Senior Manager, Strategic Payment Partnership

Expedia, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 204,500; Full time

Job summary

A leading travel services company is seeking a Senior Manager, Strategic Payment Partnerships, to manage vital payment relationships within a dynamic team. The role requires 8+ years of experience in vendor management and negotiations, strong communication skills, and analytical abilities. Responsibilities include strategic alignment with partners and optimizing performance through KPI establishment. This position offers a competitive salary up to $204,500 based on experience and performance, ensuring qualified applicants are considered equally.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategic partner or vendor management.
• Track record of turning around partner relationships to drive results.
• Strong communication and ability to influence stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Stay abreast of trends in the payment industry.
• Drive strategic alignment between vendors and internal teams.
• Conduct partner/vendor benchmarking and contract negotiations.

Skills

Strategic partner management

Contract management

Negotiation skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Business acumen

Decision-making ability

Job description

Senior Manager, Strategic Payment Partnerships

The Strategic Partnerships team manages critical payment relationships and is part of the Expedia Global Payments (EGP) organization, responsible for enabling $100 billion of customer and supplier payments across Expedia Group’s portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Stay abreast of commercial, regulatory and innovative trends in the payment industry.
• Ensure our payment business benefits from our partners’ expertise, capabilities and innovations.
• Drive strategic alignment between payment vendors/partners and Expedia Group teams including marketing, advertisement, banking, legal, and EGP products.
• Serve as Expedia Inc’s go‑to person for payment vendors and partners to ensure holistic engagement at the enterprise level.
• Define and execute partner/vendor strategy at region, payment method, and payment method levels, align strategy roadmaps with EGP goals, and partner with vendors to deliver high‑quality, timely initiatives.
• Increase partner/vendor performance while maximizing financial benefits through transparent and effective business reviews, including QBRs and weekly calls.
• Conduct partner/vendor benchmarking, RFI, RFP or similar activities.
• Perform contract negotiations and monitor contract performance.
• Escalate and resolve executive‑level partner/vendor issues that have large impact.
• Establish KPIs to identify opportunities to optimize partner/vendor performance.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategic partner or vendor management, contract management, and negotiations, with a track record of turning around partner relationships to drive results.
• 8+ years of experience in independently negotiating contracts, preferably in an e‑commerce or IT services environment.
• Strong communication and influence skills, able to convey information and ideas clearly, create persuading strategies, and balance results with relationship.
• Analytical skills: extract and compare information from multiple sources, develop action plans, and respond to complex and ambiguous situations.
• Business acumen: understand basic business operations and organizational levers, evaluate business plans and processes, and identify data or recommendations that need further investigation.
• Decision‑making ability: use factual data, collect reliable information, rely on data over emotions, and commit to decisions that improve business outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in one of the following industries: travel, airlines, hotels, or payments.
• Passion for results, maintaining high standards, meeting or exceeding challenging goals, and continuous improvement.
• Experience using AI or machine‑learning‑driven tools (e.g., anomaly detection, forecasting, dashboards) in a payments, financial operations, or e‑commerce environment, and managing end‑to‑end program delivery with KPIs.
• Experience utilizing Agentic AI to improve, operationalize, or automate repetitive processes, including leading program roadmaps and managing vendor contracts and strategic relationships.

Compensation

Base salary range: $146,000.00 – $204,500.00. Employees may earn up to $233,500.00 based on performance. Starting pay will vary by location, budget, and individual knowledge, skills, and experience.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. This employer participates in E‑Verify. The employer will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee’s I‑9 to confirm work authorization.