Payments Program Manager

Title: Payments Program Manager

Location: Pennington, NJ & Charlotte, NC

If you think you are the right match for the following opportunity, apply after reading the complete description.

Job Summary

• We are seeking a Senior Program Manager with strong Banking and Payments domain expertise and experience delivering Blockchain/DLT-based technology initiatives.
• 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.
• The role requires strong leadership across Business, Product, Architecture, Engineering, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, Operations, QA, and vendor teams.
• The Program Manager will own overall program governance, roadmap execution, dependencies, financials, risks, delivery milestones, executive reporting, and stakeholder alignment.

Blockchain / DLT Program Management

• Lead enterprise Blockchain from discovery and proof-of-concept through architecture, implementation, integration, testing, and production adoption.
• Coordinate blockchain platform teams with payment systems, APIs, data platforms, identity/security services, and existing banking applications.
• Manage use cases involving areas such as tokenized payments/assets, distributed settlement, digital assets, smart contracts, and blockchain-enabled transaction processing.
• Drive architectural and business decisions around on-chain vs. off-chain processing, interoperability, scalability, security, privacy, resiliency, and integration with legacy banking systems.
• Ensure appropriate governance around smart-contract lifecycle, access controls, transaction validation, operational readiness, and production support.
• 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.

Program Leadership & Governance

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

Banking & Payments

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

Required Qualifications

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

Preferred Qualifications

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