At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, shared values and Leadership Behaviors, and an unwavering commitment to back our customers, communities, and colleagues. As part of Team Amex, you'll experience this powerful backing with comprehensive support for your holistic well-being and many opportunities to learn new skills, develop as a leader, and grow your career.

Here, your voice and ideas matter, your work makes an impact, and together, you will help us define the future of American Express.

How will you make an impact in this role?

Small businesses play a critical role in the strength of the Canadian economy. New businesses have entered the market to provide new services including payments with a chip, tap, dongle and other technologies.

These new companies are creating change in the industry by simplifying the merchant experience. There is a significant opportunity to expand our coverage by partnering with third party acquiring partners to drive an enhanced experience for small merchants.

The Senior Manager, Partner Management is responsible for acquiring, managing, and growing third party acquiring relationships, including OptBlue in an effort to drive small merchant coverage, activation and charge volume. This position is an exciting opportunity for a candidate seeking to utilize his/her strength in business development, relationship management, negotiations, analytical and communication skills within a fast paced, dynamic team.

The relationships managed within the team are intricate and critical for American Express to achieve our strategic objectives for Merchant acceptance. This role is multifaceted and requires building relationships across external and internal stakeholders at various seniority levels. He/she will own the strategic development of their account portfolio and be responsible for driving profitable business initiatives backed by data and insights.

The successful candidate will have a demonstrated history of working in the payments industry, skilled in negotiation, relationship management, digital payments, sales, and business development. He/she will also lead the day-to-day relationships to implement tactical initiatives through execution while collaborating with internal and external cross-functional teams.

Key Areas of Focus

• Support key third-party acquiring relationships with a focus on enabling Welcomed Acceptance through Amex value-added solutions and marketing programs.
• Leverage strong analytical skills to understand acceptance-related data to identify coverage opportunities in the third-party acquiring landscape to inform strategy across the TPP market portfolio.
• Deepen senior level relationships with key partners and help navigate partner needs across all businesses at American Express.
• Serve as a thought leader and subject matter expert across emerging payment models.
  Project manage new partner and capability launches working closely with internal stakeholders and partner leads to ensure successful and timely launches.

Minimum Qualifications

• 7-10 years’ experience in the payments industry. Knowledge of merchant acquiring is preferred.
  Demonstrated thought leadership in the payment’s ecosystem.
• Excellent partner relationship skills with demonstrated ability to influence the C-level executives with business partners.
  Proven ability to collaborate and influence with internal and external partners and the ability to own and drive change within an organization.
• Challenger sales mentality with a hyper focus on driving bottom line performance and identifying and driving new opportunities that advance and deepen our relationships.
• Comfortable in navigating white space to develop partner friendly solutions.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, to prioritize and participate in a variety of projects simultaneously.
• Excellent analytical skills. Demonstrated fact-based problem-solving and decision-making skills, and the ability to make tactical recommendations.
• Must possess a strong sense of urgency and the ability to communicate across all stakeholders while building and nurturing relationships.
• Ability to negotiate, influence without authority and drive results.
• Knowledge of the payments industry including how 3rd party channels acquire would be an asset.

We back you with benefits that support your holistic well-being so you can be and deliver your best. This means caring for you and your loved ones' physical, financial, and mental health, as well as providing the flexibility you need to thrive personally and professionally:

• Competitive base salaries
• Bonus incentives
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location)
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
• Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location)
• Free access to global on-site wellness centers staffed with nurses and doctors (depending on location)
• Free and confidential counseling support through our Healthy Minds program
• Career development and training opportunities

American Express is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible work environment in which all people who apply for positions or who work for or on behalf of Amex are treated with dignity and respect and are provided with equal treatment with respect to employment, regardless of that person's age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, colour, ancestry, ethnic or national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, family status, pregnancy, disability, record of offences, social condition or origin, political beliefs, association or activity or other factors prohibited under applicable Human Rights legislation (the “Prohibited Grounds”). If you have a disability and need accommodation, please speak with the Recruiter for more information.

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.