Director, Enterprise Payments Strategy & Partnerships

Fanatics Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Inc. is looking for a Director, Enterprise Payments Strategy & Partnerships to coordinate payments across its business units and lead negotiations with payment processing partners. This high-profile role requires extensive experience in payments and strong negotiation, analytical, and financial modeling skills.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of working across complex organizations and will be instrumental in ensuring Fanatics captures the full commercial value of its operations.

Qualifications

• 10-14 years of experience in payments, fintech, business development, or e-commerce, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating and closing strategic deals with payment processors, card networks, digital wallets, or fintech partners.
• Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem including transaction flows and fraud risk tooling.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate payments across Fanatics' business units to ensure alignment.
• Lead commercial negotiations and strategic partnerships with payment processors.
• Manage project tracking and partner management post-launch.

Skills

Payments expertise

Negotiation skills

Analytical skills

Financial modeling

Communication skills

Education

10-14 years of experience in payments, fintech, or e-commerce

Job description

Director, Enterprise Payments Strategy & Partnerships

New York, NY, United States

About Us

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to buy, collect, and bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally.

The Role

Fanatics is seeking a Director, Enterprise Payments Strategy & Partnerships to serve as a critical connective layer across our Commerce, Collectibles, and Betting & Gaming businesses. This role sits at the enterprise level and is responsible for two core functions: coordinating a coherent, high-performing payments ecosystem across Fanatics' operating companies, and leading commercial negotiations and strategic partnerships with payment processors, networks, wallets, and fintech partners.

You will work directly with the VP of Enterprise Business Development and alongside senior stakeholders across Finance, Product, Legal, Risk, and each operating company to translate enterprise payments strategy into executed deals and launched programs.

This is a high-visibility role for a commercially sharp, operationally grounded payments leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution.

What You'll Do

• Enterprise Payments Coordination
  • Serve as the enterprise-level point of coordination for payments across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, ensuring strategic alignment and eliminating duplicative or conflicting vendor relationships
  • Monitor pricing and economics across all processing, gateway, fraud, and wallet/checkout solutions, identifying opportunities for consolidation and cost optimization
  • Define and track enterprise payments KPIs including authorization rates, cost of acceptance, fraud rates, and customer experience metrics
  • Partner with operating company payments leads to align on shared infrastructure, routing logic, and vendor strategy
  • Translate enterprise payments strategy into clear internal requirements and execution plans that operating teams can act on
• Payments Partnerships & Commercial Negotiations
  • Lead identification, evaluation, and negotiation of strategic partnerships with payment processors, acquiring banks, card networks, digital wallets, orchestration platforms, and fintech companies
  • Own end-to-end deal processes including RFPs, commercial term negotiations, contract execution, and post-launch performance management
  • Develop and present business cases for new partnerships, including financial modeling, customer value analysis, and operational feasibility assessments
  • Build and maintain senior-level relationships with key payments partners to ensure Fanatics captures favorable economics and access to emerging capabilities
  • Stay current on industry trends, network rule changes, emerging payment methods, and the competitive landscape to keep Fanatics positioned as a payments innovator
• Business Development Operations
  • Manage pipeline tracking, deal support, pitch development, and launch coordination
  • Oversee the enterprise payments partnerships pipeline across loyalty integrations, financial services, and alternative payment methods - including opportunity tracking, stage gating, and prioritization
  • Ensure effective project management for new partnership launches, coordinating across Product, Legal, Finance, Risk, Loyalty, Marketing, and operating companies
  • Support ongoing partner management post-launch, including executive cadence, performance reviews, and issue escalation

What We're Looking For

• 10-14 years of progressive experience in payments, fintech, business development, or e-commerce, with at least 3 years in a leadership role
• Demonstrated experience negotiating and closing strategic deals with payment processors, card networks, digital wallets, or fintech partners - both issuing and acquiring
• Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem including transaction flows, processor economics, fraud and risk tooling, orchestration, and alternative payment methods
• Proven ability to operate across a complex, multi-business-unit organization and drive alignment among diverse stakeholders
• Strong analytical and financial modeling skills; ability to build compelling, ROI-driven business cases
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence both internal executives and senior external partners
• Familiarity with loyalty ecosystems, financial services partnerships, or digital wallet integrations is a strong plus

Why This Role Matters

Payments is one of the most consequential levers in the Fanatics platform - touching every fan transaction across merchandise, collectibles, and betting. This Director role ensures that Fanatics operates as one coherent, strategically aligned payments organization rather than a fragmented set of operating companies, and that the company captures the full commercial value of its scale through best-in-class vendor partnerships and deal economics.

The salary range represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training.

For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/.

As set forth in Fanatics Inc.'s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.