Regional Partner Relations Lead – EMEA at dLocal

• The candidate will be part of Growth Ops & Partnerships, working closely with Operations and Commercial teams to turn strategic partnerships into sustainable TPV, margin, and resilience at regional level.

Role Description (goals And Objectives)

• Own and nurture relationships with key regional partners (e.g., processors such as Fawry, Capitec, Paystack, PayU and similar players) and relevant new payment method regulators, becoming dLocal’s “face in the market”
• Translate global strategy into local execution: jointly define and run joint business plans with priority partners to unlock TPV, improve economics, and strengthen our product capabilities
• Drive partner performance and resilience: monitor health (conversion, uptime, SLAs, costs), coordinate incident follow-up, and push for redundancy and new capabilities where needed
• Bridge external stakeholders and internal teams (Product, Ops, Finance, Fraud, Compliance, Legal, Public Affairs) so that commercial opportunities and regulatory changes turn into concrete, on-time deliveries
• Anticipate and shape regulatory and scheme agendas in the region, working hand-in-hand with regulators, card schemes and industry forums where relevant

Key Responsibilities

• Partner & regulator relationship management
• Build and maintain senior, multi-level relationships (C-level, product, ops, risk, regulatory) with:
• Priority local partners (e.g., Fawry, Capitec and similar financial institutions in Africa and Asia)
• Regulators, and central banks relevant to our business (directly or via Public Affairs / Legal)
• Act as a single point of contact for your region for key partners, ensuring consistent communication and fast, coordinated responses to issues and opportunities
• Joint business planning & execution
• Lead joint business plans with selected partners: TPV growth, product roadmap, marketing initiatives, and performance / cost targets
• Identify and prioritize new workstreams: new countries, products (APMs, BNPL-like rails, wallets), features (network tokens, 3DS, card-present, RTP), or commercial models (rev-share, incentives)
• Work with internal teams to secure resources and unblock decision-making (e.g., pricing, tech investment, risk appetite) needed to deliver on those plans
• Performance, economics & risk
• Monitor partner health scores: approval rates, latency, uptime, incident volume, SLAs, and TPV/margin contribution by corridor and merchant cluster
• Proactively drive cost and NTR improvements (pricing, FX spreads, fee tiers, incentives), in coordination with Finance and Global Partners & Enablement
• Ensure redundancy for critical flows (fallback providers, alternative routes) in your region, aligned with global resilience targets
• Regulatory & scheme alignment
• Track regulatory and scheme developments affecting our operations in the region; turn them into clear impact assessments and action plans for internal teams
• Support license, audit, and compliance work by providing local context, partner input, and market benchmarks as needed
• Internal leadership & collaboration
• Be the regional “go-to” person for partner and regulator topics for Growth Ops & Partnerships, Core Ops, and Commercial teams
• Contribute to playbooks, onboarding materials, and templates so that partner management becomes scalable and repeatable across countries and teams

Ideal Candidate – Capabilities And Background

Experience

• 8–12+ years in payments / fintech / banking / card schemes, with a focus on partnerships, business development, or strategic account management
• Proven track record owning senior relationships with:
• Major banks / wallets / processors or
• Card schemes (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) or
• Regulators / central banks / public authorities in financial services
• Hands-on experience working on joint initiatives across commercial, product, operations and compliance (e.g., new payment methods, cross-border corridors, regulatory-driven launches)
• Capabilities
• Strong relationship builder and influencer, comfortable with C-level discussions and detailed operational follow-up
• Structured, analytical mindset: able to work with TPV, conversion, cost and margin data to define priorities and quantify impact
• Excellent communicator (written and verbal) in English; additional regional languages are a plus (Arabic, French, Portuguese, etc. depending on region)
• High ownership and bias to action: moves from problem to plan to execution, and is comfortable dealing with ambiguity and incomplete information
• Ability to navigate complex organizations (internally and externally), aligning diverse stakeholders towards clear, measurable outcomes
• Nice to have
• Experience working with, or within, large global merchants, networks, or PSPs
• Exposure to BNPL, wallets, RTP, and alternative payment methods strategies in emerging markets
• Prior experience interacting with African or Asian regulators, central banks or industry associations