Product Owner - Payments

Job Summary:

The Wilmington Trust Institutional Services (IS) division is experiencing rapid business growth and has initiated a strategic digital transformation program. The goals of the program are to grow revenue through new and transformed digital-first trust and agency service products, transition from a product-centric to a client-centric operating model, move from market-specific to global solutions, and dramatically lower the cost to serve.

In alignment with this business strategy, we are seeking an entrepreneurial and highly analytical Product Owner II to own and advance our Money Movement and Fees capabilities. Reporting to the Senior Product Owner for Money Movement and Fees, you will be accountable for defining and executing the product vision and roadmap for core capabilities such as client receipts and disbursements, payment risk management and migrations, billing and invoicing, exception handling, and operational controls . You will work closely with business line leaders, technology, operations, risk, and compliance teams to drive hands-on discovery of current-state processes; model end-to-end workflows and controls; stabilize core operations; and ultimately deliver modern, scalable, client-focused solutions that enhance the client experience, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen risk and control outcomes.

You will also share accountability for production support , partnering with technology and operations teams to triage incidents, perform root-cause analysis, prioritize remediation, and ensure the ongoing stability and reliability of Money Movement and Fees capabilities.

Primary Responsibilities:

Product Vision, Strategy, and Roadmap ?

• Define and manage clear Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) that align with Institutional Services business priorities, measure success, and guide product and delivery team direction.

• Personally lead hands - on discovery of current-state workflows by engaging business line leaders, technology, operations, risk, and compliance partners; model end-to-end processes, controls, and system handoffs to inform redesign and delivery.

• Create and maintain a prioritized feature and capability backlog that reflects Institutional Services business architecture, regulatory considerations, and evolving client and user needs.

• Build and maintain current - state and future - state business process and workflow models to support solution design, dependency management, and strategic planning.

• Translate strategic business goals into actionable delivery roadmaps , balancing near-term operational stability and incremental value delivery with longer-term transformation objectives.

• Focus on outcomes over outputs , applying design thinking practices, data, and analytics to inform product decisions, measure impact, and continuously refine solutions. Due to the scope and criticality of these product areas, initiatives are often complex and highly cross-functional.

Backlog Ownership and Delivery

• Own and deliver the product vision and roadmap for assigned Money Movement and Fees capabilities, ensuring alignment with Institutional Services priorities and clear communication to delivery teams and stakeholders.

• Prioritize and groom the backlog in partnership with delivery teams; write clear user stories and define acceptance criteria using Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) practices.

• Make day-to-day product decisions within established guardrails, escalating when necessary to ensure alignment with overall strategy and risk posture.

• Partner closely with technology and operations teams to ensure solutions are feasible, supportable, and production-ready .

Money Movement Domain Leadership

• Drive the evolution of assigned money movement and fees capabilities , including client receipts and disbursements, billing triggers, exception handling, and operational controls.

• Represent Institutional Services requirements for money movement and fees, partnering with peer Product Owners and enterprise platform teams responsible for downstream payment execution.

• Contribute to the delivery of money movement and fees capabilities within a shared enterprise platform , helping define and prioritize IS-specific requirements while aligning to enterprise standards.

• Collaborate with technology teams to ensure integrations between calculation systems, trust accounting systems, core platforms, and enterprise payments meet defined Institutional Services requirements and support accurate, end-to-end money movement and transaction flows.

Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration

• Act as the voice of the client within delivery teams, advocating for client, relationship management, and internal operational user needs.

• Partner with technology and operations teams to provide stakeholders with clear and timely visibility into progress, risks, and dependencies through established reporting and communication channels.

• Collaborate with other Product Owners and teams to align client journeys, shared capabilities, and cross-team dependencies.

Risk, Compliance, Vendor Oversight

• Support the Senior Product Owner as needed by providing continuity for assigned areas.

• Understand and adhere to the Company's risk and regulatory standards, policies, and controls in accordance with the Company's Risk Appetite, escalating issues as appropriate.

• Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely support of audit and regulatory findings related to owned capabilities.

• Share accountability for assigned platforms, including entitlement considerations, upgrade planning, and issue prioritization, in partnership with operations and technology teams.

• Promote an environment that supports diversity and inclusion and reflects the M&T Bank brand.

Required Skills, Attributes, and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 6 years' business, analytical, technical and/or product experience, or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of 10 years' higher education and/or work experience, including a minimum of 6 years' business, analytical, technical and/or product experience.

• Working knowledge of money movement processes across financial services and FinTech platforms, including client receipts and disbursements, end-to-end payment lifecycle management, cash positioning, fee assessment triggers, exception handling, and reconciliation across multiple accounting systems and monetary ledgers (e.g., sub-ledgers, general ledger, suspense and clearing accounts)

• Deep expertise in payment systems and payment processing concepts, including but not limited to: payment submission and orchestration, authentication and authorization, clearing and settlement, idempotency, error detection, and exception management.

• Direct, hands-on experience with at least two (2) or more money movement methods, such as: wire transfers, SWIFT payments, ACH. internal or book transfers. Experience may include product ownership, platform implementation, operational oversight, or systems integration.

• Strong understanding of payment risk, controls, and fraud management, including: preventative and detective controls, operational risk and resiliency, auditability, incident management and root-cause analysis related to payment failures or losses

• Demonstrated ability to use data, analytics, and reporting to inform product decisions, including defining key payment metrics, operational KPIs, exception trends, throughput, STP rates, and risk indicators; partnering with technology and operations teams to improve transparency and decision-making through dashboards and reporting tools.

• Proven experience in digital product ownership/management within corporate trust or capital markets.

• Experience working in Agile delivery environments, including backlog management using Jira or similar tools.

• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority.

Managerial/Supervisory Responsibilities:

• No direct management responsibility. As an individual contributor, the role requires managing work and driving outcomes through a matrixed, influence-based approach.

• Collaborates with essential business partners across the organization, often at varying levels of seniority and across divisions, advocating for outcomes that benefit the client and Institutional Services business.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Product management or product ownership experience with corporate trust platforms, trust accounting systems, bond servicing platforms, custodial networks and clearing processes, core banking platforms, or payment solutions.

• Working knowledge of Financial Institution Payment Hubs and modern payment orchestration platforms, including vendors such as Finzly, Temenos Payments Hub, Thought Machine, or similar enterprise or FinTech payment platforms.

• Exposure to fintech platforms and emerging technologies with a strong understanding of what's possible in a modern digital ecosystem

• Demonstrated ability to stitch together vendor platform, APIs, and internal systems to design transformative, end-to-end experiences

• Agile or product certifications (CSPO, SAFe POPM, or similar)

#LI-JB3

M&T Bank is committed to fair, competitive, and market-informed pay for our employees. The pay range for this position is $136,000.00 - $226,600.00 Annual (USD). The successful candidate's particular combination of knowledge, skills, and experience will inform their specific compensation.

Location:

Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America

M&T Bank Corporation is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, including disabilities and veterans.