Program Manager - Payment Solutions & Terminal Engineering (APAC Mobility)

Role Summary

Reporting to the Head of Program Management – APAC Mobility, the Program Manager (PM) is responsible for leading the end-to-end technical delivery of strategic terminal, transaction processing, and merchant solution initiatives across the APAC Mobility portfolio.

This role bridges the gap between high-level program governance and deep systems engineering. Operating through a strong technical lens, the TPM does not just track project schedules—they actively understand transaction message flows, analyze terminal system behaviors, interrogate root causes, and evaluate technical architecture. You will own initiatives from inception to post-launch operational stability, managing cross-functional delivery across Engineering, Operations, Product, Risk, and Third-Party Vendors.

Key Immediate Programs & Technical Objectives

(High-priority initiatives owned end-to-end by this role)

• Terminal Fleet Security & Vulnerability Remediation: Own the end-to-end program to investigate, diagnose, and permanently resolve terminal vulnerabilities across the fleet (including PIN enforcement logic), conducting root-cause forensics to eliminate future fraud risk.

• Merchant Settlement & Reconciliation Remediation: Lead the cross-functional resolution of complex merchant reimbursement issues ($100k+ scope), performing technical and operational trace-backs into transaction routing and settlement logic to ensure financial recovery and long-term prevention.

• Core Switch & Architecture Advisory: Manage delivery alignment and provide technical architecture input into key inflight modernization projects, including the Postilion replacement and the Open Loop transaction framework.

Key Responsibilities

1. End-to-End Program Ownership & Governance

• Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of complex technical payment  initiatives from initial scoping and root-cause identification through to technical solutioning, testing, deployment, and operational handover.

• Develop and maintain integrated program plans, defining clear technical milestones, resource requirements, critical paths, and budget execution.

• Establish robust project governance, risk/vulnerability registers, dependency tracking, and executive steering reports.

• Manage third-party technology vendors (e.g., terminal hardware/software providers) against strict SLA, delivery, and security standards.

2. Technical Triage, Diagnostics & Quality Assurance

• Approach program challenges through a hands-on technical lens—reviewing system logs, terminal configurations, firmware behaviors, and switch-to-host interaction flows alongside engineering teams.

• Perform root-cause analysis on high-severity operational incidents, ensuring technical fixes resolve the core defect rather than just addressing symptoms.

• Partner with Engineering, Finance, Risk, and Operations to audit end-to-end transaction pathways, identifying where technical logic failures lead to financial or merchant discrepancies.

• Review system specs and architecture blueprints (e.g., Postilion switch architecture) to ensure non-functional requirements—such as security, PIN compliance, and transaction integrity—are embedded into delivery plans.

3. Stakeholder Leadership & Cross-Functional Alignment

• Translate complex technical root causes, system vulnerabilities, and architecture choices into clear, structured executive communications and commercial business cases.

• Drive cross-functional alignment across Sales, Product, Legal, Engineering, Operations, and Customer Service to ensure technical solutions fit operational workflows.

• Act as the central point of accountability for technical incident escalations, solution sign-offs, and project go/no-go decisions.

4. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Institutionalize technical lessons learned from fleet remediations into standard deployment models, terminal configuration policies, and program management governance.

• Enhance APAC payment delivery frameworks to ensure future hardware or software rollouts maintain rigorous security and validation protocols.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Lens & Domain Expertise

• Deep Payments & Terminal Knowledge: Proven experience in payment switching, transaction processing, ISO 8583 messaging standards, EMV compliance, and terminal fleet software/hardware management.

• Technical Diagnostics & Forensic Skills: Ability to analyze transaction flows, pinpoint software/firmware failure points, and evaluate technical solution designs independently.

• Switch & Open Loop Familiarity: Conceptual or practical understanding of core payment switches (e.g., Postilion) and modern Open Loop payment frameworks.

Program Management Discipline

• End-to-End Delivery Track Record: Demonstrated success as a Technical Program Manager or Senior Project Manager or similar role delivering complex technical, financial, or engineering initiatives.

• Structured Methodology: Strong expertise across Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery frameworks, including scope control, dependency mapping, risk management, and budget oversight.

• Vendor & Executive Leadership: Proven capacity to hold third-party engineering vendors accountable while delivering confident, transparent updates to senior executives.

Desirable Qualifications

• Project Management certification (PMP, PRINCE2, SAFe, AgilePM) combined with a Computer Science, Engineering, or technical background.

• Prior experience with WEX or similar enterprise fleet/fuel payment networks.