Principal Consultant — Card Issuing & Payments Technology

Principal Consultant — Card Issuing & Payments Technology

Product & Delivery — Payments / Card Issuing

Role

We are looking for a senior payments and fintech product leader to build and scale our next generation of stablecoin-linked card issuance, payment acceptance, blockchain-enabled merchant solutions, and AI/blockchain-powered financial services.

The CPO will own the product strategy, roadmap, commercial model and product P&L across the company's payments and financial-services platforms. The role requires deep understanding of the card and payments ecosystem, combined with the ability to translate complex blockchain, stablecoin and AI capabilities into scalable, commercially viable products for merchants, fintechs and BFSI customers.

The ideal candidate brings significant experience across card issuing, issuer processing, payment acceptance and card-network ecosystems , together with the ability to operate at the intersection of product strategy, commercial management, technology architecture and ecosystem partnerships.

A strong technical architecture background is highly desirable—not necessarily as the hands-on architect, but as someone capable of challenging, guiding and governing the architecture and engineering teams responsible for the end-to-end platform.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product Strategy & Vision

Define and own the product strategy and multi-year roadmap for

o Stablecoin-linked card issuance

o Stablecoin-enabled payment acceptance

o Merchant and blockchain-enabled value-added services

o Blockchain and AI-powered solutions for BFSI customers

Identify new product opportunities across cards, payments, stablecoins, digital assets, AI and financial infrastructure.

Translate market, customer, regulatory, scheme and technology developments into differentiated product propositions.

Establish product priorities across multiple customer segments, geographies and use cases.

Define product KPIs, adoption metrics, unit economics and commercialization milestones.

2. End-to-End Product & Platform Architecture

Define and govern the end-to-end solution architecture for card issuance, processing and payment acceptance platforms, in collaboration with engineering and technology leadership.

Ensure appropriate integration across:

o Card management and issuing platforms

o Issuer processors

o Acquirers and payment gateways

o Card schemes

o BIN sponsors / issuing banks

o Stablecoin wallets and custody infrastructure

o Blockchain networks

o KYC/KYB, AML and transaction-monitoring systems

o Fraud and risk platforms

o Reconciliation and settlement systems

Ensure the architecture can support multiple products, markets, currencies, payment rails and business models.

Provide product-level technical leadership and challenge architectural decisions where they affect scalability, economics, security, regulatory compliance or customer experience.

3. Payments & Card Product Leadership

Own the evolution of card and payment products across the full lifecycle, from onboarding and authorization through clearing, settlement, reconciliation, disputes and chargebacks.

Define requirements for card configuration, transaction controls, spend limits, fees, billing, multi-currency capabilities, wallets, customer segmentation and program management.

Guide integration with Visa, Mastercard and other relevant payment networks and ecosystem participants.

Establish product requirements for authorization, tokenization, 3DS, fraud controls, dispute management and payment orchestration.

Ensure products are designed for operational scalability, reliability and regulatory/ scheme compliance.

4. P&L, Pricing & Commercialization

Own the P&L and unit economics for the relevant cards and payments businesses.

Define pricing, fee structures, revenue-sharing models, interchange economics and other revenue streams.

Develop business cases for new products, markets, partners and customer segments.

Manage the economic relationship between customers, merchants, schemes, processors, issuing banks, BIN sponsors and technology vendors.

Partner closely with Sales and Business Development to convert product capabilities into commercially viable solutions.

Lead strategic commercial negotiations where product economics, pricing, architecture or long-term partnerships are involved.

5. Ecosystem & Strategic Partnerships

Build and manage strategic relationships with:

o Card schemes

o BIN sponsors and issuing banks

o Processors

o Acquirers and payment service providers

o Stablecoin issuers

o Custodians and digital-asset infrastructure providers

o Blockchain infrastructure providers

o Technology vendors

o Strategic merchants and fintech customers

Evaluate and structure ecosystem partnerships required to launch and scale products across markets.

Establish partner selection criteria covering economics, capabilities, regulatory position, technical integration, scalability and risk.

6. Product Organization & Execution

Build and lead a high-performing product organization spanning payments, cards, blockchain/digital assets, AI and BFSI solutions.

Establish product management processes, prioritization frameworks, product governance and release discipline.

Work closely with Engineering, Architecture, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Finance, Sales and Business Development.

Ensure clear ownership from product strategy through requirements, development, launch, commercialization and lifecycle management.

Establish a strong culture of data-driven decision-making and customer-centric product development.

7. Innovation Across BFSI & Merchant Ecosystems

Provide product leadership across blockchain and AI-enabled solutions for banks, financial institutions, fintechs and merchants.

Identify opportunities where blockchain, stablecoins and AI can create measurable improvements in payments, settlement, treasury, reconciliation, fraud/risk management, customer engagement or financial operations.

Build commercially viable products rather than technology-led proofs of concept.

Evaluate emerging technologies and determine where they provide a defensible customer or economic advantage.

Required Experience & Domain Expertise

15+ years of experience in payments, fintech, banking technology or financial infrastructure , with substantial experience in card issuing, issuer processing, acquiring or payment networks.

Experience at a card management software provider, processor, issuing bank, network, fintech or payments infrastructure company strongly preferred.

Demonstrated experience owning or materially contributing to a product P&L , including pricing, unit economics, commercial negotiations and revenue growth.

Deep understanding of the end-to-end card ecosystem, including:

o Cardholder o Merchant o Acquirer o Gateway/PSP

o Processor

o Network/scheme

o Issuer o Issuer-processor

o BIN sponsor

Strong understanding of how authorization, clearing, settlement, reconciliation, fees, interchange and chargebacks work across the ecosystem.

Hands-on product knowledge of card configuration and management, including onboarding, card lifecycle management, fee/billing engines, transaction controls, spend limits, wallets, multi-currency capabilities and customer segmentation.

Practical knowledge of payments security and scheme requirements, including PCI DSS, EMV, 3DS/3DS2, tokenization and dispute/chargeback processes.

Strong understanding of BIN sponsorship and issuing models, including the roles and responsibilities of network members, BIN sponsors and program managers.

Ability to understand and challenge technical architecture across payment processing and card platforms without necessarily being the primary hands-onarchitect.

Demonstrated ability to work across Product, Engineering, Sales, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Finance and external ecosystem partners.

Preferred

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