Bank Payment Partnerships Manager - Europe

Our Banking & Expansion team builds the infrastructure required to move money instantly, transparently, and at the lowest possible cost. In this role, you will lead our strategic bank partner relationships and drive our direct access to payment schemes and central banks across Europe. Working at the intersection of strategy, product development, and operational execution, you will expand our payment rails and optimize how money moves globally. (Note: This is not a commercial sales position - for that, see our Business Development roles) What You'll Do - European Payments Expert: Understand and help our product teams understand the existing and planned payments infrastructure in Europe and the U.K., and how we should use and access it to provide the best cross-border payments services to our customers. - Banking Partner Strategy & Execution: Manage, scale, and optimize key relationships with banks and payment service providers (PSPs) across Europe. Negotiate commercial terms, pricing, and SLAs to continuously cut costs, increase transaction speed, and improve payment visibility. - Direct Scheme & Central Bank Access: Own the end-to-end process of acquiring direct connectivity to payment schemes and central bank infrastructure across Europe. Lead participation applications, project-manage integration milestones, and design the operational and liquidity management strategy for scheme access. - End-to-End Deal Onboarding: Pitch Wise to potential partner institutions, negotiate commercial and legal contracts, complete account opening, pass compliance due diligence, and coordinate cross-functionally to make rails ready for engineering deployment. - Product & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Product, Engineering, Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams to translate local payment clearing mechanics (e.g., Elixir Express, CERTIS, RIX Instant) into product features and strategic roadmaps. - Regulatory Compliance & Operations Coaching: Own ongoing KYC, due diligence questionnaires, and regulatory reporting for partner banks. Coach internal operational teams to automate payment exceptions and scale day-to-day processing. - You bring deep domain expertise: You have a solid background in transaction banking, cash management, FIG, or payment infrastructure at a bank, PSP, or fintech. You possess a thorough grasp of the European payments landscape. - You're an exceptional relationship builder: You know how to navigate complex institutional hierarchies and earn trust with executive teams. You excel at nurturing long-term relationships, turning rigid banking institutions into collaborative, high-value partners. - You are driven by data and metrics: You naturally use data to back up your decisions, model commercial economics, monitor transaction performance (speed, unit costs, success rates), and spot hidden optimization opportunities. - You love getting into the details: Whether it's negotiating commercial contracts, navigating bank compliance reviews, untangling scheme rules, or solving an onboarding blocker, you're someone who likes solving complex problems firsthand. - You operate with high agency in product environments: You know how to bridge the gap between bank requirements and technical execution—bringing together Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Legal teams to turn manual bank processes into scalable, automated products. - Most importantly, you're mission-driven: You are excited about building the underlying global infrastructure that enables millions of people and businesses to move money faster, cheaper, and more transparently.