Payments Program Manager

Job Description

Title: Payments Program Manager

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Location: Pennington, NJ & Charlotte, NC

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Job Summary

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• We are seeking a Senior Program Manager with strong Banking and Payments domain expertise and experience delivering Blockchain/DLT-based technology initiatives.
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• The individual will lead complex, enterprise-scale programs involving payment modernization, digital payments, blockchain/DLT platforms, payment APIs, integration, security, regulatory controls, and production implementation.
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• The role requires strong leadership across Business, Product, Architecture, Engineering, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, Operations, QA, and vendor teams.
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• The Program Manager will own overall program governance, roadmap execution, dependencies, financials, risks, delivery milestones, executive reporting, and stakeholder alignment.
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Blockchain / DLT Program Management

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• Lead enterprise Blockchain from discovery and proof-of-concept through architecture, implementation, integration, testing, and production adoption.
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• Coordinate blockchain platform teams with payment systems, APIs, data platforms, identity/security services, and existing banking applications.
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• Manage use cases involving areas such as tokenized payments/assets, distributed settlement, digital assets, smart contracts, and blockchain-enabled transaction processing.
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• Drive architectural and business decisions around on-chain vs. off-chain processing, interoperability, scalability, security, privacy, resiliency, and integration with legacy banking systems.
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• Ensure appropriate governance around smart-contract lifecycle, access controls, transaction validation, operational readiness, and production support.
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• Coordinate assessment and delivery across blockchain/DLT technologies as applicable to the program, such as Ethereum/EVM-based solutions, Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, or enterprise blockchain platforms.
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Program Leadership & Governance

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• Lead end-to-end delivery of multiple Banking Payments and Blockchain/DLT initiatives.
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• Establish program roadmap, milestones, governance model, workstreams, dependencies, and success criteria.
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• Own scope, schedule, budget, resource planning, risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies.
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• Manage multiple projects/workstreams involving distributed onsite and offshore teams.
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• Establish and maintain RAID, milestone, dependency, decision, and executive status reporting.
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• Drive steering committee and executive governance meetings.
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• Proactively identify delivery risks, technology dependencies, regulatory impacts, and execution blockers and drive them to closure.
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• Manage Agile/SAFe delivery across multiple teams, including PI planning, release planning, sprint-level dependencies, and program-level milestones.
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Banking & Payments

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• Manage modernization initiatives involving:
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• ACH
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• Wire Transfers
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• Real-Time Payments (RTP)
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• FedNow
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• SWIFT
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• ISO 20022
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• Commercial/Corporate Banking Payments
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• Payment initiation, authorization and processing
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• Clearing and settlement
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• Reconciliation and exception management
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• Coordinate cross-system integration across payment applications, payment gateways, APIs, databases, and downstream platforms.
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• Partner with Operations, Risk, Fraud, Compliance, and Technology organizations throughout the payment lifecycle.
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Required Qualifications

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• 12+ years of IT experience with strong Program / Technical Program Management experience.
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• Strong Banking or Financial Services experience.
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• Demonstrated delivery experience with large-scale Payments modernization programs .
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• Working knowledge of ACH, Wire, RTP, FedNow, SWIFT and ISO 20022 .
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• Experience managing Blockchain/DLT or Digital Asset Technology Programs .
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• Strong understanding of:
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• Blockchain/DLT architecture
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• Smart contracts
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• Distributed transaction processing
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• APIs and microservices
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• Cloud and platform integration
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• Security and identity
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• Data privacy and encryption
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• Experience managing complex enterprise integrations and multiple technology workstreams.
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• Strong Agile/Scrum/SAFe and SDLC experience.
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• Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, risk management, dependency management, and negotiation skills.
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• Experience managing geographically distributed teams and third-party/vendor relationships.
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Preferred Qualifications

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• PMP, PgMP, SAFe or Scrum certification.
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• Experience in a Tier-1 bank or large Financial Services organization.
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• Experience managing highly regulated, high-volume transaction platforms.
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• Exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS , Microsoft Azure , or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) .
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• Understanding of Java/Spring Boot, REST APIs, microservices, databases, CI/CD and enterprise integration patterns.
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