Strategic Payments Partnerships Director

Lightspeed Commerce; Northern (KY); On-site; USD 190,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity scheme

Flexible paid time off

Extended healthcare benefits

Health and wellness benefit

Job summary

Lightspeed Commerce is seeking a Strategic Payments Partnerships Director to own relationships with major financial services partners and shape strategy across Lightspeed Payments and Capital. You will drive cross-functional initiatives, negotiate with card brands, and push for geographic and product expansion to grow revenue.

The role is remote across the U.S. with a preference for EST or MST time zones, reporting to the Head of Payments.

Qualifications

• Experience with large payments providers (5+ years) including relationships with major providers.
• 5+ years shaping financial services strategy in fintech or payments.
• 3+ years managing card-brand relationships (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx).
• Proven ability to launch financial services products and expand markets.
• Deep knowledge of card networks, acquiring models, and payments economics.
• Ability to engage executives and communicate across a matrixed org.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategies to grow Lightspeed Payments and Capital adoption.
• Own relationships with card brands and major financial services providers worldwide.
• Collaborate with Strategy, Product, Legal, Compliance, Finance, Marketing, and Sales.
• Set partner priorities and drive product development, geographies, and revenue.
• Identify opportunities to improve payments economics and commercial terms.
• Lead complex negotiations with card brands and acquirers.
• Monitor regulatory developments and market trends as a payments expert.
• Represent Lightspeed externally and cultivate strategic partnerships.

Skills

Managing major payments providers

Managing card-brand relationships

Financial services strategy

Product launches & market expansion

Payments economics knowledge

Executive level engagement

Independent collaboration

Analytical rigor

Job description

Are you actively looking for a new opportunity? Or just checking the market? Well… you might just be in the right place!

The Strategic Payments Partnerships Director will own the relationships with Lightspeed’s key financial services partners, including all major card brands and the world’s largest payments acquirers.

These relationships underpin Lightspeed Payments, Capital, and many other key products our customers rely on to run their businesses. This role is focused on creating and executing strategies that further the adoption of Lightspeed Payments and Capital, not solely relationship management.

Representing the connective tissue between Lightspeed and our financial services partners, this individual will play a critical role in growing and optimizing relationships that represent the majority of Lightspeed’s revenue. Reporting to the Head of Payments, this is a high-impact individual contributor role for someone who can operate strategically, drive cross-functional initiatives, and operate through influence.

We are hiring for this role remotely across the U.S., with a preference for candidates in the EST or MST time zones**

What you’ll be doing:

Develop and execute strategies that increase Lightspeed’s ability to win new merchants and convert existing merchants into Lightspeed Payments and Capital users.

Own the relationships with major card brands and key financial services providers globally, building joint business plans with clear priorities and accountability.

Collaborate with Strategy, Product, Legal, Compliance, Finance, Marketing, and Sales to translate company objectives into actionable partnership initiatives.

Set priorities with partners and push for innovation, product development, geographic expansion, co-marketing opportunities, and incremental revenue streams.

Identify and execute opportunities to improve payments economics, including margin expansion, approval performance, partner efficiencies, and commercial terms.

Lead complex negotiations and commercial structuring with card brands, acquirers, and strategic payment partners, balancing growth, economics, risk, and execution feasibility.

Serve as Lightspeed’s subject-matter expert on the payments ecosystem by monitoring scheme rules, regulatory developments, and market trends.

Represent Lightspeed externally and cultivate new strategic partner relationships.

How you’ll know you’re thriving in this role:

Financial services partners are aligned to Lightspeed’s business goals, motivated to support our priorities, and operating within clear and measurable success metrics.

Financial services margin, approval performance, and revenue continue to improve across existing and newly launched products.

Partner roadmaps, launches, and cross-functional initiatives are executed on time and deliver measurable business impact.

Merchant satisfaction and retention increase across Lightspeed’s financial services products.

Partner relationships generate tangible strategic value through improved economics, new capabilities, expanded market access, co-marketing, and new growth opportunities.

