You Lead the Way. We’ve Got Your Back.

With the right backing, people and businesses have the power to progress in incredible ways. When you join Team Amex, you become part of a global and diverse community of colleagues with an unwavering commitment to back our customers, communities and each other. Here, you’ll learn and grow as we help you create a career journey that’s unique and meaningful to you with benefits, programs, and flexibility that support you personally and professionally.

At American Express, you’ll be recognized for your contributions, leadership, and impact—every colleague has the opportunity to share in the company’s success. Together, we’ll win as a team, striving to uphold our company values and powerful backing promise to provide the world’s best customer experience every day. And we’ll do it with the utmost integrity, and in an environment where everyone is seen, heard and feels like they belong.

Join Team Amex and let's lead the way together. Building lasting relationships is at the heart of our business–and that’s exactly what members of our sales and partner management teams do best. Use your entrepreneurial mindset and consultative approach to create rewarding opportunities for both our customers and yourself, while being backed by an iconic brand. Whether you’re helping our customers get the most value from our range of innovative products and services, or collaborating internally across teams to deliver new solutions, your work can help us become an essential part of our customers’ lives. Find your place in sales on #Team Amex

How will you make an impact in this role?

The Merchant Services Third Party Partnerships (TPP) team is responsible for merchant recruitment alliances, payment facilitators, bill payment providers and bank partnerships to enable and transform American Express card acceptance across merchants in Australia and New Zealand.

This Partner Manager is responsible for overseeing the TPP portfolio in New Zealand to drive volume and service expansion on behalf of American Express. You will be responsible for building strong and healthy relationships with our partners domiciled in New Zealand on behalf of American Express, developing and implementing strategic roadmaps that deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

The key deliverables are to support the growth of American Express merchant network and usage at a profitable margin through existing and new partners, ensuring we meet Total and Active Accepting Locations, Billed Charge Volume (BCV) and Discount Billing Volume (DBV) targets. This is achieved through building new and nurturing existing relationships with partners, aligning on mutual goals and deliverables, and working proactively with their sales, marketing, operations and compliance teams to deliver the American Express value proposition.

Key Responsibilities:

• Responsible for managing all aspects of the priority financial and non-financial service partners for the American Express Global Merchant Services (GMS) business in New Zealand
• Leverage existing and build new stakeholder relationships in the financial services and payments industry to grow and reinforce the American Express merchant acceptance, including delivery of joint marketing and new product campaigns
• Develop and maintain strong relationship rapport from senior to working levels within large financial service organisations and with payment fintechs
• Acquire and onboard Bank and non-Bank prospects in accordance within American Express policies and commercial framework
• Drive the third-party merchant acquiring partnership strategy in New Zealand and ensure it aligns with American Express’ merchant coverage and card issuing roadmap
• Maintain and deliver American Express Acceptance Location and Volume growth targets in the New Zealand portfolio
• Intimate understanding of the American Express policies which govern merchant acquiring partnerships with Banks and payment intermediaries, including pricing, risk and compliance policies
• Implement of regular oversight reviews with each partner to ensure compliance with policies and data requirements in conjunction with contractual commitments
• Track and forecast volume and merchant location performance, and identify transaction trends that Amex can leverage from a marketing or remediation perspective
• Lead contract negotiations for renewal of existing partnerships and new prospect partnerships, including the management of commercial and financial matters, leveraging key stakeholders in execution of deals to drive growth across the portfolio
• Conduct ongoing monitoring and evaluation of partners’ acquisition processes to ensure they meet American Express global compliance standards
• Deliver sales and product training to relevant partner teams on a regular basis to build and reinforce American Express value proposition awareness.

Skills and experience required:

• Proven track record of managing strategic partnerships across multiple stakeholder levels in the New Zealand industry, particularly within the banking and payments industry will be a plus
• Experience in negotiating, building new business opportunities and securing mutually beneficial outcomes
• Strong commercial acumen and understanding of the cards, merchants, payments and financial services landscape, including understanding of competitive products, emerging technology, regulatory developments and drivers of profitability
• Highly numerate with ability to work comfortably with Finance and Pricing teams
• Experience in overseeing end to end processes with the support of indirect colleagues
• Strong communication skills and collaborative approach to driving results in a matrix environment.
• Excellent strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to influence multiple stakeholders across an organization (internal and external)
• High degree of resilience and personal accountability.

We back our colleagues and their loved ones with benefits and programs that support their holistic well-being. That means we prioritize their physical, financial, and mental health through each stage of life. Benefits include:

• Competitive base salaries
• Bonus incentives
• Support for financial-well-being and retirement
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits (depending on location)
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need
• Generous paid parental leave policies (depending on your location)
• Free access to global on-site wellness centers staffed with nurses and doctors (depending on location)
• Free and confidential counseling support through our Healthy Minds program
• Career development and training opportunities

Offer of employment with American Express is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background verification check, subject to applicable laws and regulations.