Sr Product Owner

We are seeking a highly analytical and technically adept Senior Product Owner to join the Core Payments team. This role serves as the bridge between regulatory complexity and technical execution, owning the lifecycle for identifying, sourcing, and implementing critical card brand mandates from Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express, as well as NACHA regulations and gateway/processor compliance updates.

The role ensures core payment processing platforms remain compliant, secure, and optimized by defining the data elements and payment payload requirements needed to support optimal interchange rates, authorization success, and reliable settlement.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Compliance, Regulation & Mandate Tracking

• Proactively monitor, analyze, and track semi-annual brand mandates and regulatory changes from Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and NACHA.
• Translate complex regulatory and card brand requirements into clear operational impacts and technical requirements across cross-functional teams.
• Track processor certifications and recertifications and maintain the source of truth for processor-supported payment features, technical functionality, and U.S. dollar processing capabilities.

Technical Product Ownership & Execution

• Facilitate technical discovery meetings with stakeholders, internal product teams, processors, and card schemes to gather detailed technical requirements.
• Convert requirements into clear user stories, visual flows, and acceptance criteria for engineering teams.
• Own, prioritize, and manage the technical backlog in Azure DevOps (ADO), tracking compliance and gateway enhancement work through the full SDLC.
• Define and implement payment payload data element requirements so transactions can qualify for optimal interchange rates, support higher authorization rates, and settle cleanly.
• Remove technical roadblocks by sourcing missing data specifications, resolving documentation ambiguities, and clarifying compliance logic.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Enablement

• Partner with security and architecture teams to build scalable, secure payment processing capabilities that maintain strict PCI compliance and reduce downstream development time.
• Assess compliance change impacts on client onboarding and train onboarding and operational teams so new clients can be configured and supported effectively from day one.
• Author and publish internal and external technical bulletins covering mandate changes, compliance deadlines, and new gateway capabilities for sales, client services, and solutions consultants.

Qualifications (Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Technical Business Analyst, or Product Manager in the payments industry, with emphasis on payment gateways, merchant acquiring, or processor integrations.
• Deep understanding of credit card processing lifecycles, including authorization, clearing, and settlement; ISO 8583/JSON payment messaging; PCI-DSS compliance; and NACHA operating rules.
• Proven understanding of how data fields such as Level II/III data, network tokens, and merchant category codes impact interchange optimization and authorization outcomes.
• Proficiency in Azure DevOps (ADO) or Jira for backlog grooming, epic/story tracking, and workflow management.
• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex card brand, legal, or regulatory documentation into crisp, actionable technical specifications for developers.

Competencies

• Analytical, detail-oriented product owner with strong technical fluency across payment gateways, processors, and compliance-driven delivery.
• Strong execution discipline with the ability to manage ambiguity, remove blockers, and drive roadmap items through delivery.
• Data-driven mindset focused on compliance, authorization performance, interchange optimization, and settlement reliability.
• Clear communicator able to translate dense regulatory content into practical guidance for engineering, operations, onboarding, sales, and client-facing teams.
• Collaborative partner who can influence without direct authority across product, engineering, security, architecture, compliance, operations, and third-party processors.

Preferred Qualifications (Education, Experience, Competencies)

• Experience supporting card brand mandates, NACHA rule changes, gateway/processor certifications, or acquiring-side payment integrations.
• Familiarity with interchange optimization levers such as Level II/III data, network tokens, merchant category codes, and required transaction data elements.
• Experience authoring technical enablement materials, client-impact bulletins, or operational readiness documentation for regulated payment capabilities.
• Experience working with major global banks, processors, card schemes, or enterprise billers.

Work Environment

• Remote work environment (US).
• Majority of time spent on PC.
• Travel as needed for customer, processor, card scheme, and stakeholder engagement.

Core Capabilities:

We seek colleagues who embody our core capabilities - these shape our culture and enable us to make a meaningful impact together:

• Ensure Accountability: holding self and others accountable to meet commitments.

• Drives Results: consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.

• Customer Focus: building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.

• Cultivate Innovation: creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful.

• Collaborates: building partnerships and working collaboratively with others.

• Courage: stepping up to address difficult issues, saying what needs to be said.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis. This position does not offer sponsorship for employment visa status or work permit now or in the future.

In return for your expertise, we offer opportunities for growth, career development, and a competitive compensation and benefits package-all within an innovative and collaborative work environment.

Are you ready to help us transform the payments ecosystem? To learn more about ACI Worldwide, visit our web site at www.aciworldwide.com or careers.aciworldwide.com, requisition #19720

ACI Worldwide is an AA/EEO employer in the United States, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities, and an EEO employer globally.

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The ACI Worldwide recruitment team will always follow official channels and will never request payment .