Principal Banker - North America

Principal Banker - North America

We’re looking for an experienced Principal Banker to join the North America Banking & Expansion team in Austin, TX or New York, NY. Wise sends more money into and out of the US than any other country. Our bank and payment partner relationships and infrastructure determine the quality of our product and a large part of its economics. Our relationships with regulators, governments and domestic payment systems are also crucial. So, we're on the hunt for an experienced executor with a strong knowledge of payment systems and the regulatory landscape, an analytical mind and communication skills to help deepen our presence in a critical market. 🚀

Your mission:

Drive our long term payment infrastructure in North America

• Understand and help other teams understand in detail the existing and planned payments infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada, and frame our payments strategy to provide the best cross-border payments services to our customers in North America. 
• Have in-depth knowledge about North America payment systems and how we can achieve a direct connection to them.
• Lead and execute negotiations and regulatory projects for us to have the best and more reliable payment infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada. This might include projects that go beyond our local operations, corporate and regulatory set up in the U.S. and Canada, meaning that the projects will have a global impact and relevance for Wise as a group. You will be leading and driving those.
• Align closely with Government Relations and Legal teams to review and apply deep understanding of current and proposed payments and financial services regulations to support comment letters, participate in payment alliances and trade associations and develop a business case for Wise’s direct participation in North America’s domestic payment rails. 

Lead key bank and payment partner relationships for the North America region

• Own key bank and payment partner relationships, collaborating between the partner and internal, cross-functional teams such as Product, Engineering, Platform, Compliance, Payment Operations and Legal.
• Advocate for Wise’s products and compliance goals with banks and payment partners and act as the bank’s advocate within Wise to ensure we are meeting agreed compliance and payment processing requirements. Drive and complete periodic and ongoing due diligences, to make sure bank partners are aware and comfortable with our operations and controls. Work closely with Compliance, Risk and Product teams for this.
• Lead commercial negotiations and business reviews, pitch for Wise’s new products, features and platform innovations.
• Review and improve key metrics to grow Wise’s volume to ensure Wise is receiving the best possible leverage from our partners.

Working with the Product Leads, help define the opportunities and direction for our products in North America 

• Work closely with product teams (Product Managers and Product Engineers) to develop our vision and build better products and experiences for our customers. Your contribution will mainly be from the payments infrastructure, regulatory and operational banking partnerships point of view.
• Work with North American and global teams (Product, Operations, Compliance, Finance, Treasury, etc.) to ensure our North American customers and products are at the center of our mission.

Independently execute high priority projects to deepen North America presence 

• Leverage financial services and payments infrastructure knowledge to lead priority projects such as onboarding new bank and payment partners, integrating new payment methods, preparing and submitting regulatory licensing applications and completing discovery for new and innovative financial products. 
• Independently initiate and execute high priority projects that will deepen Wise’s presence in North America. This includes identifying and communicating internally the potential impact, building conviction from other teams. Consequently, drive and execute the delivery of the project. 

A bit about you:

• 10 - 12  years work experience in payments, transaction banking, financial technology, or financial regulator.
• Able to get stuff done, lead major projects and you aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty to deliver what’s needed. We work in autonomous teams, so you’ll need an entrepreneurial and collaborative mindset to thrive. This includes demonstrated ability to align closely with product, engineering, compliance and operations teams with a solid track record of execution. 
• Detailed understanding of payments and FX regulation in a changing environment and experience with BSA/AML/KY