Payment Program Manager

Position: Payment Program Manager

Location: Pennington, NJ / Charlotte, NC

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.

 Key Responsibilities

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.
• Understanding of Java/Spring Boot, REST APIs, microservices, databases, CI/CD and enterprise integration patterns.