Strategic Partnerships Program Manager

PaymentWorks is seeking a highly organized, results-oriented Strategic Partnerships Program Manager to lead critical initiatives that support the evolution of our bank partnership strategy. This individual will play a key role in transforming our business model from a referral-based partnership approach to a scalable reseller-led model with our banking partners.

Reporting to the Head of Partnerships, this role will serve as the central coordinator across internal teams and external partners, ensuring strategic initiatives are defined, prioritized, executed, and delivered on time. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable managing executive-level stakeholders, driving accountability across functions, and rolling up their sleeves to solve operational challenges.

This role requires someone who thrives in ambiguity, excels at cross-functional leadership without direct authority, and can effectively balance both short-term execution and long-term strategic initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership & Execution

Lead and coordinate strategic initiatives supporting the evolution of PaymentWorks’ bank partnership model.
Develop and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, dependencies, milestones, and success metrics.
Drive execution across multiple concurrent workstreams, ensuring initiatives remain on track and risks are proactively addressed.
Establish governance structures, meeting cadences, reporting mechanisms, and accountability frameworks.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner closely with teams across Partnerships, Sales, Product, Marketing, Customer Success, Operations, Legal, Compliance, Finance, and Engineering.
Align stakeholders around priorities, timelines, and expected outcomes.
Facilitate decision-making by identifying blockers, escalating issues appropriately, and driving resolution.

Partner Management

Coordinate strategic initiatives with banking partners and other external stakeholders.
Ensure commitments, deliverables, and timelines are clearly documented and communicated.
Build strong working relationships with partner teams to support successful execution and long-term growth.

Accountability & Communication

Track deliverables and hold teams accountable for agreed-upon deadlines and commitments.
Create executive-level reporting and provide visibility into project status, risks, dependencies, and key decisions.
Ensure leadership has a clear understanding of progress, challenges, and resource requirements.

Process Improvement & AI Enablement

Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, communication, and project execution through automation and AI-powered tools.
Leverage AI where appropriate to streamline project management activities, reporting, documentation, workflow management, and stakeholder communication.
Drive adoption of scalable processes and best practices across the organization.

Qualifications

Required

5+ years of project management, program management, business operations, consulting, partnerships, or related experience.
Demonstrated success leading complex cross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
Strong organizational and project management skills with exceptional attention to detail.
Proven ability to influence and drive accountability without direct management authority.
Excellent written, verbal, and executive communication skills.
Experience managing both tactical execution and long-term strategic programs.
Strong problem-solving and analytical capabilities.
Experience administering and leveraging HubSpot for pipeline management, partner tracking, reporting, workflow automation, and cross-functional coordination.

Preferred

Experience supporting organizational transformation or business model changes.
Knowledge of project management methodologies and tools such as Asana, Jira, Monday.com, Smartsheet, or similar platforms.
Experience leveraging AI tools to improve productivity, project execution, and business processes.
Experience working with or partnering with banks, fintech, SaaS, or technology partner ecosystems
Experience launching, managing, or scaling solutions through partner marketplaces and digital distribution channels.
Track marketplace onboarding, listing requirements, certification processes, partner enablement activities, and launch milestones.
Leverage HubSpot to maintain visibility into partner opportunities, implementation progress, adoption metrics, and strategic initiatives.

Success Measures

In this role, success will be measured by:

Timely delivery of strategic partnership initiatives.
Successful execution of the reseller partnership transformation roadmap.
Improved cross-functional alignment and accountability.
Increased operational efficiency and reduction of execution bottlenecks.
Strong partner satisfaction and engagement.
Clear executive visibility into program health, milestones, and outcomes.

Key Attributes

Highly organized and execution-focused.
Strong sense of ownership and accountability.
Comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving environments.
Skilled at influencing stakeholders across all levels of the organization.
Proactive, resourceful, and solution-oriented.
Strategic thinker with a bias for action.

Additional Responsibilities

Develop reporting and dashboards that provide leadership visibility into partnership performance, marketplace effectiveness, and program health.

Applicants must pass a background check prior to being officially accepted for employment.

Job location: open to remote; the company is in Boston, MA.

Job is remote; however, applicants must reside in one of the following states:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin

At PaymentWorks, we base our employment decisions entirely on business needs, job requirements, and qualifications. We do not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, health, parental status, personal beliefs, veteran status, age, or any other status. We have zero tolerance for any kind of discrimination, and we are looking for candidates who share those values. Applications from women and members of underrepresented minority groups are Welcome.

About PaymentWorks

PaymentWorks is the vendor identity platform for B2B payments, serving as the front door to the ERP. Customers automate both vendor onboarding and updates, transfer ACH fraud risk, and digitize payments through the largest network of authenticated payees.

To apply for this position, send an e-mail to: careers@paymentworks.com