedback and performance data to guide roadmap decisions and governance discussions. You negotiate commercial terms and renewal strategies while safeguarding margin and merchant value. You monitor integration health, diagnose incidents, and drive swift resolution for high impact partners. You expand collaboration across risk, finance, and legal to unblock complex execution hurdles. You choreograph executive briefings and industry events to reinforce Sezzle's market position. You forge new alliances that unlock revenue, product enhancements, and superior customer outcomes.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect and own complex partner ecosystems across payments, lending, and financial technology alliances, balancing product, technology, and operational demands.
• Serve as the primary relationship owner and strategic point of contact for Sezzle's most critical payments, lending, and infrastructure partners at the executive level.
• Lead end to end ownership of strategic partner implementations, guiding integrations from contract signing through launch, optimization, and continuous improvement.
• Function as the internal subject matter expert on partner APIs, integration architecture, payment flows, and lending infrastructure to drive technical alignment.
• Drive alignment on integrations and product enhancements that improve customer experience, merchant outcomes, and operational efficiency.
• Establish, monitor, and optimize partnership KPIs, SLAs, operational health metrics, and performance scorecards to ensure mutual success.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate strategic, operational, and partner-related risks while driving resolution of complex commercial, technical, and operational issues.
• Synthesize partner feedback and performance data to inform roadmap decisions, governance discussions, and strategic planning sessions.
• Negotiate commercial terms, renewal strategies, and expansion opportunities while safeguarding margin and preserving merchant value.
• Monitor integration health, diagnose incidents, and coordinate swift resolution for high impact partners to minimize disruption.
• Represent Sezzle at partner meetings, executive briefings, and industry events to reinforce market position and relationship value.
• Build business cases and recommendations for partnership enhancements, operational improvements, and new integration opportunities.
• Expand collaboration across risk, finance, legal, and product teams to unblock complex execution hurdles and accelerate outcomes.
• Champion partner intake, aligning stakeholders, and defining clear requirements to enable scalable and robust integration solutions.
• Coordinate engineering, product, and operations resources to meet demanding implementation timelines and delivery commitments.
• Choreograph executive briefings and industry events to elevate Sezzle's market positioning and strengthen partner ecosystems.

Requirements

• Must have three to five years managing strategic partnerships in fintech or financial services environments.
• Must demonstrate comfort with APIs, integration patterns, and technical documentation specific to lending and payments infrastructure.
• Must operate confidently with ambiguous problems, cross functional stakeholders, and tight timelines without losing execution rigor.
• Must communicate effectively in written and verbal formats with both executives and practitioners across technical and non technical contexts.
• Must thrive in a high autonomy role with significant visibility across Product, Engineering, Risk, Finance, and executive leadership teams.
• Must be based in Minneapolis, United States and eligible for full time employment under the stated engagement terms.
• Must possess strong analytical skills to monitor partner KPIs, diagnose issues, and drive data informed decisions.
• Must exhibit ownership and accountability for protecting merchant experience and growth through partner decisions and actions.

Nice to have

• Experience with billing, revenue recognition, and portfolio oversight in a SaaS or fintech setting.
• Skills and tools including Jira, Confluence, SQL, Python, Tableau, and advanced Excel capabilities.

Practical notes

• The engagement is full time.
• The compensation is $134,500.00 yearly.
• The role is based in Minneapolis, United States.
• No visa sponsorship details are provided in the source.
• No travel requirements are specified in the source.
• No application deadline is mentioned in the source.

Sezzle is a cutting-edge fintech company dedicated to financially empowering the next generation. With only one in three millennials owning a credit card and the majority lacking their desired credit scores, Sezzle addresses these challenges through a payment platform that offers interest-free installment plans at online stores.