VP Immediate Payments Operations Manager (Hybrid)

Bancorp Bank, The•Wilmington, DE

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

This position is available as a hybrid position in our Sioux Falls, SD or Wilmington, DE office. The VP Immediate Payment Operations will lead the strategy, execution, and ongoing management of The Bancorp’s immediate payments capabilities, including The Clearing House RTP network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service. This role is critical to supporting The Bancorp’s fintech sponsorship and program management model, enabling seamless, compliant, and scalable payment solutions for fintech partners and commercial clients. The VP will oversee 24x7x365 operations, ensuring high availability, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance while driving innovation and growth in instant payments. This leader will act as a key bridge across network providers, internal teams, and third-party fintech clients, ensuring alignment of technology, operations, and business objectives.

Requirements

Undergraduate degree in a related field or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
10+ years of experience in payments, treasury operations, or financial services, with significant exposure to real-time or instant payments.
Deep knowledge of RTP, FedNow, or other faster payments systems.
Experience supporting fintech partnerships, sponsor bank models, or embedded finance ecosystems.
Strong understanding of payment regulations (BSA/AML, OFAC, UCC, Reg J).
Experience with ISO 20022 messaging and API-driven payment architectures.
Proven leadership in 24x7 operations environments.
Strong stakeholder management skills across internal teams, regulators, and external partners.
Position requires on-call availability 24x7.
Excellent accounting and reconcilement skills.
Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
Must be able to drive through to resolve all issues.
Team player, able to work effectively in a team fostered, multi-tasking environment.
Excellent analytical abilities, exceptional detail-oriented focus, with ability to be a decisive, problem solver while working under pressure to resolve problems.
Position requires a flexible schedule, working afternoons and evenings.

Responsibilities

Leads end-to-end operations for RTP and FedNow payment rails, ensuring continuous (24x7x365) processing, performance, and SLA adherence.
Defines and executes instant payments strategy, driving growth, new capabilities, and continuous improvement while ensuring operational resiliency and business continuity.
Creates a high-performance culture, emphasizing core management leadership initiatives and developing and executing on current and future strategies that align with strategic goals.
Represents Payment Operations and effectively collaborate with important functional stakeholders including IT, VMO, Business Lines and Third-party Fintech Clients to provide operational solutions to strategic business needs. Identifies trends in the marketplace and work across senior leadership in the Payments space to demonstrate operational capabilities to meet client demands or future opportunities.
Establishes requirements and work with payment teams and vendors to incorporate immediate payments including but not limited to Real Time Payments and FedNow into payment processing systems. Ensures client integration and payment teams are trained and prepared for go-live events and upgrades to payment systems.
Services client needs which includes presenting solutions for payment support and showcasing capabilities to enhance client experience. Effectively leads clients during onboarding process to ensure proper integration, testing, documentation and adherence to rules and regulations.
Helps drive end-to-end API strategy and integration management across The Clearing House RTP network, Federal Reserve FedNow Service, internal systems, and Third-Party Fintech clients.
Ensures alignment with ISO 20022 messaging standards, network specifications, and security protocols.
Ensures compliance with RTP network rules, FedNow Operating Procedures, and applicable regulatory frameworks. Oversees audits, examinations, and reporting related to instant payments activities.
Maintains strong governance frameworks across internal teams and external partners.
Oversees liquidity and prefunding across RTP joint accounts and Federal Reserve master accounts; optimizes intraday funding.
Establishes and manages real-time fraud prevention, transaction limits, monitoring, and escalation processes.
Partners with Technology and Product to deliver scalable, resilient payment infrastructure, gateways, and API frameworks.
Manages vendors, processors, and fintech partners with clear SLAs, performance metrics, and risk controls.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Manages team of employees by overseeing day-to-day operations.
Sets high performance standards and manages team performance in accordance with HR policies and procedures.
Creates a flexible and energized work environment, fostering an atmosphere that enables employee trust and engagement.
Inspires confidence and motivates employees to perform at their best level.
Develops employees while effectively addressing performance issues.