Strategic Partnerships Manager, Bank & Program Launch at Cardless · LumiJobs

Responsibilities

We're looking for a program manager to own the day-to-day working relationship between Cardless and the banks that issue our cards, and to run new card programs from signed deal to live launch. You will be the person our bank partners hear from first, the person who knows where every open item stands, and the person who makes sure nothing reaches a bank as a surprise.
Cardless is a program manager that partners with FDIC- and OCC-regulated issuing banks to design and deliver co-branded credit cards. Our compliance team operates within this bank partnership model, which means the work must account for obligations across multiple bank partners with different regulators, different expectations, and different reporting cadences. Understanding the program-manager structure, where the bank holds the regulatory obligation and we perform the work, is key to succeeding in this role.
This is a hands-on, individual-contributor role with no direct reports. You sit on the Compliance team and report to our Chief Compliance Officer. Today the work of keeping our bank partners informed and confident is spread across the team; this role consolidates it. You will build the trackers, the reporting rhythm, and the governance cadence, because they do not exist yet, and your first assignment is a live program launch.
Own the day-to-day relationship with our issuing bank partners as their primary point of contact for program status, open items, approvals, and escalations.
Personally write the documents our partners read: partner status packages, launch trackers with real dates behind them, escalation notes, diligence responses, and management responses to bank findings. You author the judgment in them, not just the formatting.
Carry unfavorable news to a bank partner accurately and early. Know the difference between a status update and a commitment, and do not accept a date the delivery team has not agreed to.
Run new program launches end to end: kickoff, the requirements and approvals checklist, partner-facing materials, legal and compliance milestones, and the launch timeline, coordinating Compliance, Legal, Product, Engineering, and Operations so each item arrives at the bank complete.
Build and run the governance cadence with each partner: recurring check-ins, steering committees, quarterly reviews, and the trackers and scorecards behind them, tuned to each bank's regulator and reporting rhythm.
Maintain the obligations and requirements tracker for each bank agreement, and hold internal owners to the dates they gave.
Translate internal workstreams into clear, partner-ready updates, and prepare our own team for partner meetings, including with senior stakeholders at the banks.
Identify friction on rewards, payments, disputes, and other program mechanics before it becomes an escalation, and route it to the right owner with a proposed answer.
Support due diligence and onboarding for new bank and brand partners as the portfolio grows, and support examination and audit requests that come through our bank partners.

Qualification

Demonstrated ability to manage complexStrong writingA bias toward early disclosureExperience with card issuingTechnical program management backgroundBefore You ApplyA few things worth knowingThis is an early-stage company

Required

10+ years of experience in program management, partnerships, or account management at a bank, fintech, payments company, or other regulated financial services company. This is a requirement, not a preference: experience outside banking, fintech, or financial services does not qualify on its own.
Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder relationships where technical, legal, and business considerations all have to be balanced.
Strong writing. You can take a messy cross-functional situation and produce a clear, accurate, partner-ready document from a blank page.
A bias toward early disclosure. You would rather over-communicate a risk now than let a partner be surprised later, and you can describe a time you did.
Experience working cross-functionally with compliance, legal, product, and engineering teams.
Comfort operating in ambiguity and building process where none exists yet.
Comfort using data analytics and AI tools to work more efficiently.
You live within a reasonable commute of our San Francisco office, or you are relocating before you start. See Location below.

Preferred

Experience with card issuing, co-branded credit card programs, or working directly with issuing or sponsor banks, from either side of the relationship.
Familiarity with the regulatory considerations that shape bank and fintech partnerships: third-party risk management, program governance, and what an examination asks of a service provider.
Experience launching a new financial product or program from contract signing through go-live.
Technical program management background.
Before You Apply
A few things worth knowing:
We work in the office 5 days a week and that is what we are hiring for. We know it's a dealbreaker for some people, and that's okay. If you are close but not five days, say so when you apply.
This is an early-stage company. We're a small team servicing hundreds of thousands of customers. You'll be building processes that don't exist yet, not optimizing ones that do. If you want structure handed to you, this isn't the right fit.

Strategic Partnerships Manager, Bank & Program Launch

Responsibilities

Qualification

Required

Preferred

Benefits

Company

Cardless

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