Sr. Manager, Portfolio Partner Management

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze®, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

The Sr. Manager, Portfolio Partner Management is responsible for the delivery of a complex business and technical program within the Paze Partnerships organization. This includes all aspects of project planning, management, and execution. Ensures project follows product and project methodologies and is completed on time, on budget, and in scope. Works with internal and external business partners to ensure projects are successful and meet business objectives.

Essential Functions

• Manage multiple aspects of multiple interrelated project workstreams to ensure the overall program is aligned to and directly supports the achievement of strategic business objectives.

• Report on project results, metrics, test, and deployment management activities.

• Work creatively and analytically to solve problems by demonstrating teamwork, innovation, and excellence.

• Participate in establishing best practices, templates, policies, tools, and partnerships to expand, mature and improve effectiveness in support of business objectives.

• Coach colleagues and partners on policies, procedures, and best practices.

• Provide leadership for the project team by building and motivating team members to meet critical project milestones.

• Prepare estimates and detailed project plans for all phases of the project as well as status reporting regarding project and program milestones, success criteria, deliverables, dependencies, and risks to all stakeholders up to and including executive leadership.

• Monitor projects on an ongoing basis, evaluate progress, proactively work with the project team to mitigate risks, and resolve issues as they arise.

• Support the company’s commitment to risk management. Protect the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Area of Specialty: Mobile Payments

• Own end-to-end delivery of strategic projects with external partners involving support for Paze  (e.g., initial launch of Paze, new product features like embedded commerce, agentic commerce, etc.)

• Create detailed project plans including milestones, technical dependencies, risk mitigation, and resource mapping — focused on native iOS/Android, web, and mobile web delivery.

• Serve as the connective tissue across product managers, engineering leads, designers, QA, compliance, fraud, and business stakeholders.

• Facilitate recurring meetings with external partners and internal cross-functional teams to ensure momentum and alignment.

• Lead internal and external partner coordination, including with acquirers, processors, PSPs, card networks (Visa, Mastercard), card issuers, issuer processors, and enterprise merchants.

• Track and report on delivery progress while maintaining accurate program status dashboards.

• Provide clear, concise updates to senior leadership, identifying blockers and proactively resolving delivery risks.

• Maintain transparency through regular status reports, milestone tracking, and delivery KPIs (velocity, scope changes, burn rate).

• Partner with Legal, Security, and Compliance to ensure projects meet internal controls and regulations (PSD2, GDPR, PCI, FFIEC) where applicable.

• Manage go-live readiness: QA signoff, performance validation, incident response prep, and rollback planning.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education and experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Project Management and/or Computer Science or related field.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
• Typically a minimum of 8 or more years of progressive related experience managing large complex projects or programs
• Experience in financial institutions or similarly regulatory industries and/or software development processes with background in the data processing environment, application systems, and communication systems
• Strong team player with ability to coach/mentor others within an ePMO team environment
• Effective relationship building and team collaboration skills leading diverse, cross-functional teams on one or more, complex projects simultaneously
• Effective written, verbal, and presentation communication skills with ability to tailor to varying audiences. Confidence and poise to present at all levels effectively
• Highly engaged, self-starter with ability to balance achieving results and fostering collaboration.
• Proactive in identifying and driving process improvements within the organization driving efficiencies
• Demonstrated experience with Agile and Waterfall methodologies and all aspects of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology and tools
• Background and drug screen

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.

Preferred Qualifications

• Agile / ScrumMaster certifications
• Lean Six Sigma certification
• Demonstrated people leadership in business and technical environments.

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL / Washington, DC in USD per year is: $116,000 - $145,000.
New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $139,000 - $174,000.

Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

#LI-AV

#Dice

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.