Sr Dir, Payments, German & European Mkts

The Company

PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. 

We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers.

We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards.  Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade. 

Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day.  We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities.

Job Summary:

This job develops and articulates a compelling vision for payment partnerships aligned with PayPal's strategy. They inspire teams to achieve long-term success, identify and negotiate strategic relationships, and collaborate with internal teams to execute partnership strategies. The job requires monitoring industry trends and regulatory changes to maintain a competitive edge and identify new collaboration opportunities.

Job Description:

Essential Responsibilities:

• Manage a strategic partnership roadmap to expand market reach, enhance product offerings, and drive revenue growth through key payment partnerships.
• Manage relationships with banks, payment networks, financial institutions, and technology providers to create mutually beneficial collaborations.
• Lead high-impact partnership negotiations, structuring agreements that align with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and long-term growth strategies.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including product development, marketing, sales, and legal, to ensure seamless execution of partnership initiatives.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, regulatory changes, and competitive dynamics, identifying new opportunities to enhance payment capabilities and market positioning.
• Optimize existing partnerships by continuously evaluating performance, renegotiating terms, and identifying areas for deeper collaboration.
• Drive innovation in payment solutions by working closely with technology partners to integrate emerging technologies such as digital wallets, real-time payments, and blockchain.
• Oversee key performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of partnership programs and ensure they contribute to business growth.
• Represent the company in industry forums, conferences, and strategic discussions, positioning the organization as a leader in the payment ecosystem.
• Lead and mentor a team of partnership professionals, fostering a high-performance culture focused on strategic growth, innovation, and relationship management.

Expected Qualifications:

• 12+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:

Summary

We are seeking a Senior Director, Head of Payments for the German and European markets. Priority for this role will be Core Payments Operations & Partnerships, leading PayPal’s core payments ecosystem in the markets with emphasis on product and platform operations, industry relations, and execution excellence. This role requires subject matter expertise across payment platform capabilities including but not limited to SEPA, SEPA Instant, real-time payment rails, and new and emerging European schemes and payment platform resources.

This leader will own the E2E strategy, roadmap development and execution, regulatory readiness, incident learning and remediation, and performance of Core Payments in Europe, ensuring that product intent translates into resilient, compliant, and scalable payment capabilities. The role combines deep operational leadership with strong ecosystem and industry engagement, positioning PayPal for long-term competitiveness across European payment schemes.

Based in Berlin and reporting to the Global Head of Payments, Markets & Partnerships, this leader will be a senior connective layer across Product, Engineering, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and Regulatory and Government Relations, working with a cross-functional network of 10-20 professionals and influencing a more extensive network of virtual teams. This individual will serve as PayPal’s European Core Payments key point person, accountable for how payments are operated, improved, and represented externally, driving execution rigor and shaping partnerships and industry relations.

Key Responsibilities

1. European Payments Strategy & Product Operations

• Define and execute PayPal’s Core Payments strategy for Europe across SEPA SCT, SDD, SCT Inst, and emerging schemes.
• Own and prioritize the European Core Payments portfolio, balancing regulatory commitments, product evolution, operational resilience, and partner readiness.
• Lead the roadmap for core payments in partnership with Product and Engineering, ensuring delivery sequencing and clear trade-offs.
• Provide leadership across the full payments lifecycle, including authorization, clearing, settlement, liquidity, reconciliation, and disputes.
• Assess country-specific regulatory and scheme requirements to determine the optimal processing, settlement, and operating model while supporting PayPal’s long-term European platform strategy.

2. Operational Excellence, Resilience & Continuous Improvement

• Oversee operational performance and reliability of European payment flows, ensuring uptime, compliance, and strong customer experience.
• Drive processing performance programs that govern key payment use cases, improve authorization and completion outcomes, and ensure scheme compliance.
• Track and improve end-to-end performance metrics, including fail rates, settlement efficiency, liquidity management, and scheme KPIs.
• Partner with Operations, Risk, and Engineering on incident management, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement, ensuring learnings are embedded into product design, operating processes, and partner governance.

3. External Partnerships & Ecosystem Engagement

• Build and manage senior relationships with banks, regulators, payment schemes, clearing and settlement partners, and service providers across Europe.
• Lead partner onboarding, scheme participation, and operational integrations, ensuring alignment with PayPal’s product, operational, and regulatory standards.
• Partner with GR to represent PayPal in industry forums, scheme working groups, and regulatory discussions to influence policy and protect business outcomes. 

4. Regulatory Alignment, Risk & Governance

• Maintain strong awareness of EU payments regulation, including Instant Payments Regulation, PSD2/PSD3, ISO 20022 changes, and Central Bank requirements.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, and Legal to ensure scheme adherence, audit readiness and completion, operational integrity, and effective control frameworks.
• Oversee readiness for industry-wide changes (ISO 20022 migration, scheme rule updates, central bank requirements). 
• Anticipate and translate regulatory, scheme, and supervisory changes into actionable business strategy and operational plans.

5. Cross-Functional Leadership & Executive Communication

• Lead through influence across a matrixed organization, ensuring clear ownership, governance, coordinated decision-making, and escalation paths.
• Serve as a senior subject-matter leader on European payment processing flows, partnering closely internally on messaging standards, clearing, settlement, and liquidity considerations.
• Provide executive-level visibility into portfolio progress, operational performance, incidents, and risk trends with informed, strategic recommendations.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in European payments, banking, payment schemes, fintech, or large-scale payment operations.
• Deep expertise in SEPA schemes (SCT, SDD, Instant), TARGET2, ISO 20022, and European payments infrastructure.
• Strong background in product leadership, payments operations, or payments partnerships, with demonstrated portfolio ownership.
• Proven experience influencing and leading complex, cross-functional initiatives in matrixed environment.
• Strong stakeholder management with regulators, banks, and/or industry groups.
• Exceptional communication skills and strong problem-solving; able to influence at the executive level. 

Preferred Experience

• Experience within a major PSP, European bank, payments network, or fintech.
• Leadership experience in SEPA Instant or real-time payments modernization.
• Experience navigating regulatory reviews, audits, or significant control environments.

Subsidiary:

PayPal

Travel Percent:

0

PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us.

For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.

Our Benefits:

At PayPal, we’re committed to building an equitable and inclusive global economy. And we can’t do this without our most important asset—you. That’s why we offer benefits to help you thrive in every stage of life. We champion your financial, physical, and mental health by offering valuable benefits and resources to help you care for the whole you.

We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more. To learn more about our benefits please visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com.

Who We Are:

Click Here to learn more about our culture and community.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion 

PayPal provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.  In addition, PayPal will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.  If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com.  

Belonging at PayPal: 

Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.

Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.

We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don’t hesitate to apply.