Senior Banking & Payments Manager

About the Role

Join Kraken's Business Operations team as a Senior Banking & Payments Manager to lead global banking relationships. This pivotal role involves identifying, negotiating, and managing strategic partnerships with financial institutions to expand Kraken's product offerings and enable new market launches, directly contributing to the future of crypto adoption.

Responsibilities

• Lead global partnerships by building and managing relationships with banks, financial institutions, and payment partners to support Kraken’s growth.
• Shape and implement Kraken’s Global Hybrid Banking Strategy, identifying and executing high-impact opportunities.
• Negotiate and manage commercial terms and agreements to optimize partner performance, reduce costs, and enhance service quality.
• Oversee end-to-end execution of banking operations, ensuring seamless liquidity, treasury management, and 24x7 client transaction processing.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Finance, Legal, Treasury, Compliance, Product, and Engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions.
• Work with Risk, Security, and Audit teams to assess and mitigate partner-related risks while maintaining regulatory compliance.
• Establish clear metrics, governance frameworks, and continuous improvement initiatives for all banking partnerships.
• Stay informed on banking, payments, and cryptocurrency trends to anticipate opportunities and challenges in an evolving landscape.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in banking, payments, or financial services, with a focus on partnership management, transaction banking, or financial infrastructure.
• Proven success negotiating and managing complex, high-value partnerships across multiple regions.
• Strong understanding of banking systems, payments rails, liquidity management, and financial compliance frameworks (including BSA/AML/KYC).
• Demonstrated ability to lead strategic initiatives, influence senior stakeholders, and deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Exceptional commercial acumen, analytical thinking, and communication skills.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, high-growth environment with global reach.
• Passion for innovation in digital finance and cryptocurrency.
• Willingness to travel internationally (up to 25%).

About the Team

The Banking & Payments team is a critical part of Kraken’s Business Operations group, responsible for building and managing strategic partnerships with global banks and financial institutions. These partnerships power Kraken’s entire ecosystem, enabling smooth, secure, and scalable access to financial infrastructure that supports all Kraken products, from spot trading to institutional custody. Our mission is to make Kraken the most trusted, accessible, and innovative platform for digital and traditional assets worldwide.