Payments Partnership Manager, Australia

Since we opened our doors in 2009, the world of commerce has evolved immensely, and so has Square. After enabling anyone to take payments and never miss a sale, we saw sellers stymied by disparate, outmoded products and tools that wouldn’t work together.

So we expanded into software and started building integrated, omnichannel solutions – to help sellers sell online, manage inventory, offer buy now, pay later functionality, book appointments, engage loyal buyers, and hire and pay staff. Across it all, we’ve embedded financial services tools at the point of sale, so merchants can access a business loan and manage their cash flow in one place. Afterpay furthers our goal to provide omnichannel tools that unlock meaningful value and growth, enabling sellers to capture the next generation shopper, increase order sizes, and compete at a larger scale.

Today, we are a partner to sellers of all sizes – large, enterprise-scale businesses with complex operations, sellers just starting, as well as merchants who began selling with Square and have grown larger over time. As our sellers grow, so do our solutions. There is a massive opportunity in front of us. We’re building a significant, meaningful, and lasting business, and we are helping sellers worldwide do the same.

The Role

Block must operate against a complex backdrop of industry partners to encourage flexibility, new standards, and openness to Square and Afterpay’s innovation, products and services. The Financial Operations team plays an integral role in crafting a diverse spectrum of solutions and capabilities for our customers, overseeing foundational industry and regulatory relationships and also the daily operations for incoming and outgoing payments.  

As an Individual Contributor in the Payments Partnership Manager role, you will help support the financial infrastructure, operational processes, and partner relationships that enable our products to scale reliably and efficiently across the region. You will bring a strong track record of cross functional collaboration, operational excellence, and stakeholder management, working closely with teams across Finance, Product, Marketing, Engineering, Legal, Compliance, Risk, and Operations to support our regional growth strategy.

You Will

• Build and manage strategic relationships with payment industry partners, including acquirers, banks, card networks, payment providers, and industry bodies across Australia and New Zealand.
• Define and execute a comprehensive payments and financial operations strategy for the partners you manage, supporting Square and Afterpay in a rapidly evolving payments and digital commerce landscape.
• Oversee, negotiate, and develop partnership opportunities and commercial discussions that enable and scale our financial capabilities across Australia and New Zealand.
• Understand Square and Afterpay’s competitive position in the region, and implement programs that strengthen our payments products, services, operational capabilities, and strategic goals.
• Lead key strategic industry and partner initiatives across Australia and New Zealand, including the partner engagement required to support new products, platforms, and market opportunities.
• Maximize the value of current partnerships through proactive account management, working with key partners, suppliers, and industry associations to define, iterate, and enable new products and capabilities across the region.
• Collaborate closely with functional and cross-functional partners across Finance, Marketing, Product, Engineering, Legal, Compliance, Risk, and Operations, while influencing teams and stakeholders to improve overall effectiveness and support career development where applicable.

You Have

• 10+ years of experience in financial technology, payments, banking, card networks, acquiring, issuing, or a related financial services environment, with demonstrated depth in payment operations and strong commercial experience in partner management and contract negotiations.
• Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem, including card networks, acquirers, issuers, payment processors, banks, schemes, regulators, and industry bodies, and how these relationships enable scalable, reliable, and compliant electronic payments.
• Proven ability to build, manage, and grow senior strategic relationships with external partners, financial institutions, and industry stakeholders across complex and highly regulated markets.
• Strong commercial judgment, including experience negotiating agreements, managing partner performance, identifying partnership opportunities, and balancing cost, risk, compliance, customer experience, and product outcomes.
• Comfortable moving between the roles of relationship manager, program manager, commercial negotiator, and analytical problem solver, including interpreting payment network rules, assessing contract changes, reviewing operational impacts, and working directly with banks, networks, and payment partners.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, think strategically and analytically about business, product, operational, and technical challenges, and translate complexity into actionable plans.
• Ability to identify emerging trends, regulatory developments, network changes, and market opportunities across Australia and New Zealand, and translate them into recommendations that support product innovation and business growth.
• Strong ownership mindset, with the ability to drive outcomes independently, manage multiple priorities, and deliver results in a fast-moving, global environment.
• Experience supporting product launches, market expansion, new payment capabilities, or operational transformation initiatives in partnership with regional and global teams.

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to identity or other legally protected class. We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.