About the role
- Client: Global systems integrator, cards & payments practice (client named at shortlist)
- Programme: Cards transformation — platform migration, portfolio conversion and scheme mandate delivery
- Location: India — Bangalore or Pune (hybrid);
- Engagement: Contract to Hire , day rate. Initial 6 months contract to hire.
We are looking for a Cards Product Owner who has actually owned a change on a card estate — not run one. Somebody who has stood in front of a steering committee and defended a migration cutover plan, negotiated a scheme mandate deadline, or written the backlog that moved a portfolio from one processor to another.
RequirementsWhat you will own
- The product backlog for a card platform workstream— issuing, issuer processing, acquiring, authorisation, clearing and settlement, disputes, or the full card lifecycle depending on the workstream you take.
- Migration and conversion scope.Defining what moves, in what order, at what risk. Portfolio conversion rules, BIN migration sequencing, data mapping between the legacy processor and the target, parallel-run and fallback criteria.
- Scheme mandate delivery.Reading the Visa and Mastercard release bulletins, deciding what is in scope, translating mandate text into stories with an immovable date attached, and holding the programme to it.
- The definition of done.Acceptance criteria that a certification team, a scheme test house and an operations lead all recognise.
- Stakeholder translation.Between the bank's product and operations teams,the processor or vendor, the scheme, and the delivery squads. You are the person who can hold a conversation about interchange economics in the morning and ISO 8583 message fields in the afternoon.
- Trade-off calls.Scope against date against risk, argued with evidence, in a regulated environment where the wrong call has a customer-impact and a regulatory tail.
Mandatory — you will be screened out without these
You must be able to name, on your CV, at least one card platform you worked ON — with a project, an employer and an outcome attached to it. A platform in a skills list with nothing behind it does not count.
1. A card platform, hands-on: FIS VisionPLUS · TSYS TS2 · Way4 / OpenWay · Base24 / ACI · Postilion · Euronet · Cardlink · Tieto CardSuite · FIS Cortex · Prime 4 · Pismo · Marqeta · Thredd / GPS
2. Card lifecycle depth in at least two of: card issuing · issuer processing · merchant acquiring · authorisation · clearing and settlement · chargebacks and disputes · interchange · card personalisation · PIN management · card fraud · PCI DSS
3. Scheme and standards work you personally delivered: Visa or Mastercard mandate release · tokenisation · EMV · 3-D Secure / 3DS2 · SCA · Visa Account Updater (VAU) / Automatic Billing Updater (ABU) · BIN sponsorship or BIN migration
4. Evidence you owned a change, not a run. At least one of: platform migration or replacement · portfolio migration / conversion / card portfolio transfer · legacy decommission or retirement · in-house to outsourced processing (or insourcing) · target operating model definition · scheme mandate delivery · greenfield build · re-platforming · vendor selection or RFP
5. Product Owner craft. 10+ years total, of which 5+ as PO / Product Manager / senior BA owning a backlog in an Agile or SAFe delivery. Backlog ownership, story writing, refinement, sprint and PI planning, stakeholder prioritisation.
Strongly preferred
- Experience on both a legacy processor and a modern issuer-processor —you have seen what actually breaks in between.
- Regulated-market delivery: UK (FCA), EU (PSD2 / SCA), or UAE (CBUAE).
- Certification and scheme testing exposure — VTS, MTIP, MDES, VDEP.
- ISO 8583 message-level fluency; ISO 20022 awareness.
- Commercial literacy on interchange, scheme fees and the P&L of a card portfolio.
- CSPO / SAFe POPM / CSM certification.
- Prior work inside or alongside a systems integrator's cards practice.
To apply: send a CV or get in touch for a confidential conversation