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Senior Manager, Strategic Payments Partnerships

Minneapolis, United States

About Sezzle:

With a mission to financially empower the next generation, Sezzle is revolutionizing the shopping experience beyond payments, blending cutting-edge tech with seamless, interest-free installment plans that make shopping smarter and more accessible. We’re not just transforming payments; we’re redefining how people discover, interact with, and purchase the things they love while driving real impact on merchant sales through increased conversions and higher order values. As we continue to shape the future of fintech and retail, we’re building an innovative, dynamic team passionate about creating more than just a transaction but a truly unique shopping journey. If you’re excited about pushing boundaries in tech and delivering a game-changing experience for consumers and merchants alike, come join us at Sezzle and help create the future of shopping!

Senior Manager, Strategic Payments Partnerships

About the Role

Sezzle is seeking a Senior Manager, Strategic Payments Partnerships to manage and grow relationships across a portfolio of critical payments, lending, and financial technology partners.

This role sits at the intersection of partnerships, product, technology, and operations. You will serve as the primary owner of assigned partner relationships, managing and growing existing partnerships while driving successful integrations, operational excellence, technical alignment, and ongoing partnership performance.

The ideal candidate combines strong relationship management and communication skills with deep technical fluency. You are equally comfortable leading business reviews, discussing APIs and integration requirements, coordinating cross-functional initiatives, and navigating complex operational challenges.

This is a high-autonomy individual contributor role with significant visibility across Product, Engineering, Risk, Finance, and executive leadership teams.

What You'll Own

Strategic Partnership Leadership

  • Serve as the primary relationship owner for Sezzle's most strategic payments, lending, and infrastructure partners
  • Lead executive business reviews, strategic planning sessions, and governance meetings with partner organizations
  • Identify and pursue opportunities to expand existing partnerships and unlock new revenue, product, and operational benefits
  • Represent Sezzle at partner meetings, executive briefings, and industry events

Product & Technical Partnership Management

  • Own strategic partner implementations end-to-end, from contract signing through integration, launch, and optimization
  • Serve as the internal subject matter expert on partner APIs, integration architecture, payment flows, and lending infrastructure
  • Drive alignment on integrations and product enhancements that improve customer, merchant, and operational outcomes
  • Monitor integration health, partner KPIs, and escalation paths, surfacing risks and resolving technical and operational issues

Commercial & Operational Leadership

  • Lead contract negotiations, renewals, and strategic expansion opportunities
  • Establish and monitor partnership KPIs, SLAs, operational health metrics, and performance scorecards
  • Build business cases and recommendations for partnership enhancements, operational improvements, and new integration opportunities
  • Identify, assess, and mitigate strategic, operational, and partner-related risks
  • Drive resolution of complex commercial, technical, and operational issues

Cross-Functional Influence

  • Align stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Risk, Finance, Legal, Revenue, and Operations around partnership priorities and initiatives
  • Serve as the internal expert on assigned partners, their capabilities, and strategic importance
  • Lead complex cross-functional initiatives spanning  executive, commercial, and technical stakeholders
  • Partner with internal stakeholders to ensure the successful execution of partnership initiatives and alignment on priorities, timelines, and deliverables

What We're Looking For

  • 5+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, product management, payments, fintech, or a related field
  • Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem, including processors, gateways, acquiring, card networks, BNPL, lending infrastructure, and payment technology platforms
  • Strong technical fluency and the ability to comfortably discuss APIs, webhooks, integration architecture, payment flows, authentication, and technical implementation requirements
  • Proven experience managing complex strategic partnerships and executive-level relationships
  • Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional programs and influence stakeholders across multiple functions
  • Strong business acumen with exceptional communication, presentation, and relationship management skills
  • Highly organized, self-directed, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
  • AI fluency is required. We expect team members to actively leverage AI tools to increase productivity, accelerate research and analysis, improve communication, and enhance decision-making

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience working with payment processors, acquirers, lending platforms, card networks, or other financial technology infrastructure partners
  • Prior experience in fintech, payments, lending, consumer finance, or BNPL
  • Experience at a fast-paced, high-growth company
  • Background in technical account management, solutions engineering, product management, payments strategy, or platform partnerships
  • Proficiency with SQL and the ability to independently query, analyze, and interpret partner and transaction data to monitor performance and inform partnership decisions

Compensation:

The total compensation range for the role is $145,000 - $185,000 OTE (including base and variable). Our ranges are very broad to accommodate all types of candidates and encourage growth. Specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on factors such as education, experience, qualifications, and alignment with market data. Exceptional candidates may receive salaries outside of the posted ranges.

Success in This Role

Success in this role means building trusted relationships with Sezzle's most important partners, ensuring successful integrations and operational excellence, proactively identifying opportunities for improvement, and driving measurable value for both Sezzle and its partners. 

#Li-remote 

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