Job title: Strategic Relationship Manager (Merchant Services)
Location(s): London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh
Hours: Full time
Working Pattern: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites. Our goal is to visit our clients, so we encourage 60% of our time to be non-home based.
About this opportunity:
As a Strategic Relationship Manager, you'll be accountable for end‑to‑end client outcomes: protecting existing revenue, driving sustainable growth, building propositions to meet evolving client needs, and feeding client insight into the broader Cardnet and Group payments strategy. This is an opportunity to operate at pace and scale, influence beyond formal authority, and play a visible role in Cardnet’s transformation and long‑term growth.
What you'll be doing:
Own strategic relationships with Cardnet’s most complex and high‑value merchants, taking senior accountability for income retention and growth by deeply understanding clients’ acquiring models, payment flows, risk profiles, and end‑to‑end payment ecosystems.
Lead the commercial strategy across your portfolio, retaining and growing revenue through pricing, contract management, renewals, RFPs and complex negotiations, while ensuring solutions are scalable, compliant and operationally resilient.
Develop and deliver sophisticated acquiring and acceptance propositions, working closely with Product, Technology, Operations, Risk and Legal to support omnichannel payments, gateways, value‑added services, scheme‑driven capabilities and tailored client requirements.
Drive strategic growth across merchant services, finding opportunities in value‑added services, partnerships, new acceptance models and emerging payment capabilities, and feeding client and market insight directly into Cardnet’s product, sector and growth strategies.
Operate as a senior payments specialist across the bank, partnering with Relationship Banking, Coverage and Sales teams to support coordinated client strategies, unlock wider Lloyds Banking Group opportunities, and improve the value of Cardnet within broader client relationships.
Partner with Sales and Go‑to‑Market teams on complex opportunities, shaping pipeline strategy, supporting high‑value deals and RFPs, and applying deep payments knowledge to improve win rates and commercial outcomes across priority sectors.
Take clear ownership of performance against income and growth targets, actively managing pipeline, forecasting delivery, prioritising opportunities, and addressing under‑performance to deliver sustainable, long‑term revenue outcomes.
Bring deep payments and merchant services expertise to the role, staying close to industry trends, scheme developments, regulatory change and competitor activity. You’ll represent Cardnet externally through client forums, industry events and speaking opportunities, using ecosystem insight to strengthen client conversations and improve Cardnet’s market profile.
What you'll need:
Significant merchant acquiring / payments experience in a senior client-facing role, with a track record managing complex merchant relationships and delivering commercial outcomes and portfolio growth.
Commercial ownership across retention and growth, including leading pricing discussions, contract negotiations, renewals and RFP responses with senior client partners.
Proven negotiation and partner management skills, comfortable influencing at Board / senior leadership level and working across internal delivery colleagues to get outcomes.
Ability to manage a portfolio commercially and operationally, spotting emerging issues/needs early, shaping solutions, and protecting income through strong live‑service relationship management.
Delivery approach — able to lead the transition/implementation of new relationships and coordinate internal teams to land changes safely and effectively.
It would be useful if you had:
Experience handling RFP‑led competitive opportunities and shaping win strategies across merchants and sectors
Demonstrable understanding of risk and operational resilience in acquiring (how to deliver growth while ensuring the organisation is not exposed to undue risk).
Confidence operating across the wider payments ecosystem (schemes, gateways, PSPs/ISVs, orchestration and value‑added services), bringing market insight into client strategy and internal proposition development.
Strong communication style: clear, credible and able to represent the business with senior merchants and internal colleagues.
About working for us:
We’re disability confident. So, if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.
If you’re excited by the thought of becoming part of our team, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!
