Merchant Onboarding Specialist

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nMerchant Onboarding Specialist Alternative Horizons Group | West Palm Beach, FL (On-Site) Pay: $70,000 – $75,000 per year Type: Full-time About Alternative Horizons Group We don't just process payments. We protect businesses. If you're the kind of person who runs toward problems instead of around them, keep reading. The Opportunity We need a Merchant Onboarding Specialist to own the process from the moment a merchant says "yes" through processor approval. You'll run live onboarding calls with business owners, collect and validate business documents, prepare and submit applications to processor partners, and manage the underwriting process until the merchant is approved and ready to go live. This is the highest-leverage role in the pipeline. Every deal that stalls between commitment and approval is revenue that dies on the vine. Your speed, accuracy, and merchant communication directly determine how fast we develop. You are not in sales. You are not in customer service. You are the bridge between a merchant's verbal commitment and their first live transaction. You own that bridge. What Success Looks Like First 30 Days (You Watch, We Do) Shadow 15-20 live onboarding calls to learn the process, the systems, and the merchant types. Study the gold standard call recordings. Learn the document requirements by entity type (LLC, corporation, sole proprietorship). Get comfortable with Onboarding Hub, IRIS CRM, and PandaDoc. Submit your first 3-5 applications with oversight. Give daily end-of-day reports covering wins, challenges, and what you'd improve. 60 Days (We Do Together): Handle routine onboarding calls with oversight and post-call review. Independently prepare and submit clean application packages for straightforward merchants (single-owner LLC, standard hemp/CBD). Manage stipulation responses with minimal guidance. Begin handling your own follow-up cadence for outstanding documents. Process 8-10 merchant applications end-to-end. 90 Days (You Do, We Watch) Independently run onboarding calls for all standard merchant types. Submit clean packages with no oversight needed. Handle underwriting liaison work independently. Know when to escalate (complex entity structures, unusual compliance situations, pricing questions) and when to solve it yourself. Process 12-15 merchant applications per month. Contribute to process improvement — if you find a gap, you document it and propose a fix. Core Values These aren't wall decorations. They're how we operate, how we hire, and how we evaluate performance. Run Through The Storm When obstacles appear, we charge forward — not around them. We face challenges with an unshakeable belief that solutions exist, and we have the tenacity to find them. We embrace "we'll figure it out" as a real strategy because it is one. Own Your Outcomes. We take full accountability for attitude, effort, and preparation. When something goes wrong, we focus energy on solutions, not circumstances. We follow the 1-3-1 rule: when you bring a problem, bring three possible solutions and your recommendation. We don't dump problems on other people's desks without having tried to solve them first. Compound Value: Every interaction makes the relationship stronger. Every problem solved becomes documented knowledge. Every client success becomes proof for the next client. We don't just process transactions — we compound value for merchants, for the team, and for ourselves. Excellence scales through systems, not heroics. If you solve it once, document it so nobody has to solve it again. Growth Path Junior Merchant Onboarding Specialist - Learn the process, master the systems, build accuracy. Merchant Onboarding Specialist - Own the process, handle all merchant types independently. Senior Merchant Onboarding Specialist - Train new hires, handle complex/high-value deals, optimize processor relationships. Merchant Operations Manager - Oversee boarding and post-approval operations as the company scales. Every hire matters. Every role has a clear growth path. We invest in continuous learning because your ceiling is our ceiling. Compensation and Benefits Base Salary: $70,000 – $75,000 per year (depending on experience) Benefits:10 days combined PTO and sick leave per yearBirthday off when it falls on a scheduled workdayAverage of 17 company-designated holidays per year3 weeks paid maternity/paternity leaveTax-free health reimbursement up to $6,450/year (individual) or $13,100/year (family) toward the health plan of your choice.401(k) with 100% company match up to 4% of compensation (eligible after 90 days, immediate vesting)On-site role in downtown West Palm Beach Interview Process We move fast. A-players don't stay on the market long, and neither do we.Interview 1: Video Screening (30 minutes) — We'll talk about your background, how you handle problems, and