Director of Strategic Accounts

Who are you?

We're looking for a commercially minded payments professional who is ready to take the next step in their career. You're a self-starter who understands the payments ecosystem, builds strong client relationships, and knows how to turn insights into business opportunities.

You're comfortable engaging with senior executives, identifying opportunities to grow accounts, and navigating challenging client conversations. You enjoy rolling up your sleeves, building processes from scratch, and finding better ways to get things done.

This is an opportunity to help shape how Optimized Payments manages and grows its most important client relationships, working directly with our executive leadership team.

OP is seeking an innovative and dedicated individual committed to both serving our customers and having fun!  Driven, with an entrepreneurial spirit and a heart for fintech. We’re looking for someone who wants to make a significant impact on the Company, Clients, and your Career.  At Optimized Payments, our people embrace these qualities, so if this sounds like you then please read on!

The Role:

As Director, Strategic Accounts, you'll lead the commercial strategy for a portfolio of Optimized Payments' key enterprise clients, with a focus on retention, growth, and long-term client value. Our lead consultants remain each client's day-to-day partner, delivering analytics and implementation guidance.

Your role is to work alongside them, develop executive relationships, lead renewal and expansion discussions, and ensure clients clearly understand the value Optimized Payments delivers.

You'll also help build our strategic account management program, including account plans, executive business reviews, customer health monitoring, and expansion strategies.

This is a hands-on role with significant visibility across the company and an opportunity to grow into broader leadership responsibilities. Regular travel to client sites and to our Atlanta office is expected.

While this position is based in Atlanta, we operate on a hybrid schedule with the opportunity for remote work.

Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Account Ownership:

• Serve as executive sponsor and commercial owner for a defined portfolio of strategic enterprise accounts, accountable for gross and net revenue retention.
• Build C-suite relationships (CFO, Treasurer, VP of Payments) so our value is understood at the top of each client and holds up through leadership changes on the client side.
• Maintain an account plan for every strategic client: stakeholder map, value delivered, risks, renewal timeline, and growth opportunities.
• Meet key clients in person on a regular cadence, including on-site executive business reviews.

1. Executive Business Reviews and Value Narrative:

• Own the executive business review program, setting one standard for preparation, format, and messaging across all strategic accounts.
• Turn consulting and analytics work into a clear executive narrative: the problem, what we recommended, what was implemented, and the measurable financial impact.
• Ensure every strategic client has a current, ready-to-use value case at all times, not one assembled under pressure a month before renewal.
• Partner with lead consultants to capture results as they happen, and coach them on communicating business impact.

1. Renewals, Retention, and Expansion:

• Lead renewal strategy and negotiation for strategic accounts, starting well ahead of renewal dates.
• Lead pricing discussions, commercial negotiations, and the response to competitive threats and RFPs within the client base.
• Identify and develop expansion opportunities (additional analytics, new payment areas, and new business units) in partnership with the sales team.
• Bring structured discovery to existing relationships, surfacing client priorities before they become requests.

1. Executive Escalations:

• Serve as the senior escalation point for strategic clients, coordinating resolution across consulting, analytics, and company leadership.
• Handle difficult commercial and relationship conversations with composure, protecting both the relationship and the economics.

1. Build the Strategic Accounts Function:

• Design and scale how Optimized Payments manages strategic relationships: account segmentation, engagement cadence, playbooks, and success metrics.
• Define account health and early-warning signals, and shape the AI-enabled client intelligence program (meeting intelligence, CRM, and monthly client summaries) that feeds them.
• Report on retention, renewal pipeline, expansion, and account health to company leadership.
• Shape the function's future structure, with the opportunity to build a team as it grows.
• Represent Optimized Payments with client executives and at industry events.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• 5+ years in enterprise payments in sales, account management, or relationship leadership, ideally at a merchant acquirer, processor, card network, or payments advisory firm.
• Track record of owning and growing large enterprise relationships, with measurable results in retention, renewal, and expansion.
• Experience leading business reviews and commercial negotiations with C-level, finance, and payments executives at large enterprises.
• Deep fluency in payments economics, such as interchange, acquiring and processing pricing, authorization, routing, and chargebacks.
• Experience building account management programs and standards; experience leading or mentoring a team is a plus.
• Ability to translate data and analytics into a compelling business case for an executive audience.
• Composed and credible in escalations, pricing conversations, and competitive situations.
• Comfortable leveraging AI, CRM, and analytics tools to research accounts, prepare executive business reviews, identify expansion opportunities, and work more efficiently.
• Willing to travel regularly to client sites and to our Atlanta office.