The RoleWe're looking for a Staff-level Product Lead to own the payments product surface at Astra - the rails, transaction flows, money movement mechanics, and the developer experience that sits on top of them. This is a deeply technical, highly cross-functional IC role. You won't manage a team, but you will operate like a principal: setting direction, driving alignment across engineering, compliance, and operations, and taking full ownership of outcomes on Astra's most revenue-critical product surface.
You'll work directly with the Leadership Team and alongside a small but growing product team. The right person has lived inside the complexity of card networks, ACH, and real-time rails and knows what it feels like to ship payment products that have to work every time.
What You'll Own- End-to-end product ownership of Astra's payments rails - Visa Direct, Mastercard Move, RTP, FedNow, ACH, and stablecoin - from API contract through settlement and reconciliation
- The transaction lifecycle: authorization, clearing, settlement, dispute/chargeback handling, and exception management
- Developer-facing payments primitives: API design, payload schemas, error surfaces, and webhook contracts that serve sophisticated fintech builders
- Multi-rail routing logic: how Astra selects, fallbacks, and optimizes across rails based on speed, cost, and risk parameters
- Payments compliance surface: Reg E implications, network rule adherence (VCR framework, dispute windows), and AML/sanctions workflow integration
- Rail-specific product strategy and roadmap: identifying capability gaps, emerging network features (e.g., RTP request for payment), and net-new monetization opportunities
- Close partnership with payment operations and engineering on incident response, degraded-rail scenarios, and SLA commitments
What You'll Do Day-to-Day- Write rigorous PRDs and technical specs for complex payment flows, with explicit handling of edge cases, failure modes, and regulatory constraints
- Own the product roadmap for your surface area - prioritizing ruthlessly across rail expansions, developer experience improvements, and compliance requirements
- Conduct deep discovery with customers and prospects to surface unmet needs in how they move money
- Partner with engineering to define API contracts, review implementation, and maintain a high bar on developer ergonomics
- Collaborate with compliance and legal on network rule changes, NACHA updates, and card network bulletins - translating regulatory inputs into product requirements
- Work with payment operations to define reconciliation requirements, exception-handling workflows, and ops tooling needs
- Represent the payments product in customer conversations, sales cycles, and external thought leadership
What We're Looking ForRequired Experience- 6+ years of product management experience, with at least 3 years building payments products at infrastructure, fintech, or card network depth
- Hands-on experience with at least two of: ACH, RTP/FedNow, Visa Direct/Mastercard Move, card issuing or acquiring, or stablecoin rails
- Deep familiarity with the transaction lifecycle - authorization, clearing, settlement, disputes - and the operational mechanics underneath each step
- Experience navigating Reg E, NACHA operating rules, or Visa/Mastercard network rules as inputs into product requirements
- Strong API product instincts - you've shipped developer-facing payment APIs and have opinions about what makes them great
- Comfort operating with ambiguity at the IC level - you don't need a manager to set your agenda
- Exceptional written communication; you can reduce a complex payment flow to a clear, precise spec
- Demonstrated ability to influence across engineering, compliance, and operations without direct authority
Preferred Experience- Experience at a BaaS provider, card network, sponsor bank, or payments infrastructure company (vs. a fintech end-user)
- Familiarity with stablecoin settlement rails (USDC, USDT) and how they interact with traditional fiat rails
- Background in chargeback lifecycle mechanics, dispute reason codes, or VCR workflow design
- Prior work on multi-rail routing or smart payment orchestration logic
Why This Role Matters- You'll have end-to-end ownership of the most technically complex and commercially critical surface in the company
- You'll work directly with leadership in a company that has product culture baked in from the start - this Director of Product hire is the first, and you'll help shape what great product management looks like at Astra
- Astra is profitable at Series B - this is a growth story, not a survival story
- Real-time, multi-rail payment infrastructure is one of the most interesting and underdeveloped product spaces in fintech
What We Offer- Competitive compensation with equity in a growing fintech company.
- Remote-first culture with flexible working arrangements
- Small team, big impact - your work directly supports Astra's ability to scale responsibly
- Professional growth opportunities in compliance and risk management
- Mission-driven - build infrastructure that powers financial innovation while meeting the highest regulatory standards
Remote Work and CultureAstra is a remote-first company hiring only within the U.S. We value thoughtful collaboration, clarity, and initiative.
