Introduction Since 1973, East West Bank has served as a pathway to success. With over 110 locations across the U.S. and Asia, we are the premier financial bridge between the East and West. Our teams of experienced, multi-cultural professionals help guide businesses and community members on both sides of the Pacific looking to explore new markets and create new opportunities, and our sustained growth and expertise in industries like real estate, entertainment and media, private equity and venture capital, and high-tech help build sustainable businesses and expand our associates' potential for career advancement.
Headquartered in California, East West Bank (Nasdaq: EWBC) is a top-performing commercial bank with a strong foundation, an enterprising spirit and a commitment to absolute integrity. East West Bank gives people the confidence to reach further.
Overview East West Bank is seeking a highly experienced Payment Technology Strategy & Execution to lead the bank's next-generation payments modernization and international payments strategy.
This executive leadership role is designed for a hands-on payments transformation leader with deep expertise in cross-border banking, payment infrastructure, operational execution, and emerging payment technologies. The ideal candidate combines strategic vision with practical implementation experience across modern payment ecosystems, including SWIFT, ISO 20022, real-time payments, APIs, stablecoin-enabled settlement, and digital payment innovation.
The role will partner across product, operations, treasury, technology, compliance, legal, risk, and vendor ecosystems to modernize payment capabilities, improve operational resiliency, enhance client experience, and position the bank for future payment innovation.
Responsibilities - Define and execute the enterprise payment technology strategy and multi-year modernization roadmap with emphasis on international and cross-border payment capabilities.
- Lead large-scale payment transformation initiatives spanning SWIFT, ISO 20022 migration, correspondent banking, payment orchestration, faster payments interoperability, and operational modernization.
- Drive end-to-end execution across payment product integration, payment operations, client servicing, workflow redesign, vendor implementation, and enterprise rollout.
- Partner with product, treasury, operations, risk, compliance, legal, and technology teams to ensure payment innovation is scalable, compliant, secure, and operationally sound.
- Evaluate and operationalize emerging payment technologies including stablecoin settlement, tokenized payments, blockchain-enabled infrastructure, and modern digital asset payment models.
- Lead architecture and integration strategies across payment rails, APIs, treasury systems, compliance systems, fraud controls, and enterprise platforms.
- Drive vendor strategy, implementation, and optimization across major payment and banking technology providers including FIS, Fiserv, SWIFT ecosystem vendors, and fintech partners.
- Establish measurable KPIs tied to payment resiliency, operational efficiency, client experience, adoption, risk reduction, and business growth.
- Ensure strong governance, controls, and regulatory alignment across payment processing, sanctions screening, AML/BSA, fraud prevention, cybersecurity, and third-party risk management.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on global payment trends, fintech innovation, regulatory developments, and competitive positioning.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications - 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in payments, transaction banking, treasury technology, fintech, or financial services technology within regulated environments.
- Deep hands-on expertise in cross-border payments, SWIFT infrastructure, correspondent banking operations, international payment workflows, and payment modernization initiatives.
- Strong practical experience leading enterprise payment technology implementations and integrations, not solely strategy or consulting roles.
- Demonstrated experience with major payment and banking technology vendors including FIS, Fiserv, SWIFT ecosystem providers, or equivalent enterprise payment platforms.
- Strong understanding of payment architecture, APIs, payment orchestration, operational workflows, real-time processing, and modern integration patterns.
- Hands-on experience implementing ISO 20022, payment messaging transformation, sanctions screening integration, payment tracking, and operational resiliency initiatives.
- Strong knowledge of payment operations, reconciliation, exception handling, fraud controls, AML/BSA, compliance, and regulatory expectations within financial services.
- Experience evaluating and operationalizing emerging payment technologies including stablecoin-enabled settlement, tokenized payments, blockchain-based infrastructure, or digital asset ecosystems.
- Strong execution discipline with experience leading large-scale cross-functional transformation programs from strategy through production delivery and operational adoption.
- Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive alignment across business, operations, risk, compliance, legal, treasury, and technology organizations.
- Excellent executive communication, vendor management, and stakeholder engagement skills.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.
Highly Preferred - Direct experience modernizing international payment platforms within commercial banking or global transaction banking environments.
- Experience implementing stablecoin, blockchain-enabled settlement, tokenized money movement, or digital asset payment use cases in regulated financial institutions.
- Strong knowledge of treasury management, FX workflows, liquidity management, and international commercial banking payment needs.
- Experience leading enterprise payment interoperability initiatives across SWIFT, RTP, FedNow, ACH, wire, and emerging payment rails.
- Strong understanding of payment risk frameworks, regulatory expectations, and operational resiliency standards.
- Experience partnering with fintechs, payment networks, infrastructure providers, and strategic technology vendors.
- MBA or advanced degree in business, finance, engineering, or related discipline.
- Demonstrated ability to balance innovation, operational execution, and regulatory risk management at enterprise scale.
Applicants must have legal authorization to work in the United States. We do not offer visa sponsorship at this time.
Compensation The base pay range for this position is USD $150,000.00/Yr. - USD $275,000.00/Yr. Exact offers will be determined based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location.
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