Senior Project Manager - Payments

Description

Summary:

The Senior Project Manager - Payments will have deep domain expertise in payments to join our growing Payments team. In this role, you will own the end-to-end delivery of complex, cross-functional payments initiatives. You will serve as the connective tissue between product, technology, operations, risk, legal, and external partners, ensuring programs are delivered on time, within scope, and with measurable business impact.

The ideal candidate brings a rare combination of rigorous project management methodology and hands-on payments knowledge — someone who can speak fluently about Payment networks in the same conversation as they manage a critical path schedule or escalate a risk to leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

• Program & Project Delivery
• Lead end-to-end delivery of strategic payments programs, including product launches, platform migrations, FinTech integrations, and regulatory compliance initiatives.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, RAID logs (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies), and status dashboards for executive and working-group audiences.
• Drive project execution through structured agile/hybrid delivery frameworks, adapting methodology to fit the complexity and compliance requirements of payments projects.
• Manage project budgets, resource planning, and vendor contracts in collaboration with Finance and Procurement.
• Proactively identify schedule risks and develop mitigation strategies; escalate blockers with clear recommended paths to resolution.
• Payments Domain Leadership
• Apply deep knowledge of the payments ecosystem to shape project scope, anticipate integration challenges, and guide technical teams through payments-specific complexity.
• Serve as the internal subject matter authority on payment rails and schemes including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, NACHA/ACH, RTP, FedNow, SWIFT, and emerging real-time networks.
• Partner with Product and Technology to define acceptance criteria for payment flows, ensuring compliance with network rules, regulatory requirements (PCI-DSS, Reg E, PSD2, NACHA Operating Rules), and security standards.
• Champion best practices in payments security, fraud mitigation, tokenization, and authentication (3DS, biometrics) throughout the project lifecycle.
• Stakeholder Management & Communication
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and external partners.
• Facilitate and lead cross-functional steering committees, working groups, and executive readouts — distilling complex technical and regulatory issues into clear decisions and actions.
• Produce high-quality written communications including project charters, executive briefings, business cases, and post-implementation reviews.
• Act as the primary point of contact for third-party payment partners and vendors during integration and certification phases.
• Process Improvement & Governance
• Define and continuously improve PMO standards, playbooks, and governance frameworks specific to payments programs.
• Conduct post-mortem reviews and embed lessons learned into future project planning and team capability building.
• Support the development of junior project managers through mentorship, coaching, and structured knowledge sharing.
• Contribute to strategic planning cycles by helping translate business objectives into executable roadmaps and investment cases.
• Basic Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree
• 7+ years of experience in project or program management, with at least 5+ years in a payments, fintech, or financial services environment.
• 5+ years of experience with project management tools such as Jira, Monday.com or something similar

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience utilizing a variety portfolio project management tool and creating and tracking project schedules in MS Excel or MS Project
• Strong understanding of project lifecycle methodologies (e.g., Waterfall, Iterative, Agile/Scrum) and project management processes and standards
• Strong aptitude in both business and technology
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills; ability to explain project risks and issues, and IT related concepts clearly and concisely to multiple layers of peers and leadership
• High motivated with strong organizational, analytical, decision making, and problem solving skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and to handle multiple priorities and effectively prioritize them
• Ability to provide strong program and project leadership during periods of uncertainty, ambiguity, and change
• Willingness and drive to learn and understand detailed software solutions
• High level of professionalism and confidence with the ability to build credibility with leadership, team members, and business partners and establish effective working relationships
• Ability to initiate and facilitate change, whether indicated by corporate needs, market or regulatory requirements
• Experience leading large, cross-functional information technology programs and projects
• Exempt Status: (Yes   = not eligible for overtime pay) ( No   = eligible for overtime pay)
• Yes
• Workplace Type: Office
• Our Approach to Office Workplace Type
• Certain positions outside our branch network may be eligible for a flexible work arrangement. We’re combining the best of both worlds:  in-office and work from home. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. Remote roles will also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for moments that matter. Specific work arrangements will be provided by the hiring team.