Manager, Third Party Partner Management

At American Express, our culture is built on a 175-year history of innovation, shared values and Leadership Behaviors, and an unwavering commitment to back our customers, communities, and colleagues. As part of Team Amex, you'll experience this powerful backing with comprehensive support for your holistic well-being and many opportunities to learn new skills, develop as a leader, and grow your career. 

Here, your voice and ideas matter, your work makes an impact, and together, you will help us define the future of American Express.

How will you make an impact in this role?

The Merchant Services Third Party Partnerships (TPP) team is responsible for merchant recruitment alliances, payment facilitators, bill payment providers and bank partnerships to enable and transform American Express card acceptance across merchants in Australia and New Zealand.

This Partner Manager role is a maternity backfill role for approximately 12 months, and will be responsible for overseeing some large and strategic Australian financial services accounts in a key segment of the TPP portfolio in Australia to drive volume and service expansion on behalf of American Express. You will be responsible for building strong and healthy relationships with our partners on behalf of American Express, developing and implementing strategic roadmaps that deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

The key deliverables are to support the growth of American Express merchant network and usage at a profitable margin through some of our largest financial services partners, ensuring we meet Total and Active Accepting Locations, Billed Charge Volume (BCV) and Discount Billing Volume (DBV) targets. This is achieved through building new and nurturing existing relationships with partners, aligning on mutual goals and deliverables, and working proactively with their sales, marketing, operations and compliance teams to deliver the American Express value proposition.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and manage relationships with some of American Express Australia’s largest and most strategic financial services partners within the Global Merchant Services portfolio.  
• Act as the primary relationship lead owner for the partners, accountable for establishing and maintaining trusted, multi-level relationships from C-suite executives through to operational and delivery teams, while strategically leveraging and expanding senior stakeholder networks across the financial services and payments industry to drive, protect, and expand American Express merchant acceptance.
• Acquire and grow merchant coverage within the designated partner accounts in accordance with American Express policies and commercial framework
• Maintain and deliver merchant acquisition, activation, and spend growth by improving merchant onboarding outcomes, increasing activation rates, and supporting initiatives that drive card member spend through partner channels
• Identify, develop, and deliver custom growth initiatives, including co-branded marketing campaigns, new product launches, and collaboration on client tenders to deepen partnerships and expand value creation
• Track and forecast volume and merchant location performance, and identify transaction trends that Amex can leverage from a marketing or remediation perspective
• Deliver sales, product, and value proposition training to partner sales, marketing, and operations teams to build awareness, capability, and advocacy for American Express.  
• Protect and strengthen the merchant network by leading cross-functional internal American Express and external stakeholders to resolve operational, risk, and compliance issues, ensuring effective control management and policy adherence.
• Implement of regular oversight reviews with each partner to ensure compliance with policies and data requirements in conjunction with contractual commitments
• Lead contract negotiations for renewal or expansion of partnerships, including the management of commercial and financial matters, leveraging key stakeholders in execution of deals to drive growth across the portfolio

Skills and experience required:

• Proven track record of managing strategic partnerships across multiple stakeholder levels in Australia, particularly within the banking and payments industry will be a plus
• Experience in negotiating, building new business opportunities and securing mutually beneficial outcomes
• Strong commercial acumen and understanding of the cards, merchants, payments and financial services landscape, including understanding of competitive products, emerging technology, regulatory developments and drivers of profitability
• Highly numerate with ability to work comfortably with Finance and Pricing teams
• Experience in overseeing end to end processes with the support of indirect colleagues
• Strong communication skills and collaborative approach to driving results in a matrix environment.
• Excellent strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to influence multiple stakeholders across an organization (internal and external)
• High degree of resilience and personal accountability

We back you with benefits that support your holistic well-being so you can be and deliver your best. This means caring for you and your loved ones' physical, financial, and mental health, as well as providing the flexibility you need to thrive personally and professionally:

• Competitive base salaries 
• Bonus incentives 
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement 
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location) 
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need 
• Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location) 
• Free access to global on-site wellness centers staffed with nurses and doctors (depending on location) 
• Free and confidential counseling support through our Healthy Minds program 
• Career development and training opportunities

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.