Cards & Payments Consultant

Job Title: Consultant and Sr. Consultant (Cards & Payments)Experience: 8-10 YearsLocation: Chicago, IL (100% onsite, 5 days a week)Visa: GC, EAD, OPT, CPT, US CitizenBudget: Open for nowEmployment Type: FTEDuration: Long termAbout the RoleWe are looking for a consultant to own a defined set of network processing capabilities across authorization, switching, clearing, settlement, reconciliation, disputes, and pricing. You will turn network requirements and customer needs into well-defined product increments, working closely with architects and engineering teams who apply Domain-Driven Design to build modular, modern systems. You will contribute to roadmap planning and own execution within your product area.Key ResponsibilitiesOwn the roadmap and backlog for one or more product areas (e.g., authorization and switching, or clearing and settlement), aligned to the broader product strategy.Translate network and scheme mandates, regulatory changes, and customer needs into clear epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria.Work with architects and engineers to apply DDD concepts such as bounded contexts, domain events, and aggregates, and maintain a consistent ubiquitous language across teams.Prioritize work based on business value, compliance deadlines, and technical dependencies, escalating trade-offs to senior product leadership where needed.Support the decomposition of legacy systems into modular, API-first services, and help sequence migration work.Define requirements for pricing, fee, and interchange logic, and for reconciliation and dispute workflows, including exception handling and SLAs.Track and report product KPIs such as approval rates, latency, settlement accuracy, dispute resolution time, and reconciliation break rates.Coordinate network certifications and mandate releases with schemes, QA, and operations.Collaborate with operations, risk, finance, and compliance to gather input and validate solutions.Run sprint ceremonies and backlog grooming, and keep stakeholders updated on progress, risks, and dependencies.Analyze production issues and customer feedback to identify product improvements.Required Skills and Experience8-10 years of experience in payments, including at least 3-4 years as a Product Manager, Product Owner, or domain lead on network-side or processing platforms.Solid working knowledge of:Authorization and switching: ISO 8583, routing, stand-in processing, tokenization, EMVClearing and settlement: file formats, settlement cycles, cut-offs, FX basicsReconciliation: exception handling, break resolutionDisputes: chargeback lifecycle, representment, reason codes, timelinesPricing: interchange, scheme fees, fee calculationGood understanding of Domain-Driven Design and its practical application: bounded contexts, aggregates, domain events.Working knowledge of event-driven and microservices architectures, APIs, and idempotency, enough to collaborate effectively with engineers.Experience delivering complex, regulated, high-volume products in an agile environment.Ability to write clear requirements and prioritize a backlog.Experience defining and tracking product KPIs.Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.Preferred QualificationsExperience with major networks or schemes (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, UPI/NPCI, or equivalent) and certification processes.Exposure to real-time payments, SWIFT or ISO 20022.Awareness of fraud, risk, and compliance frameworks (PCI DSS, RBI guidelines).Exposure to legacy modernization or cloud migration programs.Participation in Event Storming or domain-modelling workshops