Pine Labs - Director - Commercial Finance

ABOUT THE ROLE:
We are looking for a commercially driven finance leader to own Pricing & Profitability for Pine Labs' Merchant Acquiring business across India and International markets. This is a high-impact role at the intersection of Finance, Business, Product, Sales, and Operations, driving commercial strategy and ensuring sustainable, profitable growth.
As the custodian of merchant economics, you will shape pricing strategies, manage the sales incentive program, influence strategic commercial decisions, optimize portfolio profitability, and strengthen revenue realization across the payments ecosystem working closely with senior leadership to enable data-driven decision-making and build scalable pricing frameworks and commercial governance.
WHAT YOU'LL OWN:
Pricing Strategy & Commercial Excellence:
- Own the end-to-end pricing strategy for the Merchant Acquiring business across India and international markets.
- Develop business cases and commercial viability assessments for new market expansion, strategic partnerships, and large enterprise opportunities.
- Develop pricing strategies for new markets through competitor benchmarking, market research, and regulatory monitoring to identify growth opportunities.
- Interpret and apply card scheme interchange and network fee guides (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) to evaluate merchant economics and pricing opportunities.
- Evaluate and approve merchant commercials, strategic deals, pricing exceptions, and bespoke commercial structures.
- Build and continuously enhance pricing models, calculators, and decision support tools.
Profitability Management:
- Drive profitability across merchants, products, payment methods, acquiring banks, and geographies.

- Analyze portfolio performance, identify margin improvement opportunities, and recommend commercial interventions.
- Develop executive dashboards and profitability insights to support business planning and performance management.
Revenue Assurance & Commercial Controls:
- Drive initiatives to maximize revenue realization and eliminate commercial leakages.
- Ensure accurate implementation of approved pricing and validate realization across MDR, VAS revenue, etc.
- Ensure the accuracy of key commercial cost drivers, including MCC mapping, interchange, scheme fees, and payment network charges.
- Partner with Product, Operations, and Technology teams to strengthen controls and avoid revenue/cost leakages.
Cross-Functional Leadership:
- Collaborate closely with Product, Technology, Sales, Operations, and Finance to execute strategic initiatives.
- Provide commercial finance support for new payment products, acquiring partnerships, regulatory changes, and market expansion.
- Lead cross-functional projects focused on improving pricing governance, profitability, and commercial efficiency.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:
- Chartered Accountant (CA), MBA (Finance), or equivalent qualification.
- 10-15 years of experience in Pricing, Commercial Finance, Business Finance, or Profitability Management.
- Prior experience in Payments, FinTech, Banking, or Financial Services is strongly preferred.
- Strong understanding of payment acquiring economics, including MDR, interchange, scheme fees, assessments, issuer/acquirer settlement, merchant pricing, and profitability.
- Ability to interpret Visa, Mastercard, and other payment network pricing documentation and translate changes into commercial recommendations.
- Experience in market-entry pricing for new geographies is highly desirable.
- Proven expertise in financial modelling, commercial analytics, and business case evaluation.
- Advanced Excel skills; experience with AI tools, Power Query, Power Pivot, SQL, or BI tools is an added advantage.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional and leadership teams.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE:
- Deliver commercially sustainable pricing strategies that accelerate business growth.
- Improve portfolio profitability through data-driven insights and commercial optimization.
- Strengthen pricing governance and ensure accurate commercial realization.
- Build scalable pricing tools, dashboards, and automation that enhance business efficiency.
- Drive strategic decision-making through financial insights and commercial partnership.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and financial excellence.
WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS:
Business Finance is one of the strongest levers for growth and profitability in the payments business. This role sits at the heart of commercial decision-making, balancing growth with financial discipline while shaping the future of the Merchant Acquiring business across multiple markets. If you enjoy solving complex business problems, influencing strategy, and creating measurable commercial impact, this role offers the opportunity to do exactly that.
Pine Labs - Powering Merchant Commerce Across India & Beyond