Phoenix Technologies
E-commerce & Online Marketplaces
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Phoenix is the Autonomous Commerce Platform for DTC Founders. We unify storefronts, checkout, payments, and operations into one platform where AI agents handle the operational grind and merchants focus on growth.
We set out to build the "Shopify of Direct Response" and along the way recognized something bigger. Direct response is roughly a third of all ecommerce transactions, a trillion-dollar market chronically overlooked by Silicon Valley. The merchants who run it are obsessive about tooling.
They live and die by velocity, conversion, and margin. They have no brand moats. They only compete on operations, which is exactly what makes them ripe for agentic disruption and the earliest, fastest adopters of AI agents in commerce.
That insight reframed Phoenix from "the Shopify of DR" to the AI Agent Platform for DTC Founders.
This is a category-defining bet, and we are running at it from a position of strength.
8-figure ARR growing 100%+ YoY
Strong unit economics and efficient growth
Rapid merchant adoption and expanding market presence
Backed by experienced operators and investors with a history of building and scaling successful businesses
This is a rare opportunity for a technical leader to step into a company with proven revenue, product-market fit, an established team, and a large market opportunity.
Three things make this an inflection point:
Product-market fit is established. Demand continues to grow, merchant adoption is accelerating, and Phoenix is outperforming expectations.
There is an opportunity to define a category. While many companies are building AI tools for commerce, few are focused on helping sophisticated DTC operators automate revenue-generating decisions at scale.
Our customers are AI-ready. They adopt technology quickly when it drives measurable business outcomes, creating an ideal environment for agentic products.
We are hiring a Vice President of Payments to own Phoenix's high-risk payments business end to end, the P&L, the risk posture, the bank and processor relationships, and the operating engine that moves merchant volume.
This is the most senior payments role at Phoenix. You will own underwriting, risk, payment operations, partner strategy, and payments GTM strategy (both revenue and product) as a single business rather than a set of separate functions. The Director of Payments Risk, along with the underwriting and risk teams, reports into this role.
Phoenix processes for direct response ecommerce merchants within nutraceuticals, supplements, skincare, clothing, accessories, and subscription and continuity offers. That is deliberate. It is also unforgiving. The difference between a profitable portfolio and a terminated BIN is judgment, monitoring discipline, and the strength of your bank relationships.
This role requires someone who already knows this industry. It is not a role where a generalist payments leader learns high-risk on the job. You should have lived through a VAMP or VDMP escalation, defended a portfolio in front of an acquirer, structured a merchant nobody else would board, and known when to walk away.
You will work closely across:
Merchant underwriting
High-risk ecommerce and card-not-present
Merchant acquiring and sponsor bank relationships
Fraud and chargeback risk
KYC/AML and compliance
Payment operations, funding, and residuals
Product, Sales, and Client Success
Own the revenue strategy (ICP, pricing), cost, and margin of the high-risk payments business as a standalone business unit. Although the sales team does not report into you, you will have high influence on how we go-to-market.
You will own:
Processing revenue recognition, interchange, and net effective rate
Merchant pricing and pricing governance
Residual and revenue share economics with ISOs, agents, and referral partners
Cost of processing, gateway, and vendor spend
Loss reserves, write-offs, and net risk cost
Contribution margin by merchant and by portfolio segment
Forecasting and reporting that lets leadership see payments revenue, risk exposure, and margin in a single view
Own Phoenix's risk appetite and the policy framework that enforces it.
This includes:
Underwriting policy, approval authority, and escalation thresholds
Reserve strategy, rolling holds, and processing limits
Portfolio concentration limits by vertical, bank, and processor
Chargeback and fraud thresholds and the remediation playbooks behind them
Ongoing portfolio monitoring, periodic reviews, and offboarding decisions
Client comms in collaboration with the Sales and Client Success teams
The end goal is to keep the portfolio inside Visa and Mastercard monitoring program thresholds — VAMP, VDMP, VFMP, and MATCH/TMF, while volume continues to grow.
Own the relationships that determine whether Phoenix can board merchants at all.
Sponsor bank and acquiring relationships: sourcing, negotiating, and defending them
Processor, gateway, and orchestration partnerships
Redundancy and diversification so no single bank or processor is a point of failure
Schedule A negotiation, buy rates, and cost structure
Audit readiness, ISO/MSP registration, and ongoing compliance reporting
New market, new vertical, and new geography expansion
Own the operating engine for the Payments team
Merchant onboarding, KYC/KYB, activation, and time-to-board
Funding, settlement, reconciliation, and residual accuracy
Chargeback mitigation tooling including Ethoca, Verifi, VMPI, RDR, and CDRN
Authorization performance, decline recovery, and payment routing
SOPs, SLAs, dashboards, and the automation roadmap
Treat payments as a driver of merchant growth and Phoenix revenue, not a cost of doing business.
Approval rate and authorization optimization
Attach rate of Phoenix payments across the merchant base
Payment product roadmap in partnership with Product
Pricing and packaging that grow both merchant volume and Phoenix margin
New payment types and rails where they serve merchants, including ACH, RTP, and alternative payment methods
Recruit, develop, and retain underwriters, risk analysts, and operations leaders
Set clear performance standards and accountability systems
Build a culture of precision, urgency, and ownership
Serve as the executive voice of payments to the CEO, the board, banks, and partners
8+ years in payments, merchant acquiring, or fintech, including at least 5 years directly in high-risk
Proven ownership of a payments P&L, portfolio, or business unit, not solely a functional team
Direct experience with ISO, MSP, PayFac, or sponsor bank models
Existing relationships with acquiring banks, sponsor banks, processors, and gateways
Deep working knowledge of Visa and Mastercard monitoring programs (VAMP, VDMP, VFMP, MATCH/TMF) and the corrective action each requires
Demonstrated experience underwriting and managing high-risk ecommerce verticals such as nutraceuticals, supplements, skincare, peptides, and subscription or continuity offers
Command of KYC/AML, PCI DSS, NACHA, and card network rules
Experience setting reserve, rolling hold, and processing limit strategy at the portfolio level
Track record of holding chargeback and fraud ratios inside card brand thresholds while growing volume
Ability to make fast, independent, defensible risk decisions with incomplete information
Experience building and leading underwriting, risk, or payment operations teams
Strong analytical skills and fluency operating from portfolio data and dashboards
Experience at an ISO, PayFac, high-risk acquirer, or payments-enabled commerce platform
Experience standing up a new bank or processor relationship from scratch
Experience recovering a portfolio from a monitoring program or bank remediation
Experience with embedded payments, ISV, or platform payments monetization
Familiarity with direct response, DTC, and subscription commerce
Exposure to ACH, RTP, and alternative payment methods
Experience in a fast-paced startup or high-growth payments environment
Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, or a related field
High ownership
Decisiveness
Strong recruiting and talent development capabilities
Accountability
Product judgment
Calm under pressure
Builder mentality
These are the values that guide how we operate:
All In to Win — Operate with urgency, intensity, and a relentless bar for excellence.
A Players Only — Only hire, develop, and keep A players. Protect talent density.
Merchant First — Merchants are why we exist. Every decision measured by merchant impact.
Entrepreneurial Spirit — Move like a Day One company. Fast, scrappy, hungry. Everyone owns.
Execution Over Ego — Best ideas win regardless of source. Status and titles do not matter.
After you apply, unlock the direct contact details of the people who actually make the call. A quick follow-up makes you 5x more likely to land an interview.
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