Product Analyst (Payments)

Product Analyst (Payments)

Location: Charlotte, NC/West Des Moines, IA

Work Schedule: Onsite-Hybrid

Schedule: 3 days in office

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years as a Product Analyst/ Business Analyst in Agile software delivery (Scrum or SAFe).
• Proven user story writing and acceptance criteria definition; strong backlog refinement facilitation.
• Ability to translate ambiguoabstract concepts into concrete, testable requirements and excellent written and verbal communication.
• Experience with defect analysis, root cause thinking, and working with engineering/QA to drive resolution.
• Hands-on with Agile tooling (e.g., Jira or Azure Boards) and documentation (e.g., Confluence, process maps, data mapping).

We are re- scaling a portfolio of merchant-facing payment applications. Product Managers own the product vision; Product Owners lead delivery for a given application or capability; and Product Analysts are the POs trusted partner, turning abstract ideas into clear, testable work that teams can ship confidently. Your primary mission is story refinement and backlog health, so the team is consistently two sprints ahead with high-quality, well-defined work.

 What you''ll do

• Backlog & Story Excellence (Primary Focus)
• Partner closely with the Product Owner to build and maintain a high-quality backlog with at least two sprints of DoR-ready items.
• Refine epics/features into user stories with clear, testable acceptance criteria; balance functional and non-functional needs.
• Facilitate/participate in refinement sessions, uncover dependencies, and ensure scope, value, and risks are understood.
• Raise and flag unplanned work (sprint disruptions) and propose trade-offs to keep delivery on track.

Product Analysis & Current State Understanding

• Document app/platform current state, business processes, and data flows/mapping.
• Identify known gaps (tech or process), existing defects, and recommend pragmatic paths to resolution.
• Apply critical thinking to shape problem statements and solution design options for PO consideration.

Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration

• Engage product, technology, and business stakeholders; translate abstract concepts into concrete requirements.
• Collaborate with SMEs to validate use cases and acceptance criteria; drive alignment when responsibilities overlap (e.g., acceptance-criteria ownership among PO, PA, Tech Leads).
• Support control/audit requests by assembling clear, traceable evidence across requirements and delivery artifacts.

Quality, Testing & Production Readiness

• Document use cases/scenarios that inform design and business testing.
• Partner with UAT leads to shape the testing strategy/approach, share use cases, and engage end users; perform lightweight UAT when needed.
• Represent the scrum team in production triage; research issues/defects and act as the point of contact for defect intake and analysis.

Sprint Planning & Delivery Rhythm

• Assist with Sprint Planning by reviewing current sprint outcomes, identifying carryover, and prioritizing upcoming work.
• Proactively surface risks, assumptions, and dependencies; keep the PO informed and decisions well-documented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Financial Services background ideally in Payments / Merchant Services (merchant onboarding, payment processing flows, gateways/terminals, authorization/clearing/settlement, chargebacks, reconciliation, BAU servicing).
• Familiarity with controls, audit readiness, and data governance in a regulated environment (e.g., PCI-DSS awareness is a plus).
• Comfort navigating multiple stakeholders and resolving gray areas (e.g., who owns acceptance criteria) through influence and clarity.
• Exposure to basic data analysis (e.g., SQL or equivalent) to validate scenarios and support defect triage.
• Relevant certifications (nice to have): CSPO/PSPO, SAFe POPM, ICP-BA or similar.

Tools you’ll likely use

• Jira or Azure DevOps, Confluence, and diagramming tools (e.g., Visio, Miro/Mural).
• Productivity: Excel/Sheets for data mapping, Postman/logs for lightweight validation (as applicable).

Nice-to-have background

• Experience working in merchant acquiring or payment processors; exposure to merchant onboarding and BAU servicing.
• Prior experience at a large financial institution and comfort with regulated delivery and audit needs.