Your Opportunity
BDO Canada is seeking a Senior Domain Leader, Payments Modernization Consulting to work alongside a Partner in the firm’s technology consulting practice, to build a new national payments modernization capability anchored by the Real-Time Rail, or RTR. This role will bring immediate credibility with clients, help shape and sell the first engagements, and provide payments leadership across delivery.
About the role
Canada’s payments ecosystem is entering a multi-year period of change. RTR introduces real-time clearing and settlement, ISO 20022 messaging, expanded participation by payment service providers, and new expectations for fraud controls, liquidity, vendor governance and continuous operations.
The successful candidate will be a senior Canadian payments practitioner with hands-on modernization experience gained within a financial institution, Payments Canada, Interac, a processor, a payment service provider, a payments technology provider or a strong payments consulting practice. They will connect the technology, operating model, fraud and risk, and ISO 20022 implications of modernization, while working with specialists who lead their respective technical disciplines. Deep payments expertise and credibility are the priority, supported by commercial capability and strong industry relationships.
Key responsibilities
Payments domain leadership and client advisory
- Bring authoritative, hands-on Canadian payments experience to advise executive sponsors on participation models, technology strategy, connectivity, settlement, fraud, liquidity and operational readiness.
- Provide payments domain leadership across complex engagements spanning technology, operations, treasury, risk, compliance, data and customer experience.
- Translate regulatory, business and technical complexity into practical decisions, roadmaps and implementation priorities.
- Provide executive oversight for solution quality, delivery governance, testing, go-live readiness and benefits realization.
Capability and market development
- Work with the Partner and the BDO Digital leadership team to shape and execute BDO Canada’s payments modernization strategy, using RTR as the entry point to a broader portfolio covering real-time, batch and high-value payments.
- Help define the offerings, methods, accelerators and team capabilities required to serve Tier 2 banks, credit unions, credit union centrals and payment service providers.
- Help establish BDO’s market point of view and represent the firm with clients, industry bodies, ecosystem partners and at relevant industry forums.
- Apply relevant lessons from UK, US and other international real-time payment programs to the Canadian market.
Business development and industry relationships
- Work alongside BDO leaders to identify, shape and sell the first payments modernization engagements and help secure early anchor clients.
- Bring subject-matter credibility to proposals, executive presentations, commercial discussions and account development.
- Develop relationships with payment processors, connectivity providers, fraud platforms, core banking vendors and other ecosystem participants.
- Connect payments modernization opportunities to adjacent BDO services in core banking transformation, regulatory advisory, risk, internal audit, analytics, treasury and compliance.
Delivery, team and knowledge leadership
- Build repeatable offerings for RTR readiness, operating model design, fraud and risk enablement, ISO 20022 and data readiness, vendor governance, enterprise PMO and delivery assurance.
- Help recruit, develop and lead an initial multidisciplinary team as client demand grows.
- Coordinate expertise across BDO Digital, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Advisory and international member firms.
- Establish delivery standards, quality controls and knowledge-sharing practices that support consistent client outcomes.
Commercial contribution
- Contribute to the practice business plan and commercial performance, including pipeline development, revenue growth, utilization and capability investment, with increasing accountability as the practice matures.
- Monitor market adoption, partner dynamics and client demand, and help refine priorities as Canada’s payments modernization roadmap evolves.
How do we define success for your role?
- You work effectively with the BDO Digital leadership team to establish a credible and differentiated payments modernization capability.
- You bring immediate credibility with senior client stakeholders and help convert market demand into early anchor engagements.
- You provide trusted domain leadership across RTR readiness, implementation, fraud and risk, ISO 20022, operating model and vendor governance engagements.
- You help build a collaborative multidisciplinary team and mobilize capabilities across BDO Canada and international member firms.
- You demonstrate BDO Canada’s core values of Integrity, Respect and Collaboration.
Your experience and education
- Significant, hands-on experience delivering payments modernization, real-time payments or large-scale payments transformation within a Canadian financial institution, Payments Canada, Interac, a processor, a payment service provider, a payments technology provider or a strong payments consulting practice.
- Deep and current understanding of the Canadian payments ecosystem, including RTR, and the resulting technology, operating model, fraud and risk, ISO 20022, liquidity, settlement and regulatory implications.
- Practical knowledge of real-time processing, fraud decisioning and orchestration, reconciliation, continuous operations and incident management.
- Experience leading institution-level transformation that integrates core banking, digital channels, payment platforms, fraud systems, treasury processes and external providers.
- Demonstrated commercial capability, including shaping and selling advisory or transformation work, supported by trusted relationships across the Canadian payments ecosystem.
- Experience helping build or scale an offering or capability, including contributions to go-to-market strategy, early client pursuits, delivery methods and team formation.
- Excellent executive communication, facilitation and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to lead through influence across multidisciplinary teams.
- Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, technology, engineering or a related discipline. A relevant graduate degree or professional designation is an asset.
Assets
- Direct experience with Payments Canada, Interac, a Canadian financial institution, a credit union or central, a processor, or a payment service provider.
- Experience with UK, US or other international real-time payment schemes and the ability to translate relevant lessons to Canada.
- Established senior relationships across the Canadian payments ecosystem.
- Familiarity with National Payment Fraud Services, Confirmation of Payee, core banking modernization or broader financial-services regulatory transformation.
