[Remote] Head of Payment Partnerships & Operations

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Paymend is an ambitious, remote-first fintech focused on building with scalability and quality. They are looking for a Head of Payment Partnerships & Operations to own the partner ecosystem that powers payment processing and recovery, optimizing authorization rates and managing operational hygiene.ResponsibilitiesBuild and own a diversified network of PSPs and acquirers (Tier 1 to high-risk specialists), with a focus on the US market. Ensure sufficient MID capacity to process forecast volume with zero single-partner dependenciesMove the needle on authorization rates through partner-side levers. You will negotiate better tiering, BIN-level optimization, and access to partner features (Network Tokens, 3DS) to drive measurable lift separate from product-side logicMaintain total oversight of MID health. You will keep Paymend out of Visa/Mastercard remediation programs (VAMP, VDMP, etc.) and lead the 'Crisis Stewardship' when scheme penalties or capacity threats landOwn the full negotiation lifecycle for fee splits, rolling reserves, ramp commitments, and liability allocation. You will continuously improve Paymend’s 'take rate' through aggressive renegotiation and smart deal structuringEnsure payment operations run cleanly. You will own the early-stage manual work required, reading settlement files, resolving reconciliation breaks, and ensuring incidents are cleared within service-level targetsPartner closely with Risk and Finance to ensure every deal meets rigorous safety and soundness standards. In our world, Risk always overrides CommercialSkillsHigh-Risk Acquiring Depth: You have lived the high-risk landscape. You are personally fluent in reserve mechanics, MATCH list dynamics, dispute lifecycles, and fraud loss attributionExisting US Bank Network: You bring a warm Rolodex of contacts at US sponsor banks and acquirers that actually take complex, high-risk volume. You can name the specific individuals you would call to secure a new BIN sponsorship todayOperational & Technical Fluency: You can read raw settlement files without help and understand authorization decline reason codes. You are comfortable holding a technical conversation with a partner's engineering team about routing and retriesScheme Literacy: You have managed Visa and Mastercard remediation programs and know how to preserve partner relationships while fixing underlying risk issuesCommercial Negotiation: A proven track record of signing the kind of complex agreements Paymend lives or dies on, including exclusivity carve-outs and liability shiftsPeople Leadership: Experience building or significantly improving a Payments Operations or Partnerships team. You are comfortable running a rigorous operating cadence of weekly metrics and incident reviewsCompany OverviewPaymend turns decline transactions into recovered revenue for online businesses of all sizes. It was founded in 2024, and is headquartered in New-York, US, with a workforce of 11-50 employees. Its website is https://www.paymend.com/.