Senior Principal Payment Tech Development Manager

Capital One•Riverwoods, IL

About The Position

The Senior Principal Payment Tech Development Manager will serve as a high-impact enterprise leader, strategic influencer, and head of a high-performing engineering organization. This role is responsible for directing the end-to-end design, development, testing, certification, and delivery of contact/contactless chip technologies, mobile payments, and emerging payment devices. A critical focus includes leading the development of card- and wallet-related functional and security requirements, test plans, and tools necessary for executing D-PAS card personalization and Mobile D-PAS Wallet validations—both of which are vital prerequisites for successful D-PAS product acceptance. As a key technical authority and organizational people leader, the Senior Manager will build, scale, and inspire a world-class engineering team. They will champion cross-functional alignment, manage critical executive and multi-party stakeholder ecosystems, drive strategic vendor relationships, and proactively mitigate high-level risks or customer-impacting issues.

Requirements

High School Diploma, GED or equivalent certification
At least 6 years of payment technology research and development experience
At least 4 years of experience supporting, partnering and interacting with internal or external business clients
At least 4 years of people management and performance management experience

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's or Master’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science or Technology
Experience managing and scaling engineering teams in a fast-paced corporate environment
Experience leading large-scale deployment projects involving EMV payments systems, mobile payment technologies (including cloud-based payments) and secure elements
Deep understanding of EMV Functional and EMV Security requirements

Responsibilities

People Leadership & Talent Architecture: Team Scaling & Up-Skilling: Directly recruit, hire, and build a high-performing engineering and validation organization; design the team structure to support evolving payment technology roadmaps.
Performance & Career Management: Own performance management, goal setting, and career development pathways for direct reports; actively cultivate the next generation of technical leaders and people managers within the group.
Engineering Culture: Foster an inclusive culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and absolute accountability within the development and testing teams.
Resource Optimization: Strategically manage resource allocation, capacity planning, and headcount budgeting to balance immediate delivery needs with long-term strategic initiatives.
Product Development & Technical Direction: Drive Technology Roadmap: Lead and direct engineering teams to design and develop next-generation payment technologies across card acceptance and payment devices (including contact/contactless chips, mobile, and cloud-based payments).
Define Architectural Specifications: Serve as the final technical authority contributing to product technology specifications, balancing functional innovation with rigorous security features.
Stakeholder Management & Collaboration: Strategic Alignment: Act as the primary liaison and trusted advisor to executive leadership, business partners, and global cross-functional teams, translating complex technical payment roadmaps into clear business outcomes.
Influence Ecosystems: Manage complex, matrixed relationships with internal and external stakeholders to drive alignment on new and updated payment standards, specifications, and deployment strategies.
Conflict Resolution: Standardize communication channels to resolve competing priorities across business lines, ensuring seamless product integration and delivery.
Testing, Certification & Global Compliance: Framework Architecture: Establish and oversee comprehensive testing requirements, test plans, and procedures for cutting-edge payment technology products.
Validation Governance: Own the overarching strategy and development of requirements/tools needed for execution of Card Personalization Validation and Mobile Provisioning Validation processes.
Compliance Program Design: Collaborate in defining global certification requirements and compliance programs to guarantee high-quality, standardized product rollouts.
Vendor, Partner & Industry Management: Strategic Partnerships: Manage high-value relationships with external vendors, including card and chip manufacturers, test laboratories, test tool providers, and mobile developers.
Industry Standards Leadership: Represent the organization and spearhead technical positions within relevant global standardization organizations to influence the future of payment specifications.
Vendor Accountability: Establish SLAs and governance models to oversee external partners, ensuring delivered services and tools strictly align with corporate benchmarks.
Risk Management & Governance: Proactive Mitigation: Anticipate systemic risks, technical bottlenecks, or customer-impacting vulnerabilities; design mitigation strategies and lead executive-level escalations when necessary.