This London based leadership role is responsible for managing, retaining, and expanding acceptance across a $20bn portfolio of some of American Express’ largest B2C merchant relationships, spanning key sectors including supermarkets, petrol, and travel.
The Director will set the strategic direction for the portfolio and lead a team of seven colleagues. The core objective is to drive full welcome acceptance, strengthen merchant engagement and retention, and unlock incremental revenue, delivering winning commercial strategies for both the portfolio and the team.
Responsibilities- Portfolio Strategy: Develop and execute strategic plans for some of the largest UK merchants to maximise commercial opportunities while protecting and optimising margin.
- Contract Negotiation:Lead the negotiation and renegotiation of merchant contracts to retain acceptance, improve commercial outcomes, and deliver sustainable margin optimisation.
- Merchant Engagement & Industry Leadership: Design and deploy differentiated engagement strategies that drive merchant satisfaction and long-term value. Lead specific external industry engagements, leveraging Business Insights and Marketing capabilities, and build senior-level, multi-tiered relationship strategies for the largest UK merchants.
- Strategic Projects: Lead of key initiatives including European CLM Council Representative for the UK.
- Relationship Management: Maintain deep, trusted relationships with the most strategic accounts to drive increased spend, deepen partnerships, and expand product adoption.
- Growing Coverage & Acceptance: Own the Franchise gap strategy workstream, closing technical and point-of-presence acceptance gaps across the portfolio to drive incremental spend on the American Express network.
- Industry Strategy & Market Expertise: Maintain a strong understanding of the UK payments landscape and the full suite of American Express solutions available to business customers.
- Collaboration & Stakeholder Management: Build and sustain strong cross-functional partnerships to ensure strategic alignment and shared objectives.
- Control & Compliance: Lead the team to deliver regulatory and compliance requirements while continuing to achieve strong commercial outcomes.
Qualifications
- Proven success in selling profitable merchant propositions within a B2B or commercial environment
- Strong track record of end to end contract lifecycle management and complex negotiation
- Accomplished people leader within a commercial, preferably client-facing, setting
- Strategic thinker with demonstrated ability to define, communicate, and execute against business priorities
- Highly collaborative, with the ability to influence across lines of business to deliver enterprise outcomes
- Strong relationship management capability, with experience identifying, developing, and launching new partnership opportunities
- Clear, compelling communicator of the American Express merchant value proposition at all levels
- Results-driven, with resilience and flexibility to deliver outcomes across long sales cycles
- Confident engaging with and influencing senior client stakeholders to drive change
- Demonstrated thought leadership and problem-solving capability, with an innovative mindset
- Strong financial acumen, including experience with commercial structuring, revenue and profitability analysis, and sensitivity modelling
- Solid understanding of the merchant acquiring landscape and external regulatory environment (preferred)
- Experience cross-selling Marketing and Business Insights value-added solutions to clients (preferred)
Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the UK is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.
About UsAt 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. From delivering differentiated products to providing world-class customer service, we operate with a strong risk mindset, ensuring we continue to uphold our brand promise of trust, security, and service.
As part of Team Amex, you’ll experience our 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.
About the TeamWe 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.
Skills Required
- Proven success in selling profitable merchant propositions within a B2B or commercial environment
- Strong track record of end to end contract lifecycle management and complex negotiation
- Accomplished people leader within a commercial, preferably client-facing, setting
- Strong relationship management capability, with experience identifying, developing, and launching new partnership opportunities
- Solid understanding of the merchant acquiring landscape and external regulatory environment (preferred)
- Experience cross-selling Marketing and Business Insights value-added solutions to clients (preferred)
American Express Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about American Express and has not been reviewed or approved by American Express.
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Healthcare Strength — Pay is often viewed as attractive when combined with comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage that supports day-to-day needs. The benefits package is also framed as especially helpful for those supporting dependents.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are positioned as a meaningful part of total rewards through a 401(k) plan with company matching. Financial wellness services and coaching are also highlighted as strengthening longer-term financial security.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off is repeatedly characterized as generous and a valued component of the overall package. Time off and flexibility are presented as helping the total rewards feel more complete beyond base salary.
American Express Insights
What We Do
At American Express, we know that with the right backing, people and businesses have the power to progress in incredible ways. Whether we’re supporting our customers’ financial confidence to move ahead, taking commerce to new heights, or encouraging people to explore the world, our colleagues are constantly striving to uphold our powerful backing promise to our customers and each other every day. These beliefs have been our North Star for 170 years as our business transformed – from helping evacuate travelers during World Wars, to ensuring the safety of our customers’ funds during the Great Depression in the U.S., to creating the Shop Small® movement to help small businesses recover from the Financial Crisis, to providing aid to communities impacted by many natural disasters and so much more. For generations, the key to our success has been the determination and resilience of our American Express colleagues. Now, as a globally integrated payments company, we work together to provide customers with access to products, insights and world-class experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Join us and let’s lead the way together.
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