Sr. Consultant, Strategy & Planning

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

Drives, manages and supports execution of enterprise strategy for cross-functional initiatives, working with our leadership to define and execute our 1-3 year strategic plans, and alongside our M&A function, drive durable advantages for our network and solutions. Focuses on a broad range of topics developing Build/Buy/Partner analyses, influencing product roadmaps, envisioning the future, and implementing our backlog of strategic bets that will shape not only our businesses, but also the entire financial services industry given our unique position in the value chain. This role will report directly to the Sr. Director of Corporate Strategy & Planning and have high visibility in the organization with frequent interaction with the C-suite, senior executive team, as well as external stakeholders across our banking and startups partners.

Essential Functions

• Strategic Planning: Manage enterprise strategic planning process (5, 3, 1 year processes) to drive focus and priotization of business plans that drive clarity among senior leaders and resource allocation
• Growth Strategy Definition: Develop compelling strategy recommendations that enhance our competitive advantages by understanding market trends, competitive dynamics, and internal business capabilities and assets
• Strategic initiatives and business case: Develop recommendation for strategic inititaitves and create qualitative and quantitive analyses that enable enterprise and business prioritization, budgeting, and monetization of new programs and initiatives
• Market & Industry Subject Matter Expertise: Identify and qualify new inorganic growth ideas from internal and external sources and drive end-to-end execution of M&A. Evaluate synergy opportunities and risks in potential transactions.
• Project Management: Lead all aspects of the strategy initiative or deal transactions, including strategy formation, final recommendation, developing business cases, deal execution, and integration.
• Creative Problem Solving: Structure complex problems, develop hypotheses, conduct analyses and drive actionable recommendations through a data driven process
• Customer and Innovation Leadership: Partner with teams to identify and explore new technologies, products, and biz models to extend market leadership and customer relevance.
• Supports the organization’s commitment to protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data through compliance with all security policies and procedures.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 or more years of relevant work experience in management consulting, corporate strategy investment banking, corporate development, private equity, venture capital.
• Education and/or experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor’s degree.
• Strong analytical skills, Powerpoint fluency
• Effective communicator, able to convey complex ideas in a clear, concise manner both verbally and in writing, comfortable in business and technical discussions.
• Experience in building trusting relationships and influencing others. Collaborative team player who is also an independent thinker.
• Self-starter who thrives and can multitask in fast-paced and often ambiguous environments
• Background and drug screen.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2 or more years prior work experience at a top strategy consulting firm – McKinsey, BCG, Bain
• Fluency in performing financial, valuation, and broad quantitative analyses in Excel and familiarity with accounting and key operational metrics
• Experience in payments, risk insights, digital identity, banking, or fintech space.
• Experience working in complex strategic projects with financial services companies, inclusive of corporate and business unit strategy, driving business and technical alignment, and communicating with both internal and external executives.
• Additional related education and/or experience preferred

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States at the date of hire.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.

The base pay scale for this position in:

Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL in USD per year is: $120,000 - $150,000.

New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $140,000 - $170,000.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary bonus, and benefits.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

•  Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.