whether your wiring matches what we need.Interview 2: In-Person Technical Assessment (30 minutes) — You'll work with real documents and show us how you think. No trick questions — just attention to detail and process thinking.Interview 3: In-Person Culture and Values (30 minutes) — Meet the team, talk about what you're building, and make sure this is the right fit for both sides. Work Location: In person, West Palm Beach, FLCompensation: $70,000 - $75,000 yearlyResponsibilities: What You'll Own Live Onboarding Calls (The Core of the Job) You'll run 30-60 minute video calls with merchants where you walk them through the entire application process in real time. You collect documents, review them for accuracy, pre-fill the application, get it signed, and submit to the processor — ideally all on the same call. These calls are the single highest-leverage touchpoint in the pipeline. A well-run call gets a merchant from commitment to submission in under an hour. A disorganized call creates weeks of back-and-forth. Document Collection and Validation Articles of Incorporation, EIN letters, operating agreements, bank statements, processing statements, driver's licenses, hemp licenses, Certificates of Analysis — you'll learn what each one is, why it matters, and how to spot problems before they cause delays. The most critical skill: ensuring the legal business name matches exactly across every document. One mismatch can cause a two-week delay. Processor Submission and Underwriting Management: You'll prepare clean application packages and submit them to processor partners. When underwriters come back with questions or requests for additional documents (and they will), you're the liaison — getting what's needed from the merchant and responding to the processor promptly. Your goal: 95% first-time-right submission rate. Merchant Communication Throughout You're the merchant's primary point of contact from the onboarding call through approval. You set expectations, follow up on missing items, and keep the process moving. Merchants in the industries are often anxious — they've been burned by processors before. Your job is to make them feel supported, not hassled.Qualifications: Who Thrives Here People who solve problems before escalating. If something goes wrong, your first instinct is to figure it out — not send five Slack messages asking what to do. You bring solutions, not just problems. People who are excited about AI. We use AI tools every single day to move faster, catch errors, and eliminate manual work. If you think AI is a threat to your job, this isn't the place. If you think AI makes you 10x more effective, let's talk. You should have a point of view on how AI is changing operations work — and you should be using it already. Detail-obsessed operators. You catch the missing "LLC" in a legal name. You notice when a voided check doesn't show a routing number. You spot a date that doesn't match across two documents. This isn't optional — it's the entire job. People who handle change without falling apart. We're a startup. Processes change. Tools change. Requirements change. The person who thrives here sees change as an opportunity to improve, not a reason to panic. Calm communicators under pressure. You can guide an anxious business owner through a stack of paperwork without making it feel like a burden. You match your tone to the person in front of you — professional with executives, patient with first-time founders, efficient with busy operators. People who show up. Deadlines are sacred. If you say 2 pm, it's done by 2 pm. If you say you'll follow up tomorrow, you follow up tomorrow. Reliability is the foundation of everything else. Who Won't Fit Anyone who needs external motivation to perform. People who blame circumstances instead of controlling what they can. Individuals who take feedback personally instead of using it to get better. People who resist new tools or new ways of working. Detail-averse individuals who frequently make small mistakes in documents. Those who keep knowledge siloed instead of compounding it for the team. People who escalate every small issue without attempting to solve it first.About Company AHG Pay is the payment processing partner for businesses that the traditional system rejects. We serve merchants in hemp, wellness, and emerging industries — the businesses that Stripe freezes, and Square shuts down without warning. We get them back online and keep them there. We're a small, high-performing team in downtown West Palm Beach. We use AI every day to move faster than companies ten times our size. Every role has a direct impact on revenue. Every person is building something they'll be proud of. Our Core Values: Run Through The Storm (face obstacles head-on)Own Your Outcomes (control the controllables)Compound Value (document everything, scale through systems). If that resonates, we want to talk to you.