VP, Merchant Experience Sr Product Manager

Synchrony is a leading financial services company, and they are seeking an experienced Product Manager to lead and define merchant-facing capabilities for their financing products. The role involves driving adoption, growth, and scalability of these products across various business segments while managing a team of product managers.

Responsibilities:

• Set direction for merchant distribution experiences by defining the product vision, strategy, and prioritized roadmap to drive adoption of financing products, features, and capabilities across channels
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of product managers (5 direct reports) by setting clear priorities/OKRs, establishing operating rhythms, building talent (hiring/onboarding as needed), and driving accountability for outcomes
• Drive cross-functional alignment and prioritization by partnering with stakeholders across the business to define, sequence, and govern the features/capabilities needed to support multiproduct and multi-source financing solutions; ensuring clarity on requirements, dependencies, and trade-offs
• Sponsor and oversee merchant experience modernization (e.g., portal redesign, improved navigation, alerts/notifications, streamlined workflows such as Apply/Buy/Lookup/Estimate Payments) by setting objectives, securing resourcing, removing blockers, and holding delivery teams accountable for efficiency and consistency improvements
• Oversee end-to-end merchant lifecycle experience including onboarding/enablement, POS workflows, reporting/insights, and operational servicing experiences
• Champion insight-led prioritization by leveraging market research, competitive insights, and merchant feedback to identify capability gaps and steer investment toward the highest-impact experience improvements
• Support and enable sound product decisions by maintaining a working understanding of existing product capabilities and guiding how Enterprise features/capabilities are embedded into merchant point-of-sale channels and merchant digital experiences (in partnership with execution owners)
• Provide regular updates to Senior Leaders and partner with go to market teams to support commercialization readiness, enablement, and rollout communications as needed
• Build a strong cross-functional network and foster close working relationships with internal stakeholders across Distribution, Enterprise Product, Technology, Design, Data/Analytics, Operations, and Risk/Compliance
• Build and sustain a high-performing product organization by coaching and mentoring leaders/ICs, establishing team operating norms, developing talent and succession plans, and ensuring the team is positioned to deliver against strategic priorities
• Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned

Requirements:

• 8 plus years of experience related to product management (e.g., product strategy, program management, digital delivery, platform ownership), with end-to-end product lifecycle accountability
• Proven ability to lead diverse teams and influence senior executives in a matrixed environment
• Experience working in SAFe Agile frameworks or similar agile methodologies
• Ability and flexibility to travel for business as required
• Bachelor's Degree preferred, or commensurate experience in product management, sales, or marketing in credit or financial services industries
• Proven ability to manage and develop product managers while driving multiple concurrent product workstreams through effective prioritization and delegation
• Passion for innovation and continuous improvement in digital financial products and merchant experiences
• Strong business acumen and understanding of compliance/regulatory considerations relevant to financial services
• Deep B2B/merchant experience (provider/merchant portals, POS enablement, servicing/operational tools) and comfort balancing merchant needs with internal operational realities
• Proven change leader with experience modernizing legacy platforms/processes and bringing stakeholders along through ambiguity and resistance
• Exceptional executive presence and stakeholder management across Sales/Commercial, Operations, Risk, and Technology in a matrixed enterprise
• Proven experience leading and scaling product teams, including direct people leadership, hiring and developing talent, and creating strong team culture and accountability
• Demonstrated thought leadership coupled with strong communication skills and ability to help teams connect the dots on new ideas, processes and strategy
• Ability to leverage technology to create new processes and drive efficiency gains
• Demonstrated strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent influencing and relationship-building skills at multiple levels of organization