Director of Payments & Financial Services Partnerships

Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s largest work marketplace, connecting businesses with highly skilled professionals worldwide. From entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 enterprises, companies trust Upwork’s platform to access expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive meaningful business outcomes.

Upwork’s AI-powered platform has facilitated over $20 billion in economic opportunity for professionals worldwide. With professionals spanning 10,000+ skills, including AI and machine learning, software development, sales and marketing, customer support, finance and accounting, and more, Upwork empowers businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and build agile teams.

We are searching for a Director of Payments & Financial Services Partnerships to lead, strengthen, and establish strategic relationships within our existing and growing payment and financial services ecosystem. The individual will play a pivotal role on our Partnerships team by enhancing our platform's payment and financial services capabilities and ensuring that our freelancers and clients experience seamless, secure, and flexible payment solutions globally.

The Partnerships team is part of Upwork’s Strategy and Growth function, which also includes Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development. The Partnerships team is a dynamic, high-performing team responsible for sourcing, evaluating, negotiating, and executing strategic partnerships. This role is an integral part of how we think about, build, and scale payments and financial service products and is central to Upwork’s continued growth. We work closely with senior leadership, Product, Design, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, and Finance teams to contribute to Upwork’s long range strategy and plans. This role in particular will partner closely on a daily basis with the Payments and Marketplaces business units and will lead all aspects of identifying, evaluating, and executing partnerships that have a significant impact on the overall direction of the company. 

The Director of Payments & Financial Services Partnerships will report directly to the VP of Strategy, Corporate Development and Partnerships and oversee all Payments and Financial Services partnerships end to end. This person will also partner closely with the GM of Payments and Work Management, and will have a high level of autonomy to identify opportunities to advance all elements of our payments and financial services infrastructure through partnerships globally.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnerships: Identify, establish, and nurture relationships with payment partners, fintechs, and relevant financial institutions. This role spans the gambit - the opportunities for exciting and rich new partnerships to solve the myriad of marketplace use cases for both clients and freelancers are plentiful, focus will be key. 

• Business Growth: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and implement strategies that drive payment volume, P&L impact, and a delightful platform payments experience for clients and freelancers.

• Contract Negotiation: Negotiate commercial terms with partners, ensuring our platform and its users get the most favorable conditions.

• Product Integration: Work closely with the product and tech teams to ideate, scope, and  integrate new payment features and partners, ensuring ease of use and top-notch security.

• Regulatory Compliance: Collaborate closely with legal and compliance to ensure all payment partners adhere to regional and global regulations.

• Market Trends, Insights & Strategy: Stay updated with industry trends, competitor actions, and advancements in payment and fintech technology to keep our platform at the forefront of innovation. Stay plugged in and connected with payments and fintech leadership peers through conferences, and other events. Translate trends and insights into perspective and payments and financial services strategy.

What it Takes to Catch our Eye

• Proven experience (10+ years) in payments business development or partnerships roles, preferably within marketplaces and/or the payments industry.

• Expertise in the payments and fintech ecosystem, including cross-border payments, digital wallets, payment orchestration, and embedded financial services.

• Demonstrable track record of negotiating and managing complex partnership deals.

• In-depth understanding of the payments landscape, including the regulatory environment.

• Strong analytical, problem-solving and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to translate complex or ambiguous ideas into structured, actionable strategies and partnership initiatives.

• Excellent leadership skills, with an ability to thrive, navigate and work collaboratively with exe