Apple Seeks ‘Experienced BizDev Manager’ To Negotiate Alternative Payments Partnerships, Must Have ‘Crypto Experience’

Apple is looking to hire an ‘experienced’ business development manager to spearhead Alternative Payments partnerships for the company’s Apple Wallets, Payments and Commerce (WPC) team, in a sign that the technology giant is getting more serious about mainstreaming cryptocurrencies for practical purposes.

Per a Wednesday job posting highlighted by Coindesk.

The Apple Wallets, Payments, and Commerce (WPC) team is seeking an experienced Business Development Manager to lead Alternative Payments Partnerships. We are looking for a proven professional in global alternative and emerging payment solutions. We need your help forming partnership framework and commercial models, defining implementation paradigms, identifying key players and managing relationships with strategic alternative payment partners. This position will be responsible for the end to end business development, including screening partners, negotiating and closing commercial agreements and launching new programs.

The ideal candidate will have more than 5 years of experience working in or with alternative payment providers, “such as digital wallets, BNPL (buy now, pay later), Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc..”  They will also need to have “Deep knowledge of the alternative payments ecosystem, understanding the complexities of funds flow, roles/responsibilities for settlement, relevant regulations and industry standards and the wide spectrum of FinTech products.“

As Coindesk’s Danny Nelson notes, “Apple has long maintained an ironclad grip over payments, especially in its App Store, which has never accepted customers’ crypto and forces all catalog apps to use Apple’s commerce rails and play by Apple’s rules.”

Meanwhile, according to MacRumors, Coinbase included an Apple Pay logo in a recent update regarding its Coinbase Card. Perhaps negotiations have already begun?