Senior Manager - Merchant Onboarding (Program Manager)

Job description

About the Role We are looking for a Senior Manager, Merchant Onboarding to own regulatory, statutory, concurrent, internal, and external audits for merchant onboarding, while also holding overall governance of onboarding SOPs, process adherence, and AML/EDD execution. The role is primarily accountable for audit closure, root cause analysis, and CAPA — partnering with Operations, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, and Legal, ownership of SOP upkeep, process-adherence reporting, and AML/EDD oversight to keep onboarding audit-ready year-round. We're looking for someone from a fintech, payments, or bank onboarding/compliance background who is comfortable using AI and modern tech tools to solve problems, not just manage them manually. Key Responsibilities 1. Audit Observation Management & Timely Response • Act as the single point of contact for all onboarding-related regulatory, statutory, concurrent, internal, and external audits. • Conduct detailed research across internal systems, policies, operational records, and documentation to prepare accurate, timely, and evidence-backed responses to audit observations. • Ensure every audit observation is responded to and closed within agreed regulatory and internal timelines. • Maintain complete audit documentation, evidence repositories, and audit trails. 2. Root Cause Analysis, CAPA & Advisory • Perform root cause analysis for every audit observation to identify underlying process, product, or system control gaps. • Develop structured corrective and preventive action (CAPA) plans to eliminate recurrence of observations. • Provide advisory to Operations, Product, and Technology teams on control gaps identified through audits, and partner with them to design sustainable, ideally automated, fixes. • Use AI and automation tools to speed up evidence-gathering, observation analysis, and CAPA tracking wherever possible. 3. Compliance Coordination & Action Item Tracking • Serve as the primary coordination point for all internal compliance items relating to onboarding, liaising with Compliance, Legal, Risk, and Operations. • Own end-to-end governance of audit and compliance action items across multiple teams, all year round — tracking progress, resolving blockers, and driving accountability. • Establish governance mechanisms — reviews, dashboards, escalation frameworks — and present progress, risks, and mitigation plans to senior leadership. 4. SOP, Process Adherence & AML/EDD Oversight • Own onboarding SOPs and process documentation, keeping them current with every product, regulatory, or process change. • Build and maintain reporting/dashboards to track process adherence and flag exceptions or control deviations. • Maintain oversight of AML and EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence) execution quality for onboarding, coordinating with the teams running day-to-day AML/KYC checks. • Recommend automation and AI-enabled opportunities to reduce manual effort across SOP tracking, reporting, and control monitoring. Required Qualifications • 7+ years of experience in Onboarding Operations, Audit Handling, or Risk Operations within Payments, Fintech, or Banking. • Hands-on comfort with AI and modern tech tools (e.g., LLM-based assistants, automation platforms, SQL/BI tools) to solve operational and compliance problems, not just track them. Preferred Experience The ideal candidate should possess a strong understanding of: • Merchant/customer onboarding and lifecycle management in a bank, fintech, PA/PG, or acquiring context. • AML, KYC, and enhanced due diligence (EDD) processes. • RBI regulations applicable to Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways, and/or banking compliance norms. • Card scheme and network compliance requirements (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, American Express, etc.). • Using AI/automation tools to build reporting, streamline audit evidence collection, or flag exceptions at scale. Skills & Competencies • Strong program management skills with the ability to drive complex cross-functional audit and compliance initiatives. • Excellent stakeholder management across Operations, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, and Legal. • Exceptional written communication and documentation skills for audit responses and SOPs. • Strong analytical and root cause analysis capabilities. • Genuine curiosity and fluency with AI tools and automation — able to identify where they can replace manual audit/compliance work and implement them practically. • High attention to detail with a structured, process-oriented mindset, and comfort managing multiple audits against regulatory timelines. Success Metrics • Timely closure of audit observations within agreed timelines, and reduction in repeat findings. • Timely completion of CAPA plans, validated for effectiveness. • Quality and completeness of audit documentation and evidence trails. • Adherence to SOPs across onboarding, and currency of SOP documentation. • Quality of AML/EDD execution • Demonstrated use of AI/automation to improve audit and compliance turnaround.