Manager, Strategic Partnerships

Velera is the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated fintech solutions provider. The company serves more than 4,000 financial institutions throughout North America, operating with velocity to help our clients keep pace with the rapid momentum of change and fuel growth in the new era of financial services. Our purpose: We accelerate partners’ success through innovative financial technology solutions and inspired service.

The Manager, Strategic Partnerships is accountable for ensuring that the organization consistently receives the highest standards of timely and accurate service and operational support from its largest card processing vendor relationships, including Fiserv, FIS, Visa and Mastercard. The Manager leads a team of highly-experienced professionals to maintain a comprehensive view of the card processing service relationships, governs and manages the effectiveness of escalation processes, leads the resolution of specific issues and incidents, monitors service- and operations-related metrics and KPIs, and initiates process improvement initiatives both internal and with assigned business partners. This role will serve as the senior voice to the partners’ service and relationship teams in ensuring accountability for consistent performance, establishing priorities, and optimizing effective bi-directional engagement.

• Manage team of Strategic Partner Managers to ensure consistent, high quality engagement with assigned partner relationships and outstanding support to the team’s internal customers throughout the company.

• Ensure staff resources remain well-aligned and optimized to the changing demands of the respective partner relationships. Ensure staff achieves and maintains expertise across assigned partners and the books of business they support.

• Serve as subject matter expert to internal customers for navigating the service and operational relationships with assigned business partners.

• Maintain a thorough understanding of our products, services, processing environments, and client bases, including but not limited to setup, implementation, testing, pricing, billing and reporting.

• Direct and manage partner service relationship by ensuring focus and prioritization of the company’s business and providing service excellence to our client FIs, including but not limited to directing and establishing priorities, communicating needs and objectives, and negotiating through challenges to ensure the most desirable results for the company.

• Collaborate across managemet levels of each partner’s organization to optimize alignment and gain preferential support, with the objective of maximizing the levels of service received on behalf of our employees and client FIs.

• Review, monitor and report partner performance across contractual SLAs and other established KPIs.

• Direct and hold partners accountable for corrective action and process improvements.

• Identify internal gaps in process or proficiency impacting business partner performance. Influence key internal stakeholders to implement process improvement initiatives accordingly.

• Coordinate and conduct meetings to support the resolution of complex issues.

• Work directly with internal stakeholders and partner liasons to negotiate, escalate, and resolve high urgency issues, notably trouble ticket incidents involving critical production activities that impact clients and their members.

• Direct recovery of overpayments and contractual penalties; identify and resolve billing issues and lead related resolution efforts. Manage loss reibursement requests, billing credits, fee waivers and other reimbursements that impact the contract.

• Support, assist, implement and monitor any special projects within Strategic Partnerships.

• Provide direction and leadership to staff; guide, coach, mentor and develop staff ensuring compliance with processes and procedures.

• Handle interviewing, hiring, promotions, transfers, performance appraisals, compensation, counseling and termination of staff.

• Develop and maintain staff by applying the necessary training and leadership that will allow internal growth and advancement.

• Direct staff to ensure that all duties are performed according to department performance standards.

• Create a collaborative work environment that motivates individuals and teams to deliver outstanding results.

• Recognize and reward desired behavior and results.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree Required in Business, or combination of education and experience required. 

• Ten (10) years of experience in relationship or service management with an outside, third-party, card payments processing provider with at least seven (7) years serving as the primary manager of escalated service and operational issues.

• Experience managing revenue generating partnerships and leading a team required, prior supervisory experience preferred.

• Expert-level knowledge in card processing relationship management, with particular focus on navigating service and operational support organizations to drive the highest levels of support for the company.

• Strong knowledge and experience with vendor management programs; ability to create, define, and implement policy and best practices.

• Strong knowledge of and experience with payment and/or financial services industry best practices, policies, and procedures.

At Velera, inclusion isn’t an initiative – it’s how we work. Guided by a people‑helping‑people philosophy, we cultivate a culture where every employee feels valued, respected and empowered to do their best work. We’re committed to building a diverse workforce and fostering meaningful connection across our teams. Through a remote‑first, flexible environment, we prioritize psychological safety, wellbeing and belonging so individuals and teams can collaborate to thrive. Together, we’re shaping a new era of secure, innovative solutions for the clients and communities we serve. Learn more about what it’s like to work at Velera.

The anticipated hiring range for this position is typically between the minimum and midpoint of the posted salary range; however, actual compensation may vary based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills and qualifications, education, internal equity, and overall business and budget considerations. Velera is committed to providing competitive compensation that reflects both individual role and responsibilities, individual performance, and market.