Senior Lead Partnership Operations Manager

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

The Senior Lead Partnership Operations Manager is responsible for driving operational excellence, program execution, and cross-functional coordination across Early Warning's strategic partnerships organization supporting cross-border payment initiatives. This role serves as the operational backbone for strategic partnership initiatives, establishing scalable operating rhythms, governance frameworks, executive communications, and program management practices that enable successful execution of business objectives.

Working closely with Product, Partnerships, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Treasury, Marketing, and Operations, this role ensures strategic initiatives remain aligned, on schedule, and positioned for successful delivery as Early Warning expands its international payment capabilities.

Essential Functions

• Lead complex, cross-functional partnership initiatives from planning through execution, ensuring delivery against strategic business objectives.
• Establish and manage operating rhythms across the partnerships organization, including leadership reviews, planning cycles, business updates, and executive communications.
• Develop and maintain integrated program plans, milestones, dependencies, RAID logs, dashboards, and executive reporting to provide visibility into program health, risks, and delivery progress.
• Coordinate execution across Product, Engineering, Partnerships, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Treasury, Marketing, Finance, and Operations to ensure alignment on priorities, deliverables, and launch readiness.
• Drive accountability across internal stakeholders by monitoring commitments, facilitating issue resolution, and proactively identifying execution risks and dependencies.
• Develop scalable governance processes, documentation standards, operating procedures, and communication frameworks that support the growth of the partnerships organization.
• Support onboarding and operational readiness of strategic banking, fintech, payment network, and ecosystem partners by coordinating activities across internal business functions.
• Develop executive presentations, business reviews, steering committee materials, and leadership communications that effectively communicate program status, priorities, risks, and recommendations.
• Analyze operational performance and partnership metrics to identify trends, improvement opportunities, and execution risks, providing recommendations to leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that simplify processes, improve operational efficiency, and increase organizational effectiveness.
• Partner closely with Product and Engineering teams to support launch readiness for new cross-border payment capabilities, ensuring dependencies, operational processes, and partnership requirements are successfully coordinated.
• Support strategic planning, quarterly business reviews, annual operating planning, and organizational prioritization activities across the partnerships organization.
• Mentor project and program managers, promoting consistent program management standards and operational best practices.
• Support the company's commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education and/or experience typically obtained through completion of a bachelor's degree in Business, Program Management, Finance, Computer Science, or other related fields.
• Typically 10+ years of progressive experience in program management, partnership operations, product operations, business operations, or related roles.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale cross-functional initiatives within financial services, payments, fintech, or similarly regulated technology environments.
• Experience coordinating initiatives across Product, Engineering, Operations, Risk, Compliance, and executive leadership.
• Strong executive communication skills with demonstrated experience developing presentations, dashboards, business reviews, and executive reporting materials.
• Experience establishing operational governance, business operating rhythms, KPI reporting, and scalable program management processes.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and drive alignment across matrixed organizations without direct authority.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage multiple strategic initiatives simultaneously.
• Background and drug screen required.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or advanced degree.
• Experience supporting cross-border payment platforms, international banking partnerships, or emerging payment technologies.
• Experience supporting digital asset-enabled payment capabilities or technology-enabled financial services platforms.
• Familiarity with financial institution partnerships, payment networks, or global payments infrastructure.
• Experience supporting product launches or commercialization efforts for complex technology platforms.
• Experience with Salesforce, TaskRay, Smartsheet, Planview, JIRA, Confluence, or similar enterprise program management tools.

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ in USD per year is: $129,000 - $177,000.
San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $154,000 - $213,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.