Director of Payments Operations

About Fora Fora is the modern travel agency , empowering anyone with a passion for travel to build a thriving advisory business. We're modernizing the $100B+ travel agency industry by combining powerful technology, data, and community to enable thousands of entrepreneurs to build on our platform. Our business-in-a-box platform gives travel entrepreneurs everything they need to launch and scale, from cutting-edge tools and personalized training to a vibrant community and exclusive industry partnerships. At the heart of it all is our mission: to help the next generation of travel entrepreneurs turn their love for travel into a fulfilling career , whether full-time or part-time. We believe that everyone, from seasoned professionals to first-time advisors, can build something both profitable and personal. Founded in 2021 by seasoned entrepreneurs, Fora has grown steadily since, expanding to a team of 200+ full-time employees based in downtown New York City . In 2026, we announced our $60 million Series D investment round , led by Forerunner and Tactile Ventures, with continued participation from existing investors Thrive Capital, Insight Partners, and Heartcore Capital. We've also been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Startup 2024, Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies 2025 and 2023, and we were most recently recognized as one of the TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026. We're building the first truly unified platform for all travel needs—leveraging the best of human expertise and technology to transform how people plan and book travel. About the Role Fora is seeking a Director, Payment Operations to lead the evolution of our advisor-facing financial operations, ensuring that as advisors grow their businesses, their financial experience matches the quality of every other part of the Fora platform. Reporting to the Director of Product Operations, this role leads the Product Operations Payments function, which owns booking ingestion, commission tracking, and advisor payouts. The role also serves as the primary operational partner to Finance across accounting, supplier-facing operations, and compliance. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Advisor Experience, Support, and Finance, the Director will drive the systems, processes, and cross-functional alignment that enable accurate payouts, efficient operations, and a seamless advisor experience at scale. This is a highly cross-functional leadership role at a pivotal stage of growth. As the complexity and volume of payment operations continue to increase, the Director will build scalable processes, identify automation opportunities, and establish operational excellence across the function. The ideal candidate combines deep operational and financial expertise with strong product instincts, exceptional judgment, and a bias toward ownership and continuous improvement. Key Responsibilities Lead the end-to-end operational quality of booking ingestion, commission tracking, quality assurance, and advisor payout execution, continuously improving accuracy, timeliness, and operational consistency. Identify, prioritize, and implement process improvements and automation opportunities that reduce manual effort, eliminate recurring exceptions, and improve the advisor experience. Own the operational partnership with Finance, including establishing clear escalation paths for supplier disputes, invoice corrections, and compliance matters while ensuring seamless collaboration across teams. Partner closely with Product and Engineering to define operational requirements for advisor-facing earnings and payout tools, advocate for scalable solutions, and surface operational issues that require technical investment. Represent Payment Operations in cross-functional planning, ensuring priorities are aligned across Product Operations, Finance, Product, Engineering, and the broader business. Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team across headquarters and the Philippines, fostering strong collabora…