Delivery Lead-Payments

Delivery Lead - Payments

Local candidates only ( Charlotte , NC or Jersey City , NJ ) 

Experience Required: 12-18 Years

Extensive experience in Payments, Banking, Financial Services, or FinTech organizations with a strong track record of leading large-scale delivery programs, driving operational excellence, transformation initiatives, and stakeholder management across global payment ecosystems.

3. About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Excellence Delivery Lead - Payments to drive delivery excellence, governance, operational efficiency, and strategic transformation across payment programs and platforms. This role will be responsible for ensuring successful delivery of payment initiatives, establishing best practices, improving delivery performance, and enabling high-quality outcomes for clients and business stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in payments, program delivery, process optimization, and leadership of cross-functional teams in complex, large-scale environments.

4. In This Role, You Will
Lead end-to-end delivery of payment transformation programs and strategic initiatives.
Establish and drive delivery governance frameworks, operating models, and best practices.
Manage multiple payment programs, ensuring delivery quality, timelines, budget adherence, and risk management.
Collaborate with business, product, technology, operations, and client stakeholders to align delivery objectives.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance operational efficiency, productivity, and customer outcomes.
Monitor key delivery metrics, KPIs, SLAs, and performance indicators across payment portfolios.
Lead program planning, status reporting, executive communication, and governance forums.
Identify and mitigate delivery risks, issues, dependencies, and escalation points.
Support modernization initiatives involving real-time payments, digital payments, card platforms, and payment processing systems.
Build and mentor high-performing teams while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and excellence.
Ensure adherence to regulatory, compliance, security, and audit requirements applicable to payment systems.
Drive stakeholder engagement and executive-level communication across global teams.

5. Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Information Technology, Computer Science, or related discipline.
12+ years of experience in Payments, Banking, Financial Services, or FinTech.
Proven experience leading large-scale delivery programs and managing cross-functional teams.
Strong understanding of payment processing, payment operations, and payment ecosystems.
Experience managing complex transformation and modernization initiatives.
Deep knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery methodologies.
Strong program governance, risk management, and stakeholder management experience.
Demonstrated ability to drive operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives.
Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.
Experience with delivery management tools such as JIRA, Confluence, Azure DevOps, MS Project, or equivalent.

6. Desired Qualifications
Strong understanding of global payment rails including UPI, RTP, ACH, SEPA, SWIFT, FedNow, and Faster Payments.
Experience in payment modernization and cloud transformation programs.
Knowledge of ISO 20022 standards and payment messaging frameworks.
Familiarity with card payment ecosystems, merchant acquiring, issuing, and payment gateways.
Exposure to regulatory requirements including PCI-DSS, AML, KYC, and data privacy regulations.
PMP, PgMP, Agile, SAFe, Lean Six Sigma, Scrum Master, or equivalent certifications.
Experience managing global clients and distributed delivery teams.
Exposure to operational excellence frameworks, process re-engineering, and automation initiatives.

7. Job Expectations
Act as the delivery owner for strategic payment engagements and programs.
Ensure flawless execution and governance across the delivery lifecycle.
Drive measurable improvements in delivery quality, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and business outcomes.
Build strong relationships with clients, senior leadership, and key stakeholders.
Promote innovation, automation, and continuous improvement across payment operations.
Maintain high standards of compliance, risk management, and operational controls.
Proactively identify opportunities for optimization and business value creation.
Mentor and develop delivery teams to strengthen organizational capabilities.
Support business growth through delivery excellence and trusted client partnerships.
Demonstrate accountability, ownership, and strategic leadership in a dynamic environment.

Primary Skillset
Payments Domain Expertise
Delivery Management
Program & Portfolio Management
Delivery Governance
Operational Excellence
Payment Transformation
Real-Time Payments (RTP, UPI, FedNow, Faster Payments)
ACH, SEPA & SWIFT Payments
ISO 20022
Digital Payments & Payment Gateways
Card Payments (Issuing & Acquiring)
Agile, Scrum & SAFe
Risk & Compliance Management
Stakeholder Management
Executive Communication
Metrics, KPI & SLA Management
Process Optimization & Continuous Improvement
Team Leadership & People Management
Financial Services & Banking Operations
JIRA, Confluence, Azure DevOps, MS Project