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U.S. Bank is seeking a delivery-focused leader to head Partner Operations across Europe, owning the partner relationship and end-to-end operational delivery. You will guide large European teams through senior leaders, ensuring performance, capacity and quality against targets.
You will own governance, escalation handling and roadmap alignment with the broader operations strategy, while fostering an inclusive, high-performing culture and driving automation and digitisation.
At U.S. Bank, we’re on a journey to do our best. Helping the customers and businesses we serve to make better and smarter financial decisions, enabling the communities we support to grow and succeed in the right ways, all more confidently and more often—that’s what we call the courage to thrive. We believe it takes all of us to bring our shared ambition to life, and each person is unique in their potential. A career with U.S. Bank gives you a wide, ever-growing range of opportunities to discover what makes you thrive. Try new things, learn new skills and discover what you excel at—all from Day One. As a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank, Elavon is committed to building the platforms and ecosystems that help over 1.5 million customers around the world to achieve their financial goals—no matter what they need. From transaction processing to customer service, to driving innovation and launching new products, we’re building a range of tailored payment solutions powered by the latest technology. As part of our team, you can explore what motivates and energizes your career goals: partnering with our customers, our communities, and each other. We actively uphold transparent and fair hiring practices that support individual opportunity, inclusive culture, and career mobility across all levels of our organisation. We offer meaningful opportunities for growth, a culture of inclusion, and a strong commitment to transparency and integrity in everything we do.
You will lead Partner Operations across Europe, owning the partner relationship and the operational delivery behind it. Alongside this you will lead large European operations teams through senior team leaders, accountable for their performance, capacity and quality. This is a delivery-focused leadership role. You will own the partner experience end to end – performance, escalations, service standards and operational output – set clear targets and deliver them. You will be the senior escalation point for the function across Europe, working closely with Business Development, Product, Technology and Risk & Compliance.
Own the performance of Partner Operations and the European operations teams that deliver partner and merchant processing and deliver against agreed strategic targets.
Set the direction and roadmap for the area, in line with the wider Operations strategy and business needs.
Hold full accountability for SLAs and KPIs, with a strong focus on service delivery and the partner and merchant experience.
Own partner governance – performance reviews, service standards, action plans and follow-through.
Act as senior escalation point for significant partner issues, fixing root causes rather than symptoms.
Own capacity planning, forecasting and workload allocation to protect service levels across all markets, and build the flexibility to support business growth and new partner relationships.
Drive daily performance management – clear targets, visible reporting and quick action where performance slips – and track and reduce errors and rework.
Champion an automation first approach, simplifying processes and controls and removing waste.
Work with Product and Technology on system changes, releases and new market or partner launches, making sure the teams are ready before go-live.
Maintain a strong risk and control environment, with documented, reviewed and approved procedures that meet audit requirements.
Present performance, risks and plans to senior leaders with clear, data-driven updates, and flag delivery risks in advance.
Lead, coach and develop managers, team leaders and experienced specialists, and build an inclusive, high‑performing and accountable team.
Minimum 5 years of people leadership, including leading managers or senior team members.
Proven experience managing partner, client or third‑party relationships, including performance and escalation management.
Experience leading operational teams with SLA, quality and volume accountability, including capacity planning and forecasting.
A track record of owning and delivering strategic targets, and of driving change with a strong bias towards automation and digitisation.
Strong communication and stakeholder skills, including presenting to senior leaders.
Strong analytical skills, using data and dashboards to drive decisions.
Knowledge of card acquiring, payments or financial services, and of partner and merchant onboarding processes.
Fluent English
This role requires working from a U.S. Bank location three (3) or more days per week.
We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment experience.
We encourage candidates to explore the full value of our offer, including monetary and non‑monetary benefits, at Employee benefits and development | U.S. Bank | Elavon.
Posting may be closed earlier due to high volume of applicants. We aim to provide timely updates throughout the process and encourage early applications to ensure consideration.
Elavon is wholly‑owned by U.S. Bank, which just happens to be one of the world’s most ethical companies. Whichever part of the company you join, you’ll soon see that we help our customers and communities thrive. And we’ll do the same for you, too. From day one, you’ll find ample opportunities to grow. A variety of projects to work on. A host of new skills to learn. And you’ll be surrounded by people who’ve got your back, and who’ll do everything they can to make sure you’re happy and fulfilled.