Job Description
Payments Canada is at the forefront of the Canadian payment ecosystem. Our purpose is to make payments easier, smarter and safer for all Canadians. Every day we are working diligently to ensure your payments are cleared and settled. In 2024 alone, our systems cleared approximately $107 trillion or $424 billion each business day! If you are passionate about payments and want to help ensure that these financial transactions in Canada are carried out safely and securely, working with us is for you!
| Who we are
We are a public purpose, non-profit organization situated at the center of Canada’s payment ecosystem. We own and operate payment systems that process hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of payment transactions every business day. We convene ecosystem participants to discuss their multiple and diverse interests and ideas and to navigate industry-level challenges. We adhere to a set of values that are our north star:
Inspire trust, build community and enable change.
Payments Canada — where our country connects: Payments Canada — Who we are
| Our culture
With our people in mind, we have created a culture that fosters authenticity, collaboration, innovation and development. We empower one another, make meaningful contributions that not only impact the organization, but our country! We develop and nurture meaningful connections that drive innovation in our ecosystem. We are Payments Canada!
Do you want to make payments easier, smarter and safer for Canada? Join us today!
You need to work here if
• You love working with passionate, ambitious and collaborative colleagues.
• You want to be challenged and lead unique initiatives.
• You want to grow, develop and become a subject matter expert in your field.
• You want your work to make an impact in your community and country.
Come and join us — where payments meet purpose!
| What we are looking for
The Core Payment Products team is focused on understanding our members’ payment, clearing and settlement needs, as well as the use and evolution of our existing platforms. We ensure that our products are practical, efficient, and responsive to the challenges and opportunities they face. Through our commitment to innovation, we strive to provide tools and standards that enable financial institutions to build sustainable and resilient payment systems for the future.
Reporting to the Director of Core Payments Product and working closely with the VP of Product, the Product Manager, Core Payments, Digital will be focused on exploring, defining, and delivering the strategic direction for emerging payment assets, specifically stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The role will be responsible for understanding the evolving landscape of digital currencies and DLT, ensuring that our initiatives in this space are practical, efficient, and responsive to market and regulatory demands.
| A day in the life
Responsibilities will include:
Product Strategy and Leadership
• Develop and continuously refine the strategic direction of the Core Payments Product portfolio, in partnership with the Director, Core Payments Product and the VP, Product.
• Lead the creation and maintenance of a multi-year product road map, ensuring alignment with Payments Canada’s strategic objectives, member needs, and regulatory frameworks.
• Partner with platform product managers on the development of product strategy, prioritization and road mapping frameworks to consolidate a solid overall product strategy.
• Translate high-level strategic objectives into actionable product initiatives and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and manage prioritization frameworks to balance innovation, operational needs, and regulatory requirements across the product portfolio.
• Provide expert advice and analysis to Payments Product leadership, contributing to executive and Board materials, including product updates, progress reports, and recommendations.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders in Operations, Technology, Risk, Finance, and Regulatory Affairs to ensure the strategic intent of each initiative is carried through to execution.
Market Intelligence and Business Insight
• Conduct ongoing market and ecosystem research to identify trends, competitive dynamics, and emerging opportunities across domestic and international payments environments.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of members’ business models, operational challenges, and regulatory obligations to inform strategic decisions.
• Create and maintain analytical models, dashboards, or frameworks to track key metrics on adoption, performance, and the market evolution of ACSS and related payment streams.
• Lead the development of business cases that include financial analysis (P&L impact, ROI, cost/benefit), member value assessment, and risk considerations.
• Provide insights to inform the evolution of operational rules, standards, and processes, ensuring alignment with product strategy and member needs.
Road Map and Portfolio Governance
• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of the product road map, from strategic planning and feasibility assessment to prioritization and ongoing review.
• Collaborate with Platform Product Managers (Retail Payments and Lynx) to jointly develop and maintain synchronized product road maps, ensuring interdependencies, timelines, and strategic priorities are coordinated across payment rails.
• Facilitate portfolio governance forums with senior management to align priorities, track progress, and manage interdependencies across initiatives.
• Partner with Product Managers, Operations and Technology teams to ensure road map initiatives are scoped, resourced, and sequenced according to strategic value.
• Monitor key success metrics and report on progress against defined goals and strategic outcomes.
• Contribute to the annual planning cycle by translating strategic priorities into deliverables, investment requirements, and implementation plans.
Stakeholder and Relationship Management
• Build and maintain strong relationships with member financial institutions, regulators, and ecosystem partners to ensure strategic alignment and proactive collaboration.
• Represent Payments Canada in strategic working groups, industry committees, and external forums to influence and stay informed on industry developments.
• Lead and facilitate workshops or consultations with members and partners to validate product strategy and road map priorities.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to internal leadership and external stakeholders, providing context, insight, and guidance on the direction of retail payments modernization and batch settlement evolution.
