Product Manager - Payments & Fintech

Industry: Banking / Fintech / Payments

Position Overview

Client is recruiting an experienced Product Manager Payments & Fintech
for a financial-services organization.
This position will lead the strategy, development, execution, and ongoing optimization of a
financial technology product operating within the domestic payments ecosystem.
The Product Manager will work across engineering, operations, risk, compliance, legal,
external technology providers, and business teams to build scalable payment
capabilities and improve the overall product experience.
This position requires more than general product-management experience. The successful
candidate should have substantial knowledge of payments infrastructure, banking
technology, payment rails, APIs, integrations, and fintech operations.

Key Responsibilities




Own product strategy and roadmap for a financial technology and payments
platform.
Translate customer, partner, operational, and market needs into clear product
requirements.
Manage the product lifecycle from discovery and design through development,
launch, measurement, and ongoing improvement.
Prioritize product capabilities based on customer needs, market opportunities,
technical considerations, risk, and business value.
Develop and maintain product roadmaps and other key product-management
artifacts.
Work closely with engineering teams to define and deliver new capabilities.
Coordinate product initiatives across technology, operations, risk, compliance,
legal, and other business functions.
Lead payment-platform enhancements involving integrations, infrastructure, and
operational processes.
Work with external fintech partners, vendors, and technology providers.
Design and improve scalable operating practices supporting the product.
Evaluate payment experiences across traditional and emerging payment channels.
Monitor product performance using KPIs, customer feedback, operational data, and
market benchmarks.
Identify opportunities to improve product efficiency, scalability, reliability, and
competitiveness.
Track developments within the payments and fintech markets.
Evaluate emerging payment technologies and determine their potential business
impact.
Support product launch and go-to-market activities.
Communicate product strategy, capabilities, value proposition, and roadmap
priorities to internal stakeholders.
Promote data-driven product decisions and continuous improvement.
Help ensure products operate within applicable regulatory, compliance, risk, and
security requirements.

Payments Expertise
Candidates should have strong knowledge of several of the following:
ACH | Fedwire | Real-Time Payments (RTP) | Card Networks | FedNow | APIs | Payment
File Formats | Banking Cores
Knowledge of emerging areas such as ISO 20022, open banking, embedded finance, and
modern payment APIs is particularly valuable.

Required Experience

5+ years leading or managing fintech, banking, or payments-related products.
At least 3+ years of direct product-management experience.
Strong understanding of domestic payment systems and payment infrastructure.
Experience managing products through multiple stages of the product lifecycle.
Experience creating and managing product roadmaps.
Experience translating customer and business needs into product requirements.
Strong understanding of API-based integrations and modern financial technology
ecosystems.
Experience collaborating closely with engineering and technical teams.
Experience working with risk, compliance, legal, and operations stakeholders.
Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making capabilities.
Experience establishing and monitoring product KPIs.
Strong communication, stakeholder-management, and organizational skills.
Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives without direct authority over participating
teams.
Comfortable working with emerging technologies, including modern AI-enabled
business tools.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Technology, Engineering, or a related
discipline.
MBA or other advanced degree is beneficial but not required.
Experience working for a bank, fintech, payments company, payment processor,
Banking-as-a-Service provider, or financial technology organization.
Experience managing third-party fintech or technology relationships.
Knowledge of payment regulations and compliance requirements.
Experience launching new payment capabilities or financial products.

Ideal Candidate




This is not a general software Product Manager position.
We're specifically interested in candidates who understand how money actually moves
through the U.S. financial system.
The strongest candidate should be able to discuss product strategy with executives, work
with engineers on API integrations, understand the implications of ACH versus real-time
payment rails, collaborate with compliance and risk teams, evaluate a fintech partner, and
turn all of that into a practical product roadmap.

The successful candidate will combine:

Product Management + Payments Knowledge + Fintech + Technology + Business
Strategy
The position has no direct employee supervisory responsibilities, so the ability to lead
through influence is important. The Product Manager may, however, manage relationships
with external technology providers and fintech partners.