Director, Market Solutions - Paze

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.

Director, Market Solutions - Paze

Overall Purpose

The Director, Market Solutions - Paze leads the Market Solutions function at the intersection of Partnerships and Product, serving as a senior subject matter expert on the Paze product, value proposition, platform, and roadmap. The role works alongside partnership account owners – namely issuers, issuer processors, payment networks, and digital platforms – to represent and deepen partner understanding of Paze and it’sits roadmap, lead product and feature introduction and due diligence, and secure the alignment and commitments needed to secure feature adoption, improve integrations, and increase partner performance.

The position translates Product strategy and technical capabilities into clear, compelling partner-facing narratives while bringing the voice of the customer back into the product development lifecycle. By connecting partner needs with Product, Engineering, and other internal teams, the role helps accelerate decisions, strengthen product-market fit, and scale support for a growing and increasingly complex partner ecosystem. The Director will also build and lead the Market Solutions team as the function expands.

Essential Functions

- Lead and develop the Paze Market Solutions team, establishing priorities, operating routines, partner coverage, and scalable practices that increase the team's effectiveness as Paze partnerships and product capabilities expand.
- Serve as the primary Partnerships representative in relevant Product forums and as a key participant in the product development lifecycle, maintaining a current understanding of the Paze platform, roadmap, emerging features, technical dependencies, and partner implications.
- Act as a senior Paze product subject matter expert for strategic partners, including issuers, channel partners and processors, and payment networks, with primary emphasis on existing partners and selective support for large prospective partners.
- Work side by side with partnership account owners to plan and lead product-focused partner engagements, including supporting quarterly business reviews, roadmap discussions, workshops, due diligence sessions, and targeted executive or working-team meetings.
- Translate Product guidance into clear, accurate, and persuasive partner-facing product briefs, and collaborates on presentations, enablement materials, and other documentation that articulate feature capabilities, value, requirements, dependencies, and expected partner benefits.
- Drive partner understanding and due diligence for new and evolving Paze capabilities, coordinating timely responses to business and technical questions and helping partners reach informed decisions about incremental investment, feature adoption, and integration improvements.
- Secure and sustain cross-functional alignment on partner adoption objectives, anticipated value, decision points, and next steps while preserving clear ownership by strategic partnership account leads, Product, and other delivery teams.
- Lead the voice-of-customer discipline for assigned partner segments by gathering, synthesizing, and communicating partner feedback, market signals, adoption barriers, and emerging needs to Product and other internal stakeholders.
- Influence product priorities, feature design, value propositions, and roadmap direction when partner and market evidence indicates a need to refine the solution, improve product-market fit, or pursue an innovative opportunity.
- Develop repeatable approaches, content, and measures that improve the breadth and depth of feature adoption and shorten the cycle from initial partner education and due diligence to implementation readiness.
- Support select pre-sales engagements for partners when deep expertise in Paze or new features is required, in coordination with Sales and Solution Engineering.
- Transition partner initiatives to the appropriate Implementation or Operations teams once the partner is ready to enable a feature, providing product context and continuity while those teams retain primary responsibility for implementation execution.
- Build highly collaborative relationships across Strategic Partnerships, Product, Engineering, Solution Engineering, Implementation, Operations, Marketing, Governance, Legal, and other functions needed to deliver a consistent partner experience and strong market outcomes.
- Play critical role in go-to-market - track and communicate feature-adoption progress, due diligence cycle time, partner commitments, market insights, and recurring barriers to inform priorities and improve execution.
- Provide thought leadership and industry expertise related to digital wallets, tokenization, NFC, digital payments, and evolving partner and consumer needs relevant to Paze.
- Support the company's commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications

- Education and experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor's degree in business, product management, technology, finance, or another related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Minimum of 12 or more years of related experience, including experience in a formal Product role and significant experience supporting the commercialization, adoption, or expansion of complex products.
- Demonstrated people leadership experience, including the ability to build, develop, and lead a high-performing team in a scaling organization.
- Deep knowledge of digital payments and demonstrated expertise in digital wallets, tokenization, NFC, and other digital payment methods.
- Experience working directly with external partners and product leaders to explain complex product and technical concepts, conduct due diligence, resolve questions, and build commitment in a convincing and collaborative manner.
- Ability to engage Product and Engineering teams at sufficient technical depth to obtain clear answers, evaluate implications, and translate information accurately for business and technical audiences.
- Demonstrated experience translating product strategy, roadmaps, feature capabilities, and technical requirements into compelling partner-facing narratives, presentations, documentation, and action plans.
- Experience representing the voice of the customer within a product development lifecycle and using partner and market evidence to influence product direction, value propositions, and product-market fit.
- Ability to influence senior internal and external stakeholders, establish alignment across functions, and advance decisions without relying solely on direct authority.
- Strong strategic thinking, innovation, problem-solving, and judgment, with the ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and rapidly evolving situations.
- Exceptional interpersonal, presentation, written communication, facilitation, and negotiation skills.
- Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, coordinate complex cross-functional work, and create scalable processes, materials, and operating routines.
- Ability to use adoption, performance, and cycle-time information to identify barriers, prioritize action, and communicate business impact.
- Ability to travel up to 50%.
- Background and drug screen.

Preferred Qualifications

- Formal Product experience with digital wallets, eCommerce payments, tokenized credentials, contactless payments, or related digital payment products.
- Experience working with financial institution issuers, payment processors or channel partners, and payment networks.
- Experience driving adoption of new features across an established partner ecosystem, including partner education, due diligence, commercialization, and transition to implementation.
- Experience developing product briefs, roadmap narratives, partner playbooks, adoption frameworks, or other scalable product enablement content.
- Experience using voice-of-customer programs and market insights to shape product strategy, feature design, and innovation.
- Understanding of APIs, data exchange, connectivity, tokenization, and integration concepts relevant to digital payment products.
- Thought leadership experience presenting complex payment, product, technology, or market concepts to senior external stakeholders or industry audiences.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL / Washington, DC in USD per year is: $154,000 - $193,000.
New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $186,000 - $232,000.

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.