Technical Operations Manager - Payments

Technical Operations Manager - Payments

Experience: 10+ Years
Domain: Banking & Payments
Employment Type: Contract

Location: Pittsburg/Phoenix/Denver Onsite (Hybrid)

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Technical Operations Manager with strong expertise in the Payments domain, Managed Services, and Production Support. The ideal candidate will be responsible for leading the operational support, service delivery, release governance, incident management, and stakeholder coordination for large-scale payment platforms and third-party payment applications.

The candidate should have experience managing mission-critical payment ecosystems with a focus on service availability, operational excellence, release management, and customer satisfaction. Exposure to Java/J2EE, Linux, Oracle, MongoDB, and enterprise payment technologies is highly desirable.

What You'll Do

Production Support & Operations Management

• Lead production support activities for mission-critical payment applications.
• Ensure high availability, stability, and performance of payment platforms.
• Drive Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes.
• Own major incident resolution and conduct post-incident root cause analysis.
• Monitor production environments and ensure adherence to SLAs, OLAs, and KPIs.
• Manage escalation handling and service restoration activities.

Managed Services Delivery

• Own end-to-end managed services engagement for payment applications.
• Establish operational governance and service review mechanisms.
• Drive continuous service improvement initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with operational processes and regulatory requirements.
• Manage vendor and third-party service providers supporting payment ecosystems.

Release & Change Management

• Plan and govern application releases across environments.
• Coordinate with Development, QA, Infrastructure, and Business teams for successful deployments.
• Conduct release readiness reviews and risk assessments.
• Ensure zero/low-impact deployments through effective change control processes.
• Drive production validation and post-release support activities.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary technical and operational contact for customers and business stakeholders.
• Present service health, operational metrics, incidents, and improvement plans to leadership.
• Collaborate with business, technology, and external vendors to resolve critical issues.
• Manage customer escalations effectively with clear communication and ownership.

Payment Platform Support

• Support large-scale payment applications and transaction processing systems.
• Ensure smooth processing of payment transactions and operational workflows.
• Coordinate with dependent systems, external partners, and banking ecosystems.
• Drive operational readiness for new payment initiatives and platform enhancements.

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor support engineers and operations teams.
• Define support processes, playbooks, and knowledge management practices.
• Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, and operational excellence.

Expertise You Bring

Required Experience

• Experience with 24x7 support and high-availability systems.
• 10+ years of IT experience with strong exposure to Production Support and Managed Services.
• Minimum 5+ years managing large-scale payment applications or payment processing platforms.
• Experience leading technical operations teams in enterprise environments.
• Strong experience in Incident, Problem, Change, and Release Management.
• Experience supporting third-party payment applications and vendor-managed platforms.

Domain Expertise

• Payments & Banking Domain.
• Payment Processing Systems.
• Transaction Lifecycle Management.
• Settlement & Reconciliation Concepts.
• Payment Gateway Operations.
• Real-Time Payment Platforms.

Technical Skills

Must Have:

• Linux/Unix Administration Knowledge
• Oracle Database
• DBMS Concepts
• Application Performance Monitoring
• Production Support Tools
• ITIL Processes

Good to Have:

• Java/J2EE
• Spring Framework
• MongoDB
• REST APIs
• Microservices Architecture
• Middleware Technologies
• Messaging Systems (Kafka, MQ)

Leadership & Functional Skills

• Strong Stakeholder Management
• Executive Communication Skills
• Customer Relationship Management
• Vendor Management
• Team Leadership & Mentoring
• Risk & Issue Management
• Service Delivery Governance
• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills

Success Metrics

• SLA Adherence
• System Availability & Uptime
• Incident Resolution Effectiveness
• Release Success Rate
• Customer Satisfaction
• Operational Efficiency Improvements
• Reduction in Production Defects & Repeat Incidents

Preferred Profile

• Experience working with large BFSI organizations.
• Exposure to enterprise payment systems and transaction-intensive applications.
• Experience managing third-party vendor-supported payment platforms.
• ITIL Foundation or Service Management certification preferred.
• Target for candidates coming from application experience such as (one or more), Fiserv, FIS, ACI Worldwide, TSYS, Worldline, First Data, Mastercard, Visa, Temenos, Finastra, Banking Captives, or Payment Product Organizations.