PhotonPay is the financial operating system for the stablecoin era: multi-currency banking networks and stablecoin rails in one programmable layer — accounts, cards, payouts, FX, on/off-ramp. We are a direct card-network issuer, licensed across Hong Kong, the US, Canada and the UK, and backed by IDG, Hillhouse and Lightspeed Faction. We build for companies that operate across borders — the ones traditional banks and issuers leave out.
We hold direct card-network membership in Asia and run multiple card programmes there. Our first US commercial card programme is live under a sponsor bank, and we are already in active workstreams with the networks in the US — membership, incentives, pilots.
The US is the biggest card market in the world and we intend to be among the best issuers in it. That takes a senior, local owner of our network and bank relationships — someone in the networks' time zone who they know by name.
This seat owns the supply side of US card issuing: the networks, the sponsor bank, the programmes, the economics, and the path from sponsored issuance to direct membership.
The mandate
Own and grow PhotonPay's relationship with the card networks in the US — membership, incentives, pilots and programme expansion — and turn it into structural advantage for the group.
What you do
Network relationship
Be the face of PhotonPay to the networks in the US. Run the relationship, the business reviews, and the commitments we make and keep.
Close the workstreams already in motion: membership, incentive agreements, programme enrolments.
Get us into at least one network pilot for stablecoin or emerging programmes. That is how a client becomes a case study.
Direct membership go-live
Lead readiness: BIN set-up, settlement accounts and funding, network risk and chargeback reporting, scheme compliance at principal-member standard.
Migrate the first programme from the sponsor bank to our own BIN with no customer impact.
Work with group Treasury on the daily settlement funding structure.
Sponsor bank
Run the day-to-day: programme changes, compliance deliverables, limits and capacity.
Keep the sponsor bank as backup after direct membership. Qualify a second sponsor.
Programme expansion and economics
Enrol new programmes — commercial extensions, credit, multi-currency, stablecoin settlement lines. Application, scoping, internal approvals, certification.
Negotiate interchange tiers, incentives, marketing funds and volume deals.
Keep a rolling 12–24 month programme roadmap, aligned quarterly with the Head of Business, Americas.
Compliance
Track network mandates and rule changes. Own remediation. Zero findings in year one.
How you work with the Head of Business, Americas
The Head of Business, Americas is the face of the US business and accountable for its result. You run the supply side for that business: sponsor bank, networks, programme compliance, issuing economics, the membership path.
You keep the Head of Business in the picture at all times — where each programme and negotiation stands, what's possible, what isn't yet. Senior network and bank meetings are joint: they represent the business, you represent the programme.
Group BIN strategy is shared with the Asia card programme lead; BIN extension is a joint plan.
Where you and the Head of Business disagree: the commercial call is theirs; network and compliance limits are yours. If you say no, you give an alternative and a date.
Who we're looking for
You were there when a fintech or neobank went live as a principal member, or moved from a sponsor bank to its own BIN. Operations, not just the application.
Or: you ran client onboarding / implementation for new members at a Tier-1 network in the US.
Or: Director-level in a US network's Issuer Solutions or Fintech & Digital Partnerships team, managing fintech issuers end to end.
Or: fintech partnerships at a sponsor bank — you know how approvals actually work inside.
You have negotiated a network incentive deal and can explain interchange structure without notes.
8–12 years. Senior IC. No people management needed.
Who this is not for
Acquiring or merchant-side backgrounds.
Programme operators who executed but never negotiated economics.
Anyone who treats the sponsor bank as a vendor rather than a regulator by proxy.
Why PhotonPay
The group already holds direct membership and runs multiple programmes in Asia. The US is not learning from scratch — it's replicating with a head start.
Fiat and stablecoin on one platform. Programmes traditional issuers can't build.
The US path runs from sponsored to direct. You own the whole of it.
Mobility
Bay Area based. Regular travel to network offices; periodic travel to Hong Kong and Singapore.
