Senior Manager, Merchant Services and Card Payments

Cox Automotive is hiring a Senior Manager, Merchant Services and Card Payments. This is a senior individual contributor and team lead within the Corporate Treasury function, responsible for owning the end-to-end strategy, operations, and optimization of the company's card payment acceptance program. With over $500 million in annual B2B card payment volume processed across Visa, Mastercard, and American Express platforms - predominantly card-not-present - this role is a critical financial and operational function.
This leader will serve as the company's internal subject matter expert on merchant acquiring, interchange economics, payment processing, and card network relationships. This individual will partner closely with Finance, Accounting, Technology, Legal, and business unit leadership to ensure the payments program operates efficiently, compliantly, and cost-effectively. The role reports to the Senior Director, Billing and Cash Application and may manage one or more specialists / analysts in the future.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Program Ownership

• Own and continuously optimize the company's card payment acceptance strategy across all B2B payment channels and platforms
• Lead the evaluation, negotiation, and management of relationships with the company's merchant bank and processor (currently Chase Paymentech), card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), and specialty platforms (Stripe) for niche business units
• Develop and execute a multi-year roadmap for the card payments program aligned with corporate growth, cost management, and technology objectives
• Serve as the primary internal escalation point and external relationship manager for all card payment processing partners

Interchange & Cost Optimization

• Own the company's interchange fee management strategy, including qualification optimization, merchant category code (MCC) assignments, and data enrichment to achieve the best available interchange tiers
• Conduct ongoing analysis of the merchant discount rate and processing fee structures; benchmark against industry peers and identify cost reduction opportunities
• Lead periodic RFPs and contract renegotiations with processor and network partners; evaluate pricing models (interchange-plus, flat-rate, tiered) and advocate for structures that minimize total cost of acceptance
• Monitor network fee schedules, assess the impact of interchange updates (Visa/Mastercard publish semi-annual updates), and model financial exposure to fee changes

Operations & Settlement Management

• Oversee day-to-day card payment processing operations, ensuring timely and accurate authorization, clearing, and settlement across all business units and payment channels
• Monitor settlement reconciliation between Chase Paymentech remittances and the general ledger; partner with Accounting to resolve discrepancies promptly
• Manage the Stripe platform for applicable niche business units, including account configuration, fee monitoring, and reconciliation
• Establish and maintain operational procedures, controls, and SLAs for payment processing across the enterprise

Chargeback & Dispute Management

• Own the company's chargeback and dispute management program across all card networks and processors
• Develop and enforce representment strategies and documentation standards to maximize dispute wins and recover revenue
• Monitor chargeback ratios by business unit and card network; ensure ratios remain within Visa, Mastercard, and Amex thresholds to protect card acceptance privileges
• Collaborate with Sales, Customer Service, and legal teams to address root-cause issues driving dispute volume

Risk, Fraud & Compliance

• Ensure the company maintains full PCI-DSS compliance across all card acceptance environments; serve as the Treasury liaison to the company's PCI compliance program
• Partner with IT Security and the PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) on annual assessments, penetration testing, and remediation efforts
• Oversee tokenization, encryption, and network-based fraud prevention tools; evaluate and implement enhancements to reduce CNP fraud exposure
• Stay current on card network operating regulations, NACHA rules, and relevant regulatory changes (e.g., Durbin Amendment implications, Reg Z) and assess their impact on company operations

Reporting & Analytics

• Develop and maintain a suite of KPIs and management reporting covering payment volume, cost of acceptance, interchange optimization, chargeback rates, fraud losses, and settlement performance
• Deliver regular executive-level reporting to Treasury and Finance leadership
• Build financial models to evaluate new payment initiatives, technology investments, and processor contract scenarios

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as the Treasury subject matter expert on card payments for internal stakeholders including Finance, Accounting, Sales Operations, IT, Legal, and business unit leaders
• Partner with IT and product teams on payment technology integrations, gateway configurations, and API connectivity with Chase Paymentech and Stripe
• Support M&A activity and new business launches by assessing payment processing requirements and onboarding new entities to existing or new processing platforms
• Lead, mentor, and develop any direct reports within the card payments function

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, or a related field with 8+ years of progressive experience in treasury, payments, or financial operations, with a minimum of 3+ years of direct hands-on experience in merchant card payments
• MBA or CTP (Certified Treasury Professional) a plus
• Deep working knowledge of the card payments ecosystem: card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex), merchant acquiring, interchange fee structures, payment gateways, and CNP processing
• Demonstrated experience managing a high-volume merchant processing and acquirer relationships.
• Familiarity with Stripe or comparable PSP/PayFac platforms in a business operations context
• Strong understanding of PCI-DSS requirements and the merchant compliance lifecycle
• Proven experience managing chargeback and dispute programs across multiple card networks
• Advanced proficiency in Excel/financial modeling; experience with ERP systems (Oracle and SAP) and treasury management systems (TMS) a plus
• Excellent analytical, communication, and presentation skills; ability to translate complex payment economics into clear executive-level narratives

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with B2B card payment optimization, including Level 2 / Level 3 data processing to reduce interchange costs on commercial card transactions
• Familiarity with virtual card (vCard) acceptance and straight-through processing in a B2B context
• Experience with network tokenization
• Prior experience conducting processor RFPs or leading contract renegotiations with major acquiring banks

USD 134,900.00 - 224,900.00 per year
Compensation:
Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $134,900.00 - $224,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.
Benefits:
The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.
Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship.
EOE, including disability/vets