Business Development & Partnership Executive

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 Business Development & Partnership Executive is a high-impact business development and partnership role focused on accelerating adoption and growth of Paze through key issuer channel partnerships. This individual will be responsible for identifying, negotiating, and launching strategic relationships with major issuer ecosystem partners, including issuer processors, and driving the onboarding of leading issuers through those channels. 

Working closely with internal and external stakeholders, the role will build and expand a scalable partner network that drives issuer participation, transaction growth, and long-term market expansion. The role offers a unique opportunity to help shape the growth trajectory of one of the payments industry's most promising products, with a strong emphasis on partnership development, executive relationship management, deal execution, and growth acceleration. 

Success will be measured by the acquisition and activation of new issuer partners, the expansion of existing and new channel partnerships, the speed of issuer onboarding, and the transaction volume generated through channel partnerships, with an initial focus on enabling and launching Top 30 issuers. 

Essential Functions  

• Executes issuer channel market strategy to help Paze reach issuer partners at scale. 

• Develops pipeline of Direct Sales of New Issuers and sells and converts new Issuers via channels (e.g. FIS and Fiserv).  Also engages and sells net new channel partners (e.g. TSYS Jack Henry, etc.)  to meet/exceed annual goals. 

• Leads development of the issuer channel program, a cross-functional effort to sell, implement, optimize, maintain and grow Paze transactions. 

• Aligns solutions to meet channel partner’s, bank’s or credit union’s needs. 

• Works with key EWS resources, develops and coordinates overall strategic account plans for assigned accounts.  This includes working with marketing campaigns, prospect lists, technology tools and individual research. 

• Acts as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert in digital and emerging payments, as well as Paze products and services. 

• Have strong experience with Saleforce.com (SFDC), EWS’ CRM tool. Uses SFDC for all partner and issuer engagement, interaction (e.g., calls, emails, attached docs, etc.), pipeline and forecasting with a high degree of detail and accuracy to facilitate timely and accurate opportunity forecasting and pipeline management.  

• Supports the company’s commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data. 

Minimum Qualifications 

• 3+ years in partner-management roles, such business development, relationship management, and/or consulting as well as strong experience working on financial services products, including payments.

• Education and experience typically obtained through completion of a bachelor's degree in business, finance or other related field. 

• Experience growing and managing partner channels. 

• Experience with pipeline management.  

• Experienced in obtaining meetings with key decision-makers (C-level) within the financial services industry.  Ability to effectively communicate strategy and vision.  Demonstrated success in cultivating and managing relationships with banking and/or financial services clients. 

• Demonstrated consultative/strategic business development or partnership experience within payments, banking or financial services industry. 

• Strong consultative, conceptual and strategic selling and negotiating skills. 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.  Excellent active listening skills. 

• Able to travel up to 30%. 

• Strong organizational skills, ability to manage various assignments simultaneously and organize information methodically. 

•  ‘Hands-on’ flexible self-driven person with excellent strategic, tactical and collaboration skills. 

• Background and drug screen.

Preferred 

• Experience working at a card issuing bank, payment network, payments solution provider, issuer-processor or an established payments fintech.

• Deep payments expertise, namely in digital wallets, tokenization, eCommerce and NFC

• Additional higher-level education. 

• Recognized industry influencer, with proven experience in speaking engagements and industry forum participation. 

• Proficient use of CRM tools, with a preference towards Salesforce.com. 

• Proven experience successfully working in a matrixed organization. 

• B2B experience. 

Physical Requirements 

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers and travel. 

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation. 

The base pay scale for this position in:
New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $140,000 - $180,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

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Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.