Associate Director, Payments

About the Team

[Accounting] Responsible for overseeing the accounting and cash management operations for GOAT Group, the Accounting team is essential to each department and their respective business goals. The team collaborates with stakeholders, both internal and external, to ensure the financial health of the company through accurate and timely reporting, advising on business decisions, and ensuring payments to all parties arrive on time. In this critical role, you will join a group of strategic, detailed-oriented thinkers that thrive in a fast-paced environment while working cross-functionally to ensure the success of the company.

[Finance] At GOAT Group, the Finance team is responsible for managing the company’s financial profile. Through analysis, reporting, long-range planning and partnering with business leaders, our Finance team enables strategic decision-making and helps contextualize financial implications across the company. By joining our Finance team, you will work with a group of thoughtful, insightful individuals, all of whom are committed to solving complex problems and ensuring the continued growth of the company and its platforms.

[Tax] Responsible for overseeing the tax compliance, planning, and tax due-diligence for GOAT Group, the Tax team is essential to each department and their respective business goals. The Tax team collaborates with stakeholders, both internal and external, to ensure the financial health of the company through accurate and timely tax filings, advising on strategic business decisions, and maintaining compliance with federal, state, and international laws and regulations.

Role Overview

As the Associate Director, Payments, you will own and evolve GOAT Group’s end-to-end payments infrastructure and strategy. This high-impact leadership role sits at the intersection of finance, product, and technology, and is responsible for ensuring our global payments ecosystem is seamless, cost-efficient, secure, and scalable. You will serve as the senior-most payments leader, accountable for business performance, innovation, and regulatory excellence.

In this role, you will:

• Execute a comprehensive global payments strategy aligned with business objectives and growth targets across all markets
• Manage end-to-end payment operations, including processor relationships and gateway integrations
• Collaborate with the fraud team on fraud prevention strategies, and compliance frameworks to ensure alignment across payment and risk functions
• Lead strategic initiatives to optimize payment acceptance rates, reduce transaction costs, and improve customer payment experiences
• Serve as subject matter expert and primary stakeholder for all payment-related product development and platform enhancements
• Own commercial strategy and negotiations with payment processors, acquirers, and fintech partners to secure optimal terms, including pricing, routing strategy, and contract optimization
• Drive payment innovation by evaluating and implementing emerging payment methods, technologies, and regional payment solutions such as real-time payments, stablecoins, BNPL/installments, and tokenization
• Establish and monitor key performance metrics for payment operations, including authorization rates, conversion, settlement times, and cost efficiency
• Own and optimize payments unit economics, including transaction costs, authorization rates, chargebacks, and take rate impact, partnering closely with Finance to drive margin improvement
• Partner with Risk and Compliance teams to ensure adherence to PCI DSS, PSD2, and other regulatory requirements across jurisdictions
• Provide strategic counsel to executive leadership on payment trends, competitive landscape, and business impact
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Finance, and Business Development to align payments capabilities with platform strategy, optimize international fund flows, and advise leadership on industry trends and strategic partnerships
• Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation of payment flows, vendor agreements, and operational procedures
• Coordinate payment infrastructure planning to support scaling requirements and new market expansion
• Drive AI-driven Innovation: Lead the evaluation and implementation of AI and machine learning technologies to automate payment operations, enhance predictive routing, and optimize liquidity management

We are looking for:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Economics, Computer Science, or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred
• 12+ years of progressive experience in payments or 8+ years with an advanced degree, with at least 4 years in a senior strategic or leadership capacity
• Deep expertise in payment processing systems, merchant acquiring, card networks, and alternative payment methods
• Proven track record directing complex payment operations for high-volume e-commerce or marketplace platforms
• Strong understanding of payment security standards (PCI-DSS, PSD2, SCA, SOX), fraud prevention methodologies, and risk management
• Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise-wide initiatives and influence outcomes without direct authority
• Experience negotiating and managing relationships with payment processors, acquirers, and financial institution partners
• Solid grasp of international payment methods, cross-border transaction requirements, and regional compliance standards
• Exceptional analytical skills with ability to translate complex payment data into actionable business insights
• Technical fluency with payment APIs, webhooks, and integration architectures
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management capabilities across technical and non-technical audiences with the ability to influence at the C-suite level 
• Strategic thinking combined with hands‑on execution mindset to drive initiatives from concept to completion
• Technical Literacy: Familiarity with how AI/ML models are integrated into payment gateways and fraud engines to drive operational efficiency

Nice-to-Have:

• Experience with multi-currency settlement and foreign exchange optimization
• Knowledge of emerging payment technologies
• Background in payments for luxury goods, authentication, or marketplace business models
• Prior experience scaling payment operations through high-growth phases or international expansion
• Direct experience overseeing the implementation of AI/ML solutions in a high-volume e-commerce or fintech environment