Payments Strategy and Analytics Manager

H-E-B; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

H-E-B is seeking a Payments Strategy and Analytics Manager to shape the company’s payments roadmap through data‑driven analysis and financial modeling. You will evaluate performance, identify cost optimization opportunities, and advise on routing, vendor performance, and payment technologies across stores and digital channels.

You will collaborate with Technology, Finance, Data Science, Legal, Security, Operations, and Product teams to ensure compliance, scalability, and strategic alignment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, or related field.
• 4+ years in payments, financial analysis, or FP&A.
• Proficient in Excel (financial modeling, pivot tables) and SQL.
• Ability to translate data into business insights for leadership.

Responsibilities

• Analyze payment data to identify cost reductions and routing optimization.
• Develop financial models and business cases for investments and vendor evaluations.
• Create dashboards and recurring analyses for executives and partners.
• Evaluate industry trends, network changes, and payment innovations.

Skills

Advanced Excel

SQL

Financial modeling

Data storytelling

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Analytics, Accounting, Mathematics, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Snowflake

Databricks

Job description

Responsibilities

As a Payments Strategy and Analytics Manager on the Enterprise Payments team, you will help shape H-E-B's payments strategy through data-driven analysis, financial modeling, industry research, and strategic recommendations. This role is responsible for evaluating payment performance, identifying cost optimization opportunities, assessing industry changes, and supporting key business decisions that impact payment acceptance across stores and digital channels. You will leverage transaction data, financial analysis, and market insights to evaluate routing strategies, processing costs, vendor performance, payment technologies, and emerging industry trends. The role will partner closely with Technology, Finance, Data Science, Legal, Security, Operations, Product teams, and external payment partners to ensure H-E-B's payment ecosystem remains efficient, compliant, scalable, and aligned with business objectives. The ideal candidate is naturally curious, highly analytical, comfortable working with large datasets, and skilled at translating complex findings into actionable recommendations for leadership.

What You’ll Do

Financial Analysis & Business Strategy

• Analyze payment transaction data to identify opportunities for cost reduction, routing optimization, fraud mitigation, customer experience improvements, and operational efficiencies.
• Develop financial models and business cases to support payment investments, vendor evaluations, network initiatives, and strategic payment decisions.
• Quantify financial impacts associated with interchange, assessments, processor fees, routing strategies, network mandates, and payment acceptance changes.
• Conduct scenario analysis and forecasting to support budgeting, planning, and long‑term payment strategy.
• Monitor payment performance metrics and identify trends, risks, opportunities, and emerging business issues.
• Build executive‑level presentations and recommendations that influence business decisions across the organization.

Data & Insights

• Utilize SQL, Excel, business intelligence tools, and transaction datasets to uncover actionable insights.
• Partner with Data Science and Technology teams to validate data, improve reporting capabilities, and develop analytical frameworks.
• Create dashboards, reporting packages, and recurring analyses for leadership and business partners.
• Translate complex data into clear business recommendations and strategic actions.

Payments Industry & Competitive Analysis

• Research payment industry trends, card network changes, regulations, emerging technologies, and competitive merchant practices.
• Assess the business impact of network mandates, regulatory developments, and industry initiatives.
• Evaluate new payment products, capabilities, and acceptance strategies to support H-E-B's future payments roadmap.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Evaluate processor, network, fintech, and payment partner performance using financial and operational metrics.
• Support vendor negotiations by providing analytical insights, benchmarking, and business impact assessments.
• Develop strong relationships with payment partners and industry organizations to stay informed of market developments.

Strategic Initiatives

• Lead analytical workstreams supporting payment implementations, system enhancements, and strategic initiatives.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to evaluate solution options, identify risks, and develop recommendations.
• Support payment incidents and operational issues through impact analysis, root cause evaluation, and corrective action planning.
• Ensure strategic initiatives align with H-E-B's business goals, customer experience objectives, and compliance requirements.

What You Have

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Analytics, Accounting, Mathematics, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in payments, financial analysis, business strategy, consulting, banking, fintech, FP&A, business intelligence, or a related analytical field.
• Advanced Excel skills including financial modeling, pivot tables, scenario analysis, and large dataset management.
• Experience using SQL to analyze and manipulate data.
• Demonstrated ability to develop business cases, perform financial analysis, and support strategic decision‑making.
• Strong quantitative, analytical, and problem‑solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present findings to senior leaders and non‑technical audiences.
• Ability to independently structure ambiguous problems and develop actionable recommendations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in retail payments, merchant acquiring, card networks, payment processing, banking, or fintech.
• Familiarity with interchange, assessments, payment processing economics, and transaction routing.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, Snowflake, Databricks, or other analytics platforms.
• Experience evaluating vendor pricing, contracts, or financial performance.
• Experience with payment optimization, routing analysis, fraud analytics, or customer payment behavior.

Success in This Role

The Successful Candidate Will Be Able To

• Convert complex datasets into strategic business recommendations.
• Build financial models that inform executive decision‑making.
• Identify cost savings opportunities and quantify business impact.
• Influence stakeholders through data, logic, and structured analysis.
• Navigate ambiguity and independently drive work forward.
• Develop expertise in H-E-B's payment ecosystem and industry landscape.
• Balance strategic thinking with execution and operational support.