Principal, Payments Strategy & Operations

Principal, Payments Strategy & Operations

We are seeking a Lead, Payments Strategy & Operations to own the commercial, operational, and strategic performance of payments across Fanatics Collect. This role sits at the intersection of product, finance, risk, legal, and engineering, and is critical to optimizing our payments ecosystem. You will drive performance across all payment methods, manage vendor relationships, and lead cross-functional initiatives to create a seamless and trusted payment experience for collectors around the world.

Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end payments performance across cards, wallets, bank transfers, FanCash, Loyalty rewards and alternative payment methods
• Analyze customer payment behavior to reduce friction and improve conversion across checkout, deposits, and payouts
• Partner with Product and Growth to optimize payment flows by segment, geography, and use case
• Define and monitor key payments KPIs including acceptance, recovery, customer experience, and cost metrics
• Evaluate and manage relationships with payment processors, gateways, orchestration platforms, and fraud vendors
• Lead commercial negotiations and RFPs to ensure scalable and cost-efficient solutions
• Collaborate with Engineering and Product on routing logic, retries, and build vs. buy decisions
• Align priorities across Finance, Risk, Legal, and Compliance teams
• Balance risk controls and compliance with a high-trust, low-friction customer experience

Qualifications:

• 6–10+ years of experience in payments, fintech, or e-commerce
• Proven ability to improve authorization rates, reduce payment costs, and balance fraud and risk controls with customer experience
• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and navigating complex systems
• Expert-level Excel/Google Sheets skills for modeling and analysis
• Strong analytics background with experience in payment performance metrics
• Knowledge of payment processors, orchestration platforms, and fraud tools
• Familiarity with BI tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau, Mode); SQL is a plus
• Problem-solving mindset with ability to distill technical detail into business insight
• Fluency with modern AI tools to support analysis and accelerate decision-making

The salary range for this position is $168,750-$210,000, which represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay, as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training.

Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don't fall victim to fraud. Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Feel free to ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of communication for interview, and ensure your communication is coming from a Fanatics email address (including @collectfanatics.com). For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers.

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet.

Fanatics Collect is the leading global platform for collectors, providing a trusted place to seamlessly connect, buy, sell, trade and store collectibles. Today, Fanatics Collect is home to a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers through fixed-price listing and auctions, a vault where collectors can safely store their collections, and a live commerce platform, Fanatics Live, where collectors can join their community for live-stream shopping of collectibles.

Job Info:

• Locations: New York
• Job Schedule: Full time
• Regular or Temporary: Regular