Payments & Embedded Fintech Partnerships Director

It's a new day with a new opportunity at 8am! 

About the role:
You will own a named portfolio of large, multinational partners foundational to our payments business and be the accountable owner for each relationship, building the operating rhythm that drives measurable growth, revenue, and product impact. You will also own 8am’s embedded finance and fintech product agenda — including outgoing payments, capital lending, and credit products — driving them from strategy through launch in partnership with Product and Engineering.
This is a senior strategic individual contributor role with high visibility across 8am’s executive team, spanning both external partner relationships and internal fintech product initiatives. You’ll be the face of 8am to your partners, the owner of 8am’s embedded finance and fintech roadmap, and the internal quarterback who aligns Product, Engineering, Operations, Finance, Marketing, Legal, Risk, Compliance, and other cross-functional teams behind a d partner strategy.
About us:
At 8am, our vision is to power a world where professionals thrive. We start every day on a mission to empower professionals with the most trusted, innovative technology to deliver world-class outcomes for their clients and exceptional financial results for their business. They count on our purpose-built solutions to simplify operations, ensure compliance, and fuel profitable growth, so they can focus on their clients and do more of the work that matters.
Founded in 2005, 8am™ (formerly AffiniPay) is the professional business platform built to help legal, accounting, and other client-focused professionals run stronger, more profitable businesses. Today, more than 250,000 professionals across the U.S. trust 8am to help them work smarter, serve clients better, and unlock their full potential. We have been recognized as one of Inc 5000’s fastest growing companies in the U.S. for 13 years in a row, and as a result, our teams continue to grow as well!
What you'll do:
- Own and grow a portfolio of NAPI+ partners — serving as the single accountable owner for strategy, commercial outcomes, escalations, and internal/external alignment across partners such as Adyen, Affirm, Visa, sponsor banks, and other critical third parties.
- Own and scale 8am’s embedded finance and fintech product initiatives — including outgoing payments, capital lending, and credit products — as the accountable owner for strategy, roadmap, and cross-functional delivery, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Risk, and Compliance to bring new financial capabilities to market.
- Establish a world-class engagement model — architect the overarching strategy, commercial roadmaps, and QBR rhythms. Define collaborative objectives, executive reporting, and streamlined escalation protocols while fostering deep, multi-level stakeholder connectivity to accelerate partnership momentum.
- Negotiate and execute commercial agreements — including new deals, renewals, amendments, and incentive structures. Partner with Legal, Finance, and others to land economics that meaningfully improve 8am volume growth, unit economics, and unlock new capabilities.
- Drive coordinated cross-functional execution — design, advocate, and ensure partner-driven initiatives are prioritized, resourced, and delivered on plan.
- Identify and unlock new commercial and product opportunities within existing partnerships — new payment methods, fraud/risk capabilities, co-marketing, and joint go-to-market motions — and drive them from idea to launch.
- Build executive-level visibility and trust with partner leadership through top-to-top engagement, joint planning, and a consistent communication cadence.
- Measure and report on partnership performance — build the scorecards, dashboards, and operating reviews that give 8am leadership a clear view of partner health, risks, and opportunities.
- Anticipate and manage through critical events — proactively mitigate risks to core revenue streams.
- Elevat