Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives

Role Description

We are seeking a Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives to lead GoFundMe’s Platform Excellence program. This leader will turn complex regulatory, payments, platform, and operating priorities into an accountable month roadmap with clear decisions, dependencies, owners, milestones, and executive reporting.

Reporting to the Chief of Staff to the CEO, this is a hands-on enterprise program and operating-model role. You will work across Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Trust & Safety, and Payments to create the operating rhythm, governance, documentation, and follow-through required to execute business-critical work.

The Job:

• Lead the Platform Excellence program.
• Translate complex, cross-functional priorities into a cohesive 12–18 month roadmap with clear workstreams, dependencies, owners, milestones, and measures of progress.
• Drive critical enterprise decisions.
• Identify and sequence the decisions required to move the program forward, ensuring they are addressed at the appropriate level.
• Frame complex issues, risks, tradeoffs, and execution implications so executives can make informed, timely decisions.
• Establish governance and accountability.
• Build the forums, trackers, working sessions, escalation paths, and operating cadences needed to keep the program visible, coordinated, and on schedule across multiple functions.
• Create rigorous, audit-ready documentation.
• Maintain a clear decision log, live risk and issue register, current roadmap, and supporting documentation that provide a defensible record of the program’s progress and outcomes.
• Provide executive-level reporting.
• Develop concise, decision-ready updates and materials for executive and board-level audiences, translating complex regulatory, operational, and technical information into clear recommendations and actions.
• Drive execution across functions.
• Surface risks early, ask difficult questions constructively, resolve obstacles, and ensure commitments translate into action.
• Build alignment and accountability through influence rather than direct authority.
• Connect strategy to delivery.
• Move comfortably between enterprise-level planning and detailed program execution.
• Build scalable systems and workflows.
• Replace manual status tracking with structured dashboards, automated workflows, and reporting mechanisms that improve visibility, efficiency, and follow-through.
• Operate as an enterprise-wide partner.
• Build trusted relationships across Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Trust & Safety, and Payments.

Qualifications

• Bring 8+ years of experience in enterprise program leadership, strategic initiatives, business operations, enterprise transformation, strategy consulting, compliance or regulatory program management, or a related field.
• Have operated at the Senior Manager level or as a senior individual contributor with meaningful enterprise-wide scope.
• Have direct, hands-on experience leading high-stakes, cross-functional programs within fintech, payments, or e-commerce checkout environments.
• Have successfully owned multi-quarter roadmaps, annual planning processes, executive or board materials, risk and issue management, and operating cadences that hold multiple functions accountable.
• Bring experience supporting regulatory remediation, compliance-related transformation, or other programs requiring rigorous, audit-ready documentation.
• Have taken ownership of an in-flight, high-stakes program and quickly developed fluency in its regulatory, risk, operational, and business context.
• Are credible with senior executives and skilled at translating complex information into clear, decision-ready recommendations.
• Are equally comfortable shaping an enterprise operating model and getting into the details required to move individual workstreams forward.
• Know how to create accountability through influence, navigate competing priorities, and drive progress without waiting for perfect information.
• Are an exceptional communicator who can adapt information for executive leaders, cross-functional partners, and teams responsible for delivery.
• May have experience in a Chief of Staff, Strategic Initiatives, Business Operations, Enterprise Transformation, or enterprise program leadership function.
• May bring a strategy consulting background, ideally paired with substantial in-house operating experience in a complex, regulated environment.

Benefits

• Make an Impact: Be part of a mission-driven organization making a positive difference in millions of lives every year.
• Innovative Environment: Work with a diverse, passionate, and talented team in a fast-paced, forward-thinking atmosphere.
• Collaborative Team: Join a fun and collaborative team that works hard and celebrates success together.
• Competitive Benefits: Enjoy competitive pay and comprehensive healthcare benefits.
• Holistic Support: Enjoy financial assistance for things like hybrid work, family planning, along with generous parental leave, flexible time-off policies, and mental health and wellness resources to support your overall well-being.
• Growth Opportunities: Participate in learning, development, and recognition programs to help you thrive and grow.
• Commitment to DEI: Contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion through ongoing initiatives and employee resource groups.
• Community Engagement: Make a difference through our volunteering program.