Lead Product Owner – Payments & FinTech

SteerBridge is seeking an experienced Payments Platform Product Owner to own the strategy, growth, and stakeholder relationships behind our payments platform, SteerFi. This is not a hands-on engineering role — the ideal candidate is a driver and connector who gets the right people and partners moving in the same direction, not someone who writes code. This individual will serve as SteerBridge's primary relationship owner with key clients and business partners, including Galileo, Mastercard, the VA, and our banking partner, and will be the person others rely on to translate those relationships into concrete progress. They understand how modern payment platforms operate — from card issuing, acquiring, digital wallets, ACH, RTP, FedNow, and embedded finance to fraud, compliance, settlement, reconciliation, and customer experience — well enough to guide strategy, safeguard regulatory compliance, and pioneer new directions for platform growth. They work comfortably with executives to define strategy and with engineering and operations teams to make sure priorities actually get delivered, owning the product roadmap and outcomes without owning the code itself.

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Own the product roadmap for one or more payment products and help guide the teams on implementations.
• Define product vision aligned with company strategy.
• Prioritize features based on customer value, revenue opportunity, regulatory requirements, and technical feasibility.
• Develop business cases for new payment capabilities and a roadmap for future business models.
• Analyze industry trends and competitive offerings and create a payments platform strategy for growth.
• Identify opportunities for innovation and automation.

Strategic Partnerships & Relationship Management

• Serve as SteerBridge's primary relationship owner with key clients and business partners, including Galileo, Mastercard, the VA, and our banking partner.
• Build and maintain trusted, senior-level relationships that keep partners engaged and aligned with SteerBridge's platform direction.
• Own and safeguard SteerBridge's compliance posture across the payments platform, ensuring partners, processes, and products meet applicable regulatory requirements.
• Pioneer new strategies and partnerships that grow the payments platform, identifying opportunities before they become obvious.
• Act as the connective tissue across teams and partners — someone who mobilizes the right people to get things done rather than doing the technical build personally.

Payment Product Ownership

• Serve as the subject matter expert for payment capabilities including credit card, debit card, and prepaid card programs.
• ACH, Real-Time Payments (RTP), FedNow, and wire transfers.
• Card processing, payment gateways, tokenization, digital wallets, and merchant services.
• Card issuing, BIN sponsorship, settlement and clearing, chargebacks, disputes, and refunds.
• Reconciliation, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, and payment orchestration.

Requirements Definition

• Define or gather business requirements from stakeholders.
• Coordinate with engineering teams to translate business requirements into user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Develop process flows and business workflows.
• Document functional and non-functional requirements.
• Partner with technical teams to scope API and integration requirements.
• Maintain product backlog.
• Prioritize sprint work.

Implementation Leadership

• Lead vendor onboarding and payment processor integrations.
• Lead banking integrations and network certification.
• Oversee configuration management and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
• Lead pilot launches and production deployments.
• Provide hypercare support.

Payment Industry Expertise

• Maintain working knowledge of Card Network Rules (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover).
• NACHA Rules, PCI DSS, tokenization, and EMV.
• ISO 8583, ISO 20022, and Open Banking APIs.
• KYC, AML, and OFAC requirements.
• Fraud detection platforms, payment regulations, and FinTech trends.

Vendor Management

• Work directly with payment processors, issuing processors, and core banking providers.
• Work directly with card manufacturers, fraud vendors, and identity providers.
• Work directly with payment gateways, banking partners, BIN sponsors, and third-party APIs.
• Lead vendor evaluations, implementation planning, issue resolution, and ongoing optimization.

• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.
• Must be eligible and able to pass a federal background check.
• Local to the Vienna, VA / DMV metro area or willing to relocate; hybrid schedule with regular on-site presence required.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in payments, FinTech, or financial services.
• 5+ years of Product Owner or Product Manager experience or business capabilities focus.
• Experience implementing payment solutions in production environments.
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum ways of working.
• Experience partnering with engineering teams on user stories and acceptance criteria (not a hands-on development role).
• Experience working directly with engineering teams.
• Demonstrated track record managing senior-level relationships with payment networks, processors, or banking partners.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, or related field.

• Background supporting FinTech companies through high-growth stages, strategic partnerships, or successful exits — including experience with acquisitions, integration, and scaling operations in a post-acquisition environment.
• Experience with federal payments modernization, government disbursement systems, or VA/DoD financial technology programs.
• Familiarity with modular, API-driven payment ecosystem design including ACH, real-time payment networks, virtual card disbursements, prepaid card programs, and digital wallet integrations.
• Understanding of improper payment prevention frameworks, audit traceability requirements, and financial accountability standards for government payment programs.
• Existing network of relationships across payment networks, card brands, issuing banks, and enterprise financial technology partners.