Head of Merchant

§ Lead the overall Merchant business as one of the key areas for the Egypt market, ensuring profitable growth and expansion of the merchant business § Develop the Strategic Plans for Egypt Merchant Business to drive step-change growth and manage ongoing day to day performance § Manage all aspects of the Merchants Sales, Acquiring, Relationship Management and Merchant Partnerships in Egypt § Lead business account management and partnership with key accounts across Egypt § Build and maintain relationships with key contacts and build senior level relationships with key decision makers § Lead overall relationships with Acquiring Bank partners, Payment Gateway partners and PSP Partners, ensuring the right commercial constructs are in place, manage POS expenses as well as managing the payment gateway relationships for the online business in Egypt § Drive and support key merchant business initiatives including new industry expansion § Protect margins and comply with pricing guidelines and policies. Service Establishment (SE) Signing § Lead and manage the expansion of the American Express merchant network across the UAE market § Manage expansion pipelines, including: New Signings, Holdouts, Online Acceptance, New Segments, B2B, Perception of Coverage key cluster gap closures § Manage Merchant Relationship Executives on signing potential service establishments as per the prospect data base guidelines. Also ensure that all signings are based on sales alignment guidelines that will generate the required minimum DBV to determine profitability of accounts, across key geographical clusters § Lead holdouts (non-accepting SEs) management and signings (to convert them to accepting merchants) § Ensure sales calls and partnership visits are carried on regular basis through a systematic plan based on geographical area split that will result on reduction of unbiased acceptance and the maintenance of sales materials as well as point of sales visibility at all times § Ensure SE staff is educated on card acceptance procedure and fraud prevention during set-up and sales calls and partnership visits to maximize card usage and prevent chargeback § Review in-active SE’s on regular basis based on a structured plan and submit findings to leadership, sales development with recommendation of canceling or re-selling for final decision § Execution of opportunities to improve merchant processes and satisfaction Requirements § Payment industry knowledge and experience (including understanding of operational, technical, and financial process that support payment transactions) § Strong technical knowledge of the merchant business and online business (including payment gateways) § Detailed knowledge of geographical area and potential key businesses within it § Excellent relationship management skills and a strong track record in managing complex, multi-national and key account portfolios § Proven track record of driving results § Strong will-to-win and self-starter § Strong business and financial acumen § Excellent matrix management skills, with the ability to engage, lead and positively influence cross-functional teams across the organization § Excellent negotiation skills § Strong leadership skills and the ability to effectively work with colleagues § High standards of strategic thought leadership to leverage and continue improvement and innovation § Strong analytical abilities with experience of using complex data analysis § Communication skills with high influencing skills through concise, clear reasoning and confidence with senior audience § Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving and rapidly changing matrix environments § Analytical skills to interpret trends within the industry, research competitive risks, and identify opportunities