What you need to bring:

We're looking for candidates who have experience with the following:

Managing major payments providers (5+ years): Building and deepening relationships with payments providers such as Fiserv, Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, and Worldpay.

Managing card-brand relationships (3+ years): Owning or co-developing growth strategies with card brands such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

Financial services strategy (5+ years): Shaping strategy in a financial services, fintech, card-network, acquiring, or payments context.

Product launches and market expansion (3+ years): Supporting the launch of new financial services products, capabilities, or geographies.

Payments economics and ecosystem knowledge (5+ years): Applied understanding of card network dynamics, acquiring models, economics, and the broader payments value chain.

Fluency in engaging at an executive level, with strong written and verbal communication skills across both internal cross-functional stakeholders and external partners.

Ability to work independently with a high degree of accountability while collaborating effectively across a matrixed organization.

Strong commercial instincts paired with analytical rigor, sound judgment, and close attention to execution detail.

Confidence to bring forward ideas, share clear recommendations, and influence decisions in a constructive and credible way.

Determination, flexibility, and a proactive, action-oriented mindset with a strong desire to see opportunities through to outcomes.

What's in it for you?

Come live the Lightspeed experience…

Lots of autonomy, flexible work culture, and the option of fully remote work

Genuine career opportunities in a company that is creating new roles every day

Work on a product used by thousands of brands and retailers across the wholesale industry

Work in a team big enough for growth but lean enough to make a real impact

… and enjoy a range of benefits that will keep you happy, healthy and (not) hungry:

Lightspeed equity scheme (we are all owners)

Flexible paid time off policy

Extended healthcare benefits

Health and wellness benefit of $500 per year

Mental health online platform and counseling & coaching services

Paid leave and assistance for new parents

Fuel your growth. Find your people.

At Lightspeed, your growth is our priority. We invest in you with continuous learning opportunities, global mobility and benefits designed to support you—all within a driven, diverse and inclusive team that’s passionate about empowering our communities

Final thought... Studies show that gender-coded words significantly reduce the number of women applying. Use this link to find out if your job description is gender-neutral: http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/

At Lightspeed, we carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including your skill set, qualifications, experience, and market data. These considerations can cause your compensation to vary. We reasonably expect the total compensation for this position to be in the range of $190,000 TO $220,000 USD. Lightspeed also provides a variety of employee benefits including, but not limited to, medical, dental, wellness, life and disability insurance, RRSP plan and match, paid parental leave top-up, and paid time off.

Please note that this compensation information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within Ontario (update to BC if posted in Vancouver) and reflects the amount Lightspeed is willing to pay at the time of this posting. This role represents an existing vacancy at Lightspeed. Lightspeed uses artificial intelligence–enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process; all hiring decisions are made by our recruiting and hiring teams.

To all recruitment agencies: Lightspeed does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. If we have not directly engaged your company in writing to supply candidates for a specific vacancy, Lightspeed will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Lightspeed is a proud equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive and barrier-free workplace. Lightspeed welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Where to from here?

Obviously, this has to be mutually beneficial: we want you to step into a role you love, and we want to offer you a place you’re proud to come to every day.

Lightspeed is building communities through commerce, and we need people from all backgrounds and lived experiences to do that. We were founded in 2005, in Montreal’s gay village and our original members were all part of the LGBTQ+ community. The ethos of our business has been about inclusion from the very beginning, and we strive to provide a workplace where everyone belongs.

Who we are:

Powering the businesses that are the backbone of the global economy, Lightspeed's one-stop commerce platform helps merchants innovate to simplify, scale, and provide exceptional customer experiences. Our cloud commerce solution transforms and unifies online and physical operations, multichannel sales, expansion to new locations, global payments, financial solutions, and connection to supplier networks.

Founded in Montréal, Canada in 2005, Lightspeed is dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LSPD) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: LSPD). With teams across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the company serves retail, hospitality, and golf businesses in over 100 countries.