Program Manager, Issuing Bank Programs

About the role

This Senior Program Manager role at Cash App focuses on managing the critical sponsor bank partnership for Cash App Card and Square Banking products. The individual will serve as the primary leader for this relationship, defining engagement models, ensuring all obligations are met, and being accountable for the overall performance and health of the bank program. Success in this position involves proactively identifying opportunities to strengthen the partnership, increase partner value, and drive efficiencies.

The role involves comprehensive program governance and execution. This includes designing and implementing clear frameworks for accountability, such as RACI matrices, intake processes, and regular forums like steering committees and quarterly business reviews. The program manager will be responsible for holding both internal and external stakeholders to commitments, managing the end-to-end delivery lifecycle, and ensuring timely communication and approvals with the bank for incidents and program changes.

A key aspect of this position is continuous improvement and strategic planning. The program manager will develop and own critical KPIs and KRIs, monitoring and reporting on them regularly. They will also identify systemic issues and inefficiencies to drive optimization across all program workstreams. This includes maintaining a multi-quarter program roadmap aligned with business priorities and identifying strategic initiatives to enhance operational efficiency, reduce risk, and strengthen the partnership.

The salary for this role is set at $246,500 USD per year.

Skills that matter here

• program management: This role requires leading the entire sponsor bank partnership program, from defining engagement models to ensuring timely execution and continuous improvement.
• stakeholder management: The position involves coordinating across various internal teams like product, compliance, and risk, as well as external bank partners, ensuring clear communication and aligned priorities.
• data analysis: The program manager will develop and own program-critical KPIs/KRIs, requiring strong data analysis skills to monitor, report, identify trends, and diagnose issues.
• compliance: A core responsibility is ensuring the program adheres to consumer compliance, BSA, and risk management standards within the Banking as a Service ecosystem.
• risk management: The role involves identifying strategic initiatives to reduce risk and having experience with risk management within the BaaS ecosystem.
• AI solutions: The program manager is expected to apply AI-assisted methods for routing, documentation, policy checks, knowledge retrieval, and program tracking to enhance efficiencies.

Who this role suits

• A person with a strong bias for action, who can evaluate situations quickly and adapt as needed.
• Someone who thrives in ambiguous environments and can make timely, independent decisions.
• An individual with proven experience in account management within the fintech ecosystem.
• A strategic and analytical thinker capable of managing multiple tasks and priorities effectively.

From the employer

Program Ownership

• Serve as the single-threaded leader for the sponsor bank relationship and program.
• Define and run the engagement model (governance, SLAs, decision rights, change control).
• Ensure obligations are met and be accountable for program performance, partner satisfaction, and partnership health.
• Proactively identify opportunities to strengthen the relationship, increase partner value, and create efficiencies and improvements.

Program Governance & Accountability

• Design and implement clear RACI, intake processes, and cadenced forums (steercos, weekly ops, and QBRs with scorecards).
• Hold internal and external stakeholders to commitments and timelines.
• Establish decision-making frameworks that enable speed while maintaining rigor.

Program Execution

• Own the end-to-end program delivery lifecycle.
• Ensure timely bank notifications and approvals for incidents and program changes.
• Maintain a comprehensive requirements & obligations tracker.

Requirements Management & Templatization

• Build and maintain a centralized requirements management system.
• Create reusable templates and playbooks for obtaining and fulfilling bank requirements.
• Continuously refine these tools based on lessons learned and partner feedback.

Program KPI/KRI Ownership

• Develop and own program-critical KRIs/KPIs.
• Continuously monitor and report weekly/monthly/quarterly.

Program Optimization & Continuous Improvement

• Identify systemic issues, failure modes, and inefficiencies in program execution.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement across all program workstreams.

Program Roadmap & Strategic Planning

• Develop and maintain a multi-quarter program roadmap aligned with business priorities.
• Identify strategic initiatives that improve operational efficiency, reduce risk, and strengthen the partnership.

Stakeholder & Workstream Coordination

• Coordinate across networks, processors, servicing/Reg E, fraud/risk, compliance, and product teams.
• Ensure clear communication, aligned priorities, and timely delivery.

AI-Enabled Program Efficiencies

• Apply AI-assisted routing, documentation, policy checks, knowledge retrieval, and program tracking.

Independent Decision-Making

• Make timely decisions in ambiguous environments.

Executive Communication & Presence

• Provide crisp, data-informed program updates, status reports, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.

Qualifications

• 8+ Years experience in issuing payment cards.
• Experience with credit card, prepaid & debit cards within the Banking as a Service (BaaS) ecosystem.
• Background and/or experience with consumer compliance, BSA, and/or risk management within the Banking as a Service (BaaS) ecosystem strongly preferred.
• Strong bias toward action, evaluation, and pivoting.
• Must have experience in, and comfort with, working in Slack and GSuite; Airtable experience also is an advantage.
• AI and automation first solutioning ethos required.
• Proven experience in account management in the fintech ecosystem.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills with strong executive presence.
• Ability to build rapport and trust with Product, Compliance, Legal, First Line Risk and external partners.
• Strategic and analytical thinking abilities.
• Capability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks effectively.
• Strong data analysis skills, with the ability to identify trends, diagnose issues, and recommend data-driven solutions.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional projects from initiation to completion.

Compensation

• Salary: $246,500 USD / Year.
• Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location.