ACH Program Manager (Hybrid in CA)

First American•Santa Ana, CA

2d•$112,400 - $149,800•Hybrid

About The Position

First American Trust is seeking an experienced ACH Program Manager to lead the strategy, buildout, governance, and ongoing management of its ACH program. The position serves as the accountable program owner and ACH subject-matter expert, helping the bank scale from its current operating model to a high-volume environment supporting approximately 1.2 million ACH transactions per month. The manager will work with Operations, Treasury Management, Product, Compliance, Finance, Technology, Legal, Audit, and third-party providers. During program expansion, the role partners with external ACH consultants and internal stakeholders to establish a sustainable operating model, strengthen controls, improve automation, prepare staff, and support onboarding of new Originators.

Requirements

At least 7 years of progressively responsible ACH, electronic payments, deposit operations, treasury management, payments risk, or related financial-services experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership, program-management, or supervisory capacity.
Demonstrated experience owning or materially contributing to an ACH program, major ACH implementation, high-volume payment operation, or comparable enterprise change initiative.
Deep working knowledge of the Nacha Operating Rules and ACH participant responsibilities, including ODFI and RDFI operations, ACH file formats, Standard Entry Class Codes, settlement, returns, NOCs, reversals, Same Day ACH, exceptions, and record retention.
Practical experience with ACH origination risk, Originator and Third-Party Sender due diligence, exposure management, limits, prefunding, return-rate monitoring, fraud controls, and periodic reviews.
Experience developing and maintaining policies, detailed procedures, control documentation, training materials, management reporting, and audit or examination evidence.
Experience supporting system implementation, process automation, business requirements, testing, change management, vendor coordination, and operational readiness.
Strong leadership, project execution, analytical, facilitation, negotiation, problem-solving, and risk-based decision-making skills.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex ACH matters to operations staff, technical partners, customers, auditors, regulators, and senior leaders.
Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, risk management, information systems, operations, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

Accredited ACH Professional (AAP) credential in good standing, or ability to obtain it within 12 months of hire.
Accredited Payments Risk Professional (APRP) credential.
Accredited Faster Payments Professional (AFPP), Certified Treasury Professional (CTP), Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM), Project Management Professional (PMP), or comparable credentials relevant to the assigned scope.
Ten or more years of payments experience in a regulated financial institution, with direct responsibility for ACH operations, origination services, payments risk, or product management.
Experience scaling an ACH program for significant transaction growth or onboarding high-volume commercial Originators.
Experience with Jack Henry systems, online-banking integrations, ACH processing platforms, secure file transmission, reconciliation tools, reporting solutions, and exception-management workflows.
Experience leading cross-functional work involving Operations, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Fraud, Finance, Information Security, Legal, Audit, and external service providers.
Experience presenting payment-risk and operational-performance information to executive management, risk committees, auditors, examiners, or boards.

Responsibilities

Establish program-level monitoring and reporting for ACH volume, value, return rates, unauthorized activity, exceptions, losses, processing quality, service levels, exposure usage, control performance, incidents, and remediation.
Identify manual processes and lead automation priorities for returns, NOCs, exception management, customer notifications, file integration, reporting, and operational workflows.
Partner with Technology and vendors to document business requirements, evaluate system capabilities, coordinate configuration and interfaces, perform user acceptance testing, manage defects, and support production implementation.
Coordinate ACH risk assessments, annual Rules compliance audits, regulatory examinations, internal audits, vendor reviews, business continuity exercises, and remediation of findings.
Monitor ACH rule changes, regulatory developments, fraud trends, and industry practices; translate changes into policies, procedures, controls, system requirements, communications, and training.
Lead, coach, and develop ACH personnel through role-based training, cross-training, proficiency assessment, continuing education, and professional accreditation plans.
Manage significant incidents and operational disruptions, including escalation, customer and management communications, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and lessons learned.
Provide updates and recommendations to senior management and governance committees on decisions, risks, dependencies, resource needs, milestones, and performance trends.
Build productive relationships across business and control functions and influence outcomes while maintaining compliance, risk, and operational control expectations.