Emburse is seeking a strategic and commercially driven Principal Product Manager to lead our Cards Growth ecosystem and expand key ecosystem relationships that power our card and payments business. This highly visible leadership role is responsible for driving strategic partnerships, influencing product and go-to-market direction, and accelerating growth across Emburse’s card portfolio.
As a senior leader, this individual will serve as the strategic owner for critical payment network, issuer, and fintech relationships while partnering cross-functionally across Product, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, Legal, and Executive Leadership. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in payments and card ecosystems with exceptional commercial acumen, operational leadership, and the ability to influence enterprise-wide strategy.
This role requires a proactive leader who can identify growth opportunities, drive strategic initiatives from concept through execution, and serve as a trusted advisor internally and externally.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Leadership
- Serve as the primary relationship owner for Emburse’s strategic card and payment partners
- Lead partnership strategy, governance, and executive engagement, including Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), joint business planning, co-marketing initiatives, and long-term roadmap alignment.
- Identify, negotiate, and operationalize new partnership opportunities that support Emburse’s card growth strategy and broader payments vision.
- Drive commercial negotiations, contract renewals, and strategic business terms in collaboration with Legal, Finance, Procurement, and Executive Leadership.
- Develop executive-level partnership strategies that strengthen Emburse’s market position, product differentiation, and revenue growth opportunities.
Product Strategy & Operational Leadership
- Partner closely with Product Management and Engineering leadership to influence the strategic roadmap for Emburse’s card and payment solutions.
- Own strategic and operational relationships with core platform providers, ensuring alignment across integrations, product initiatives, service delivery, and operational performance.
- Lead cross-functional execution for new card product launches and strategic initiatives, coordinating readiness across Product, Compliance, Fraud Operations, Support, Sales, and Customer Success.
- Act as the enterprise subject matter expert on card operations, payments infrastructure, and partner ecosystem management.
- Establish scalable operational frameworks and governance models to support business growth, partner performance, and customer experience excellence.
Revenue Growth & Go-to-Market Enablement
- Partner with Sales, Revenue Operations, Marketing, and Enablement leadership to drive adoption and growth of Emburse’s card solutions.
- Develop and execute strategic programs that accelerate card adoption, increase spend volume, and expand customer engagement.
- Lead partner-driven demand generation initiatives, co-sell motions, and strategic revenue programs with internal and external stakeholders.
- Influence market positioning, competitive strategy, and messaging for Emburse’s card and payment offerings.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to commercial leadership on card-related growth opportunities, customer needs, and emerging market trends.
Executive Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence
- Drive alignment across executive stakeholders on partnership priorities, investment decisions, product strategy, and business objectives.
- Lead complex cross-functional initiatives spanning product, operations, partnerships, compliance, and go-to-market execution.
- Communicate strategic priorities, business impact, operational risks, and growth opportunities clearly to senior leadership and external partners.
- Mentor and influence cross-functional teams through leadership, collaboration, and deep domain expertise.
- Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, operational excellence, and customer-centric decision-making.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in payments, card programs, fintech, partnerships, business development, or related strategic leadership roles.
- Deep understanding of card ecosystems, payment networks, issuing platforms, fintech partnerships, and payment operations.
- Demonstrated success managing complex enterprise partnerships and negotiating high-impact commercial agreements.
- Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive cross-functional strategic initiatives in high-growth environments.
- Strong operational and analytical mindset with the ability to translate strategy into scalable execution.
- Exceptional communication, leadership, and relationship management skills.
- Experience working with payment processors, issuing banks, networks, or embedded finance platforms strongly preferred.
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or MBA preferred.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in payments or fintech
- Deep understanding of card ecosystems and payment networks
- Demonstrated success managing complex enterprise partnerships
- Bachelor's degree required
- Advanced degree or MBA preferred
What We Do
Emburse humanizes work by empowering business travelers, finance professionals and CFOs to eliminate manual, time-consuming tasks so they can focus on what matters most. Emburse brings together some of the world’s most powerful and trusted expense and AP automation solutions, including Abacus, Captio, Certify, Chrome River, Nexonia and Tallie. The company’s innovative offerings, which are uniquely tailored for specific industries, company sizes, and geographies, are trusted by more than 4.5 million users in more than 120 countries. Over 14,000 customers, from start-ups to global enterprises, including Boot Barn, Grant Thornton, Telefónica, Lufthansa Systems, and Toyota rely on Emburse to make faster, smarter decisions, empower business travelers to recapture lost nights and weekends spent doing tedious expense management, and help make users’ lives -- and their businesses -- better.
