Senior Program Manager, Payments

We are seeking a senior Program Manager with exceptional communication skills and a strong background in payments . This role is designed for a seasoned professional who can lead complex programs today and transition into a Payments Product Owner (PO) role within a few months.

You will be responsible for driving strategic initiatives in the payments domain, managing cross-functional teams, and ensuring alignment between business goals and technology execution. As you transition into the PO role, you will take ownership of the payments product roadmap, backlog prioritization, and feature delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead large-scale programs in the payments domain , ensuring delivery excellence and stakeholder alignment.
• Partner with business, technology, and compliance teams to define program objectives and success metrics.
• Communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, providing clear updates, risk assessments, and mitigation strategies.
• Drive governance, reporting, and program execution across multiple workstreams.
• Transition into Payments Product Owner responsibilities, including:
• Defining product vision and roadmap for payments solutions.
• Managing and prioritizing product backlog.
• Collaborating with engineering teams to deliver high-quality features.
• Ensuring compliance with industry standards (PCI DSS, PSD2, ISO 20022, AML/KYC).
• Act as a thought leader in payments modernization, digital wallets, real-time payments, and merchant acquiring.

Must Have Skills

• 10+ years of experience in program management within financial services, fintech, or payments.
• Proven expertise in payments systems (cards, ACH, real-time payments, merchant acquiring, digital wallets, cross-border).
• Strong knowledge of regulatory frameworks (PCI DSS, PSD2, ISO 20022, AML/KYC).
• Experience working in agile environments and collaborating with product and engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to transition into product ownership , with a customer-centric mindset.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in payments modernization initiatives (cloud migration, API-first platforms, digital transformation).
• Familiarity with data-driven decision-making and analytics in payments.
• Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities.