SME Digital Payments & Partnerships Manager

About the Role

Auxo Talent is seeking an experienced SME Digital Payments & Partnerships Manager for a contract position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This role focuses on supporting the launch and growth of digital payment solutions for businesses within Saudi Arabia, operating at the intersection of digital banking, fintech partnerships, and payments product delivery. The position requires 5-10 years of relevant experience.

Role Context and Focus

The manager will collaborate with financial institutions, payment processors, fintech partners, and internal teams to develop commercial propositions, coordinate implementations, and introduce new digital payment capabilities to the market. The primary focus areas include expense management solutions, virtual card issuance, and card controls. Additional opportunities may involve embedded finance, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), Pay by Link, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and multicurrency solutions. This is a hands-on role encompassing proposition development, pre-sales support, commercial coordination, implementation management, and ongoing partner relationship management.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop digital payment propositions tailored for SME and business banking customers.
• Engage prospective customers and partners to understand requirements and recommend suitable payment and expense management solutions.
• Prepare business cases, commercial proposals, financial assessments, and presentations for new opportunities.
• Build and manage relationships with fintechs, card issuers, payment processors, banks, and other ecosystem partners.
• Evaluate potential partners based on commercial viability, technical capabilities, integration requirements, and operating models.
• Coordinate due diligence, commercial negotiations, contractual processes, and internal approvals.
• Translate agreed propositions into business requirements, implementation plans, and operational workflows.
• Collaborate with Product, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and Legal teams to coordinate integration, testing, and go-live activities.
• Track project milestones, dependencies, risks, and issues to ensure successful delivery and launch readiness.
• Support partner onboarding, post-launch stabilization, service governance, and issue resolution.
• Monitor solution adoption, usage, and partner performance, identifying opportunities for customer experience and commercial outcomes improvement.
• Assess alternative processor-led delivery models, ensuring alignment with applicable Saudi regulatory requirements and internal governance.

Qualifications and Requirements

• 5–8 years of relevant experience in digital payments, SME/business banking, fintech partnerships, commercial cards, card issuing, or payment processing.
• Practical experience with virtual card issuance, expense management platforms, and card controls.
• Understanding of SME banking, digital payments, and embedded finance/BaaS operating models.
• Familiarity with the roles of issuers, processors, and fintech providers, including onboarding, integrations, servicing, and commercial arrangements.
• Experience supporting solutions from initial discovery and pre-sales through implementation and launch.
• Strong commercial acumen, business-case development, stakeholder management, and execution capabilities.
• Knowledge of the Saudi banking, fintech, and SME ecosystem.
• Professional fluency in both Arabic and English.
• Ability to work on-site in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• Familiarity with SAMA-related regulatory requirements and approval processes is an advantage.

Work Environment

This is a contract position based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, requiring on-site presence.