Senior Director of Solution Consulting

Requirements

• A senior leader with a strong track record of managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Highly experienced in working with acquiring partners, gateway partners and broader payment ecosystem stakeholders across multiple markets.
• Commercially minded and technically credible, able to bridge customer need, partner expectation and internal capability.
• Comfortable operating strategically while also remaining hands-on where required.
• A strong communicator who can create alignment across commercial, product, delivery and technical teams.
• Someone who is structured, proactive and capable of driving momentum in complex environments.
• A natural relationship builder with the seniority and credibility to engage external partners and internal stakeholders with confidence.
• Comfortable with complexity, pace and accountability.
• Significant experience in solution consultancy, payments consulting, pre-sales, partner solutions or a related leadership role within the payments industry.
• Strong experience working with global acquirer partners, gateway partners and related payment service providers.
• Proven experience leading and developing teams in a fast-paced, commercially focused environment.
• Deep knowledge of acquiring, payment gateways and value-added services such as DCC and MCP.
• Strong understanding of integrated payment solutions and the broader payments ecosystem.
• Demonstrable experience gathering, documenting and driving requirements across complex business and technical environments.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and align both internal teams and external partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present complex solution concepts clearly.
• Strong analytical, organisational and problem-solving capability.
• Ability to work across multiple initiatives simultaneously while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
• Leadership, mentoring and coaching capability.
• Willingness to travel where required.

What the job involves

• The successful candidate will join our existing Solution Consulting leadership team and will be responsible for leading the FI Solution Consulting team, with a particular focus on our acquirer and gateway partners.
• This role is accountable for shaping and driving solution strategy in support of Planet’s acquiring, gateway and value-added services propositions, including DCC, MCP and integrated payment gateway solutions.
• The individual will lead a team of solution consultants, ensuring that partner and customer requirements are clearly understood, well documented and effectively driven through internal teams to support delivery and commercial success.
• In addition to leading the team, the successful candidate will remain hands-on in selected strategic opportunities and partner engagements, directly performing solution consultancy activity with key partners and working closely with commercial teams to support growth.
• Leading and managing the FI Solution Consultancy team, providing direction, structure, coaching and development to build a high-performing regional function.
• Owning the solution consultancy strategy and engagement model for acquirer partners, gateway partners and other strategic payment ecosystem relationships across the region.
• Supporting the growth of Planet’s acquiring and gateway propositions by shaping partner-ready solution approaches for DCC, MCP and integrated gateway services.
• Working closely with commercial teams to support partner growth, new business development, strategic account expansion and solution positioning.
• Acting as a senior solution lead for selected strategic partner engagements, directly supporting discovery, solution design, requirement definition and commercial discussions.
• Ensuring partner, customer and internal business requirements are clearly captured, properly documented and driven through the appropriate internal functions.
• Translating commercial opportunities into clear, structured and actionable solution requirements for Product, Technology, Delivery, Operations and other stakeholders.
• Building trusted relationships with senior external stakeholders across acquirers, gateway partners, processors and other payment ecosystem participants globally.
• Maintaining a strong understanding of Planet products, services and technical capabilities in order to articulate value propositions clearly and credibly.
• Ensuring solution consultancy outputs are delivered to a high standard, including requirements documentation, solution overviews, partner proposals, gap analysis and internal handover materials.
• Driving alignment between commercial, product and delivery teams to ensure that partner opportunities are well-qualified and strategically prioritised.
• Supporting the governance and consistency of the Solution Consultancy function, including standards, templates, documentation quality and internal ways of working.
• Identifying opportunities to improve processes, tools and engagement models across the function to drive efficiency, quality and better partner outcomes.
• Acting as a senior escalation point for complex partner discussions, solution challenges and cross-functional alignment issues.
• Supporting ad hoc strategic initiatives and cross-functional projects as required.
• Lead a team of solution consultants working across multiple partner types, territories and opportunity streams.
• Bring deep expertise in payments, acquiring and gateway partnerships to shape credible, scalable and commercially strong solution proposals.
• Partner closely with commercial leaders to support sales strategy, account growth and partner relationship development.
• Provide leadership and clarity for complex opportunities where multiple stakeholders, products and technical dependencies must be aligned.
• Balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution by directly supporting selected high-value or high-complexity partner engagements.
• Ensure requirements are not only documented clearly, but are also tracked, understood and driven through the organisation to conclusion.
• Represent the Solution Consultancy team internally with senior stakeholders and externally with key strategic partners.
• Mentor, coach and develop the team to strengthen capability, consistency and confidence across the function.