Banking & Payments Implementation Manager

About Us:
Piermont Bank is a boutique specialty commercial bank focused on serving modern businesses with a digital first approach. As the first cloud native bank launched in the United States, Piermont was built on modern infrastructure that allows us to operate with greater flexibility, efficiency, and scalability than traditional banks.

We combine disciplined commercial banking with innovative technology to deliver value added solutions for small and medium sized businesses and our fintech partners. Our team is dedicated to thoughtful risk management, strong client relationships, and building a bank designed for the future of financial services.

The Role:
Reporting to the Bank’s Chief Growth Officer, this role will serve as the “quarterback” for the implementation of new banking and payments products. The ideal candidate is an experienced implementation and project leader with hands-on experience bringing banking or payments products from concept through production, preferably within a bank, payments company, fintech, processor, or similar environment. This person understands how payment products actually work and has the ability to translate a business objective into a practical implementation plan.

This is a highly cross-functional role. The successful candidate will know who needs to be involved, what questions need to be answered, when decisions need to be made, and how the various workstreams need to come together to deliver a successful launch. Projects may include implementation of new payment capabilities, enhancements to existing products, processor or network integrations, new banking products, API-based Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) capabilities, and other strategic initiatives supporting the growth of Piermont’s banking and payments businesses.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the central project quarterback and implementation lead for new banking and payments products and strategic initiatives.
• Translate business objectives and product concepts into clear implementation plans, workstreams, requirements, deliverables, timelines, and ownership.
• Lead initiatives from initial scoping and discovery through requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, launch, and post-implementation review.
• Establish the appropriate project team and coordinate cross-functional stakeholders across Business/Product, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Finance, Relationship Management, and other relevant functions.
• Work closely with the business and product owners to understand the intended product, customer experience, commercial objectives, operational requirements, and success criteria.
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans covering milestones, dependencies, deliverables, critical path activities, risks, decisions, and stakeholder responsibilities.
• Drive accountability across workstreams and follow up on open items to keep initiatives moving forward and prevent delays.
• Identify gaps, dependencies, and potential implementation issues early; develop mitigation plans and escalate issues when necessary.
• Lead projects involving payment products and infrastructure such as RTP, FedNow,  APIs, stablecoin rail, and other banking and payment capabilities.
• Coordinate requirements across business, operational, technical, risk, compliance, and legal stakeholders to ensure that the final implementation meets the intended product objectives.
• Facilitate project meetings, maintain action items and decision logs, and ensure stakeholders have clear visibility into status, priorities, risks, and next steps.
• Establish project reporting and provide regular updates to senior management, including progress against milestones, key decisions, risks, dependencies, and areas requiring escalation.
• Coordinate testing, implementation readiness, launch activities, and post-launch stabilization to ensure products are operationally ready and successfully implemented.
• Develop a strong understanding of Piermont’s payments infrastructure, core systems, operational processes, third-party relationships, and product capabilities in order to effectively lead implementations.
• Identify opportunities to improve the bank’s product implementation process, including opportunities to improve speed, accountability, scalability, controls, and cross-functional coordination.
• Stay current on developments in payments, banking technology, payment rails, and industry practices and apply that knowledge to Piermont’s product implementation efforts.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience implementing banking, payments, fintech, or financial services products, with meaningful experience taking products or capabilities from concept through implementation and launch.
• Strong project management skills, including experience managing timelines, dependencies, risks, issues, multiple workstreams, and external partners.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional implementations, preferably within a bank, payments company, fintech, processor, or similar organization.
• Strong understanding of payment products and infrastructure, with hands-on implementation experience in one or more areas such as ACH, wires, debit cards, RTP, FedNow, merchant acquiring, payment processing, APIs, or BaaS.
• Experience implementing or integrating products involving payment processors, networks, core banking systems, APIs, third-party technology providers, or fintech partners.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple functions and stakeholders without having direct authority over them.
• Strong understanding of the respective roles of Business/Product, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and other functions in bringing a banking or payments product to market.
• Strong ability to drive accountability and decision-making across cross-functional teams and keep projects moving when there are competing priorities or unresolved issues.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with business leaders, technical teams, operational teams, subject-matter experts, vendors, and executive management.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify what needs to be addressed, determine who needs to be involved, and drive issues to resolution.
• Highly organized, proactive, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating in an environment where products, priorities, and requirements may evolve.
• Ability to understand both the business objective and the practical realities of implementing a banking or payments product.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.

The hiring range for this position is $120,000 to $170,000 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other factors. A bonus and/or incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, dental, vision, 401k, and other benefits.

Piermont Bank is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, political affiliation, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics.