KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:

• Lead the enterprise compliance function for a regulated payment processing and acquiring organization, ensuring adherence to card network, sponsor bank, NACHA, PCI DSS, AML/BSA, and other industry regulatory requirements.
• Serve as the primary compliance advisor for merchant acquiring, payment orchestration, gateway, and transaction processing operations across card-present and card-not-present environments.
• Partner closely with risk, underwriting, product, technology, fraud, operations, legal, and sales teams to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate compliance and operational risks across the payments ecosystem.
• Manage and maintain strategic relationships with card networks, sponsor/acquiring banks, regulators, payment associations, and third-party processing partners.
• Oversee compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML/BSA), Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption (ABAC), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), sanctions screening, and merchant due diligence requirements.
• Develop, enhance, implement, and govern compliance policies, procedures, controls, and monitoring programs supporting acquiring and payment processing activities.
• Lead internal and external audits, sponsor bank reviews, PCI assessments, network examinations, regulatory inquiries, and independent compliance reviews.
• Establish and administer enterprise payment compliance training programs to educate employees, sales partners, and operational teams on regulatory obligations, network rules, and acquiring requirements.
• Provide ongoing reporting to executive leadership, internal audit, enterprise risk management, and governance committees regarding compliance metrics, emerging risks, remediation efforts, and regulatory changes impacting payment operations.
• Monitor and interpret evolving payment industry regulations, card network bulletins, sponsor bank mandates, and regulatory guidance to ensure organizational readiness and compliance.
• Lead, mentor, and develop compliance personnel, including hiring, performance management, succession planning, and capability development.
• Conduct enterprise compliance risk assessments and control evaluations to identify operational impacts associated with new payment products, merchant programs, and regulatory changes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives by redesigning and documenting procedures that strengthen compliance oversight, operational efficiency, and risk mitigation within the acquiring environment.
• Oversee compliance communications including network bulletin summaries, sponsor bank updates, merchant notifications, and governance committee materials.
• Provide subject matter expertise and guidance to internal stakeholders and external partners regarding payment processing compliance issues, violations, remediation activities, and best practices.
• Administer third-party agent, ISO, and sales partner oversight programs in accordance with sponsor bank and card network requirements.
• Oversee transaction data integrity and settlement compliance to ensure accurate interchange qualification, authorization practices, chargeback management, and network reporting obligations.
• Coordinate cross-functional implementation of mandated regulatory and network changes affecting payment acceptance, transaction processing, merchant onboarding, and settlement operations.
• Advise executive leadership on compliance implications associated with strategic payment initiatives, new acquiring partnerships, processor integrations, and product launches.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS & EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in payments compliance, merchant acquiring, payment processing, or financial services risk management.
• Minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing compliance, risk, or payments operations teams preferred.
• Deep expertise in card network rules (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), sponsor bank oversight, NACHA regulations, PCI DSS, AML/BSA compliance, and merchant acquiring operations.
• Strong understanding of payment ecosystem functions including authorization, clearing, settlement, chargebacks, disputes, fraud monitoring, underwriting, and merchant onboarding.

Offers of employment are conditional upon passage of screening criteria applicable to the job