Business Analyst - Payments (Hybrid in CA)

First American•Santa Ana, CA

1d•$73,900 - $98,500•Hybrid

About The Position

First American Trust is seeking an experienced Business Analyst to support its growing Payments function across multiple payment rails, including ACH, wire transfers, instant payments, and future payment capabilities. This individual will utilize strong business, operational, and analytical skills to evaluate payment processes, analyze payment activity and trends, identify operational gaps and inefficiencies, support new payment capabilities, and help improve the scalability and effectiveness of the bank's payment operations. The Business Analyst will partner closely with Payments Operations, payment program owners and subject matter experts, Risk/Compliance, Treasury Management, Product, Technology, Finance, and other business areas. This role provides analytical and operational support across payment rails and does not serve as the program owner or day-to-day processor for a specific payment method.

Requirements

BA/BS degree or equivalent work experience.
2-5 years of directly related experience in payments, banking operations, Treasury Management, business analysis, financial services, or a similar field.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate complex issues, identify root causes, and recommend practical solutions.
Ability to understand complex transaction flows and operational processes.
Strong ability to organize, analyze, interpret, and present data effectively.
Advanced Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel.
Experience gathering and documenting business and operational requirements.
Ability to develop clear process documentation, analysis, and recommendations.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Strong attention to detail and ability to work effectively in an operational environment where accuracy, timeliness, and controls are important.
Ability to work independently and collaborate across multiple business and control functions.

Nice To Haves

Experience in bank payments, payment operations, deposit operations, Treasury Management, or financial services.
Working knowledge of multiple payment rails, including ACH, wire transfers, and/or instant payments.
Experience analyzing payment transaction data, volumes, exceptions, processing performance, or operational trends.
Knowledge of payment processing concepts including initiation, authorization, settlement, exceptions, returns, reconciliation, transaction limits, and operational controls.
Familiarity with ACH processing and Nacha Operating Rules.
Experience with domestic and/or international wire transfers.
Knowledge of instant payments, including the FedNow Service and/or RTP network.
Familiarity with payment fraud, operational risk, and payment controls.
Experience supporting implementation of a new payment product, payment rail, or significant operational change.
Experience with process mapping, root-cause analysis, operational reporting, procedure development, testing, and implementation.
Experience supporting high-volume payment operations or significant growth in payment transaction volumes.
AAP, APRP, AFPP, CTP, or other relevant payments certification is preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Develop a strong understanding of the bank's end-to-end payment processes across ACH, domestic and international wires, instant payments, and other current or future payment rails.
Analyze payment workflows to identify operational gaps, inefficiencies, manual processes, capacity constraints, control opportunities, and areas for improvement.
Analyze payment volumes, values, exceptions, returns, rejects, processing times, service levels, manual interventions, and other operational data to identify trends and emerging issues.
Develop reporting, metrics, dashboards, and management information that provide visibility into payment operations, performance, capacity, and trends.
Perform root-cause analysis of recurring payment issues to distinguish individual exceptions from broader process or operational problems.
Evaluate processes across different payment rails to identify opportunities for greater consistency, standardization, efficiency, and scalability.
Support payment-related process improvement initiatives from problem identification through implementation and measurement of results.
Partner with payment program owners, Operations teams, and subject matter experts to analyze trends, processes, capacity, controls, and improvement opportunities across ACH, wires, instant payments, and other payment rails.
Document current-state payment processes and help design improved future-state processes.
Support the implementation of new payment capabilities, including new payment rails, services, operational processes, and significant enhancements to existing capabilities.
Help define business and operational requirements for new or modified payment products, processes, and services.
Assess operational readiness for new payment initiatives, including procedures, controls, staffing impacts, training, reporting, exception handling, and ongoing support requirements.
Participate in testing and implementation of payment-related changes from a business and operational perspective.
Develop and maintain process maps, business requirements, procedures, training materials, and other operational documentation.
Support management in evaluating the operational impact of payment rule, regulatory, industry, product, or volume changes.
Support payment-related audit, examination, risk assessment, and remediation activities by providing analysis, documentation, process information, and supporting data.
Partner with the Fraud & Claims function to analyze aggregate fraud activity, losses, recoveries, and trends as part of broader payment performance analysis, without assuming ownership of individual fraud investigations or claims.
Facilitate meetings and working sessions involving payment operations and other business partners and help drive issues and action items through resolution.
Make recommendations to management regarding payment processes, operational capacity, reporting, controls, service delivery, and continuous improvement.