Senior Manager, Payment Oversight

When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.

We’re on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.

Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We’re changing. Because students need a better way.

We’re looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students—and for each other.

This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It’s where you’re empowered to bring your authentic self to work.

Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you—from physical and mental to financial and professional. You’ll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.

We’re obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking “why not?” when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.

Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.

What You'll Contribute

The Senior Manager, Payment Oversight will be responsible for establishing and leading end-to-end oversight of payment operations, ensuring effective quality assurance and compliance across all payment-related activities. This role will develop and implement robust processes, policies, and quality assurance tools that uphold regulatory standards, mitigate operational risk, and promote transparency and accountability. Working closely with internal stakeholders across Payments, Risk, Audit, Technology, and the Business Control Office the Senior Manager will drive a culture of strong governance, continuous improvement, and operational excellence in the organization’s payment ecosystem.

What You'll Do

• Design, implement, and maintain a comprehensive payment governance framework, including oversight mechanisms, internal quality assurance tools, and escalation protocols.
• Establish and monitor key risk indicators (KRIs), quality assurance metrics, and governance reporting to senior leadership.
• Conduct periodic risk assessments of payment processes and infrastructure to identify gaps, inefficiencies, or emerging risks.
• Develop and maintain payment policies, standards, and procedures that align with regulatory requirements and industry best practices
• Partner with Risk, Audit and the Business Control Office to ensure readiness for internal and external reviews.
• Develop and implement quality dashboards, quality assurance measures, and performance metrics to monitor the effectiveness, accuracy and compliance of payment operations.  
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure quality practices are implemented across the organization.
• Drive continuous improvement in quality processes and systems.
• Oversee the identification, management, and resolution of payment-related issues, ensuring root cause analysis, timely remediation, and implementation of preventative quality assurance measures.
• Provide leadership and guidance to the organization on payment rules, regulations, and industry standards (e.g. NACHA, Regulation E, Regulation Z, and relevant State Regulations). ​

The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.
 

What you have

Minimum education, skills and experience required.

• 7+ years of experience in payments, governance, risk, audit, or compliance roles, ideally in a financial services or fintech environment.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory requirements and standards (e.g. NACHA, Regulation E, Regulation Z, State Regulations).
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Familiarity