Principal, Payments Strategy & Operations

Role: Principal, Payments Strategy & Operations

Reports to: Senior Director, Strategic Finance

Location: New York

Other: Full Time Position

About the Company

Fanatics Collect is a global product and technology group dedicated to revolutionizing the world of collectibles. Every single day our team of experienced product leaders, engineers, and operators obsesses over how to create the ultimate collector experience with our products: Topps.com, the direct to consumer ecommerce platform of the Topps brand, Fanatics Collect, the most trusted and dynamic collector focused marketplace, and our collector focused live shopping platforms, Fanatics Live and Voggt.

We have the unique advantage of being backed by Fanatics - the world’s largest sports merchandiser, with more than 900 global sports relationships, 90+ million reachable fans, and exclusive licensing deals with the MLB, NFL, and NBA among many others - but we’re a nimble, ambitious team building products from the ground up.

If you're passionate about building world class products and share our love for sports fans and collectors, Fanatics Collect offers an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic team creating the future of collecting.

About the Role

We are seeking a Lead, Payments Strategy & Operations to own the commercial, operational, and strategic performance of payments across Fanatics Collect. This role sits at the intersection of product, finance, risk, legal, and engineering, and is critical to optimizing our payments ecosystem. You will drive performance across all payment methods, manage vendor relationships, and lead cross-functional initiatives to create a seamless and trusted payment experience for collectors around the world.

Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end payments performance across cards, wallets, bank transfers, Fan Cash, Loyalty rewards and alternative payment methods

• Analyze customer payment behavior to reduce friction and improve conversion across checkout, deposits, and payouts

• Partner with Product and Growth to optimize payment flows by segment, geography, and use case

• Define and monitor key payments KPIs including acceptance, recovery, customer experience, and cost metrics

• Evaluate and manage relationships with payment processors, gateways, orchestration platforms, and fraud vendors

• Lead commercial negotiations and RFPs to ensure scalable and cost-efficient solutions

• Collaborate with Engineering and Product on routing logic, retries, and build vs. buy decisions

• Align priorities across Finance, Risk, Legal, and Compliance teams

• Balance risk controls and compliance with a high-trust, low-friction customer experience

Qualifications:

• 6–10+ years of experience in payments, fintech, or e-commerce

• Proven ability to improve authorization rates, reduce payment costs, and balance fraud and risk controls with customer experience

• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills

• Comfort operating in ambiguity and navigating complex systems

• Expert-level Excel/Google Sheets skills for modeling and analysis

• Strong analytics background with experience in payment performance metrics

• Knowledge of payment processors, orchestration platforms, and fraud tools

• Familiarity with BI tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau, Mode); SQL is a plus

• Problem-solving mindset with ability to distill technical detail into business insight

• Fluency with modern AI tools to support analysis and accelerate decision-making

The salary range for this position is $168,750-$210,000, which represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay, as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training.

Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don’t fall victim to fraud. Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Feel free to ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of communication for interview, and ensure your communication is coming from a Fanatics email address (including @collectfanatics.com). For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers.