Senior Director Solution Consulting

remote type

Onsite

locations

London office - UK

time type

Full time

posted on

Posted Yesterday

job requisition id

JR11668

About Planet

Planet is a global provider of integrated technology and payments solutions for retail and hospitality customers.

We create great experiences for the millions of people who use our payments, software, and tax-free solutions every minute of every day.

Planet empowers its customers to deliver great customer experiences by combining payments and software in ways that drive greater loyalty, increase revenue and save time.

Founded over 35 years ago and with our headquarters in London, today we have more than 2,500 employees located across six continents serving our customers in more than 120 markets.

Role Overview

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.

The Senior Director, Solution Consultancy will be responsible for:

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

What you will do

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

Who you are:

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

What you will need to bring to Planet

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

UK-based / EMEA-based with hybrid working

Why Planet:

At Planet, we embrace a hybrid work model, with three days a week in the office.

Reasonable accommodations may be made in order to allow for an individual to perform the essential functions of this role successfully.