Sr. Director, Operating Rules and Compliance

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

This position is responsible for all matters related to the operating rules and standards that govern the company’s real-time payments network and the payments and risk products business. This position is the primary contact and escalation point for customers and internal departments for any matters related to the company’s operating rules. 

Essential Functions

• Provides effective leadership to the team and develops and manages a highly engaged, high performance team;
• Manage the development of operating rules to support new products, services, processing models or other initiatives for the company’s real-time payments network, as well as products governed by the National Shared Database (NSD) rules;
• Liaise with product development teams throughout the product development lifecycle to provide guidance and recommendations regarding the rules and standards required to support new products and transaction types (e.g dispute rules, fraud and operational requirements, etc.);
• Lead engagement and collaboration with other functional areas (e.g. Risk, Legal, Compliance) to ensure requirements and needs are incorporated into the Rules, ans appropriate processes are in place to operationalize new requirements;
• Identify industry and regulatory trends that impact our business and engage with customers and business partners to ensure that these trends are incorporated into the operating rules as appropriate to support business strategy;
• Provide consulting and guidance to internal departments and customers on the interpretation and application of Network  and NSD rules;
• Ensure that all rule changes are approved in accordance with established governance processes;
• Manage the periodic publication of the rules and rule change notifications, and ensure consistency with publication of other company documents such as technical and product manuals.
• Review and interpret documentation (e.g., operating rules, technical specifications) from third party supported payment networks (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, NACHA) to identify required business and system updates
• Support the company’s commitment to protect the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in payments industry, preferably in a network and/or rules function
• Strong understanding of the financial services and payments industries
• Highly effective verbal and written communication and presentation skills with all levels of the organization, as well as senior executives and customers
• Demonstrated leadership strength and the ability to build and lead a team
• Excellent analytical skills and appropriate attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills to build partnerships and alliances internally and with external partners at all levels of the organization
• Proactive self-starter
• Organized with ability to prioritize multiple tasks and achieve objectives in a fast-paced environment
• Unyielding commitment to highest professional ethics
• Education and/or experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor’s Degree
• Background and drug screen

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or similar advanced degree

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment.  Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours.  Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching.  Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently.  Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers.  Requires