Senior Financial Partnerships Manager - Lending

About the role

This role focuses on managing and expanding Mercury's lending partner ecosystem, which forms the unseen foundation of its financial tools for startups. The work involves being the primary driver for these partnerships, ensuring they align with the company's strategic goals and regulatory requirements. Success in this position means effectively building and maintaining these relationships to support Mercury's ambitions.

A significant part of the job involves working across various internal teams, including Legal, Compliance, Risk, Product, Engineering, and Finance. The manager will negotiate contracts, monitor partner performance, and ensure regulatory readiness. This requires translating partner needs and constraints into internal plans and timelines, while also advocating for Mercury's roadmap.

The role also includes leading the selection, due diligence, and onboarding processes for new lending partners. The manager will serve as an internal expert on lending management systems, communicating Mercury's compliance posture and technical architecture to external partners. This demands strong organizational skills and the ability to simplify complex regulatory and technical information.

The target base salary for this role ranges from $162,800 to $226,100, with specific amounts varying based on geographic location within the US.

Skills that matter here

• strategic partnerships experience: This role requires managing a portfolio of critical lending partnerships and leading new partner selection and onboarding.
• banking/payment operations experience: The manager will oversee partnerships within Mercury's banking infrastructure, requiring a background in financial operations.
• lending management system providers: The role involves managing or working closely with providers of these systems and serving as an internal expert on them.
• negotiator: The manager will negotiate contracts and navigate complex commercial and regulatory discussions with partners.
• project manager: This position requires managing multiple critical initiatives and stakeholders, demanding strong organizational and project management skills.
• communicator: The role involves clearly communicating compliance, regulatory obligations, and technical architecture to external partners and internal teams.

Who this role suits

• Someone with at least six years in banking or payments, including four years in strategic partnerships.
• A professional who enjoys owning complex, high-stakes relationships and can navigate highly regulated environments.
• An individual who can balance advocacy for internal roadmaps with external partner expectations and regulatory constraints.
• A person with strong product sense, who thinks from a customer perspective and can simplify complex systems and regulations.

From the employer

What You Will Do:

• Manage a portfolio of strategic lending partnerships critical to Mercury’s banking infrastructure
• Be the driving force behind building and maintaining Mercury’s lending partner ecosystem in support of our charter ambitions
• Serve as the internal expert on lending management systems
• Work closely with Legal, Compliance, Risk, Product, Engineering, and Finance to negotiate contracts, manage partner performance, and support regulatory readiness
• Lead new partner selection, due diligence, and onboarding for lending partnerships
• Translate partner requirements, constraints, and regulatory considerations into actionable internal plans and timelines
• Unblock internal teams wherever possible and advocate for Mercury’s roadmap while balancing regulatory and partner expectations
• Clearly communicate Mercury’s compliance posture, regulatory obligations, and technical architecture to external partners

What You Should Have:

• 6+ years of relevant banking/payment operations experience and 4+ years of strategic partnerships experience or B2B/payment product experience
• Experience managing or working closely with lending management system providers
• Be a strong partnership leader who enjoys owning complex, high-stakes relationships
• Be an excellent communicator and highly organized project manager, comfortable operating across many stakeholders
• Consistently exercise empathy, especially in highly regulated and constrained environments
• Have a strong product sense and interest in how financial infrastructure enables customer outcomes
• Be an effective negotiator with experience navigating complex commercial and regulatory discussions
• Be technically inclined or comfortable interfacing with engineering and compliance teams on complex systems
• Stay calm and focused while working on multiple critical initiatives in parallel
• Exercise creativity while operating within regulatory and operational constraints
• Think of customers first, always approaching problems from the customer perspective
• Be able to simplify complex systems and regulatory requirements into clear, documented processes

What We Offer:

• Base salary, equity (stock options), and benefits
• Competitive salary and equity ranges updated regularly
• New hire offers based on experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity
• Target new hire base salary ranges for this role:
• US employees in New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles or San Francisco: $180,900 - $226,100
• US employees outside of New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles or San Francisco: $162,800 - $203,500
• Commitment to diversity & belonging and Equal Employment Opportunity