Head of Payments

Global SaaS | Subscription Continuity | Revenue Optimization | Stripe & PayPal

Our client is a digital product company that has been successfully operating since 2014. With a team of 100+ professionals, they develop and scale high-traffic SaaS products focused on the U.S. market. Their portfolio is built on subscription-based models, emphasizing trial-to-paid conversions and auto-renewals, supported by a centralized payments stack (Stripe, PayPal, and others).

They are currently looking for a Head of Payments to lead the strategy, operations, and optimization of payment systems across multiple high-volume products. This is a senior-level position that combines hands-on execution with strategic ownership, especially within high-risk billing environments.

Key Responsibilities

Drive the Payments Strategy
Design and implement a comprehensive payments roadmap aligned with the product lifecycle, compliance requirements, and user experience.

Optimize Billing & Revenue Recovery
Manage renewal logic, cascading retries, dunning flows, and payment orchestration. Improve authorization and recovery rates while reducing churn and involuntary failures.

Manage Chargebacks & Fraud Prevention
Maintain chargeback ratios below card network thresholds. Operate tools like Verifi, Ethoca, Stripe Radar, and Sift. Build defensive strategies and manage disputes effectively.

Enhance Revenue Continuity
Use data-driven methods to increase billing success and minimize revenue leakage across platforms, geographies, and processors.

Own Vendor Relationships
Act as the primary point of contact for Stripe, PayPal, and other payment providers. Manage negotiations, risk flags, MID usage, and build system redundancy.

Ensure Compliance
Collaborate with product and legal teams to meet evolving global standards including Visa/MC, FTC, PCI-DSS, and PSD2/SCA, with a focus on continuity billing and renewals.

Monitor Metrics & Maintain Stability
Track KPIs such as authorization rates, churn, recovery %, and dispute ratios. Build dashboards, run experiments, and collaborate with tech teams to prevent payment-related issues before they escalate.

Build & Lead a Payments Function
Recruit and manage a lean team of analysts and fraud specialists. Focus on operational efficiency and resilience, not headcount.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 5+ years of experience managing payments or recurring billing systems in subscription-based or trial-to-paid digital businesses

• Deep operational knowledge of high-risk environments, such as nutra, gaming, adult, or similar

• Proven hands-on expertise with Stripe, PayPal, and alternative processors

• Strong track record optimizing subscription billing flows, churn reduction, and revenue recovery

• Experience working with fraud and dispute tools: Verifi, Ethoca, Stripe Radar, Sift, etc.

• Solid understanding of global compliance frameworks: Visa/MC mandates, FTC guidelines, PCI-DSS, SCA/PSD2

• Fluent in billing metrics: authorization rate, recovery %, churn, dispute ratio

• Comfortable working with data tools (Looker or similar)

• Ability to perform under pressure in a fast-paced, performance-driven environment

Nice to Have

• Experience with multi-MID setups and alternative/local payment methods

• Prior ownership of payment KPIs in aggressive growth or high-scrutiny verticals

• Background in consumer SaaS with high transaction volume and recurring revenue

Why This Role Matters

Payments are central to the client’s business model. From onboarding to long-term retention, billing is both a growth lever and a critical layer of risk management. This role requires someone who combines deep technical knowledge, regulatory awareness, and operational discipline to ensure sustainable and optimized revenue flows.

Compensation & Terms

• Base salary: flexible for exceptional candidates

• Performance-based incentives available

• Fully remote, open to candidates across multiple time zones

If you’re a payments operator with real-world experience navigating complex, high-risk billing environments — and you know how to protect revenue while scaling performance — this opportunity is for you.