Cross-Functional Enablement and Execution Support
• Work in close partnership with the Platform Product Managers for Retail Payments and Lynx to enable cohesive strategy-to-execution alignment across products, ensuring consistent prioritization and value delivery within the broader payment’s modernization framework.
• Support the transition from strategy to delivery by providing clarity on objectives, scope, and success metrics.
• Participate in steering committees or project task forces to ensure alignment between strategy, execution, and operational readiness.
• Promote consistent adoption of product management and strategic planning best practices across the team.
Professional and Organizational Development
• Dedicate a minimum of 5–10 days annually to professional development, ensuring knowledge of evolving payment trends, product management methodologies, and regulatory changes.
• Actively contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the Core Payments Product team.
• Mentor or support peers by sharing insights and tools that strengthen the organization’s overall product strategy capability.
Technical Competencies
• Expertise in developing and maintaining strategic roadmap, translating long-term vision into phased, actionable delivery plans.
• Must possess the ability to think beyond the immediate launch, demonstrating an understanding of technical scalability, business case development, and long-term operating modes required to successfully grow, and evolve a product.
• Demonstrate a strong P and L mindset by developing and defending robust business cases, which requires management and understanding of revenue drivers, operational expenditures (OPEX), transaction costs, pricing strategies, and the costs associated with onboarding and application processes.
• Proficiency in defining critical success factors (CSF) and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure product performance.
• Highly capable business acumen, with specific experience in digital, payment, and financial technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and articulate complex technical architectures, data models, and integrations.
• Capable of engaging credibly with engineering leads regarding trade-offs and scalability considerations.
• Knowledge of various project delivery methodologies.
Personal Competencies
• Strategic and Analytical Thinker: Embraces complexity, thinks creatively, and understands the multi-faceted impacts of policy decisions. Demonstrates critical reasoning and analytical skills.
• Exceptional Communicator: Possesses excellent verbal and written communication skills. Capable of distilling complex concepts, challenges, and performance metrics into clear, concise communications tailored for diverse audiences including peers, executives, external partners, ecosystem users, and regulators.
• Effective Influencer and Conflict Mediator: Proven ability to mediate conflicts, particularly those arising between product priorities and resource capacity. A skilled influencer who can guide and collaborate effectively with cross-functional leaders.
• Adaptive Leader and Mentor: Exhibits the ability to adjust leadership style based on the maturity and complexity of tasks and the individual needs of team members. Committed to mentoring team members, identifying skill gaps, and providing actionable feedback that fosters professional growth and increases autonomy.
• Committed to Continuous Improvement: Dedicated to continuous learning, skills development, and professional growth.
| What you need to be successful
• University degree (or college diploma) in Business, Engineering, Finance, Computer Science or related field. MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum seven (7) to ten (10) years of experience in consulting, payments, transaction banking, fintech or related field, with at least three (3) years in digital asset strategy, product management or strategic planning roles.
• Proven track record of defining strategies for innovative payment products, including specific experience or deep conceptual knowledge of blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT), stablecoins, and tokenized deposits.
• Strong understanding of payment systems (clearing, settlement, retail payments), ideally within the Canadian context (including familiarity with settlement streams, rule/standard frameworks, payment-platform operations).
• Excellent strategic thinking, commercial acumen and ability to build financial business cases (P and L, ROI, cost-benefit).
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, including the ability to engage senior leadership, boards and external stakeholders.
• Ability to gather and synthesize information in a concise and clear manner.
• Superior oral and written communication skills, with the ability to develop and deliver briefings and presentations for senior audiences.
• Experience in influencing decision-making based on data-based suggestions, applying critical thinking accordingly and inspiring teams to work towards a vision.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively.
• Occasional travel will be required.
• Bilingualism is considered an asset.
• Eligibility to successfully complete background checks that will be carried out by Payments Canada, including criminal, credit, identity, employment, and education checks.
| Salary range
Our target starting rate for this role is $119,850 with flexibility based on your experience and qualifications. The full salary range and benefits package are detailed below.
Please submit your application by July 17, 2026.
| What's in it for you?
• Flexible, hybrid (remote/office) environment.
• Competitive compensation package, including annual variable bonus and defined contribution pension plan with employer matching percentage (if eligible).
• Comprehensive health and dental benefit coverage, including mental health coverage, life insurance and a health spending account for you and your dependents (Permanent and temporary employees with contracts 12 months and over).
• Paid time off: minimum four weeks paid vacation, sick and personal days, December holiday shutdown and cultural holiday observance days.
• 26 weeks of paid maternity and parental leave top-up (if eligible)
• Rewards and recognition program.
• Access to office gym facilities.
• Internal and external professional development opportunities.
• Fun team and organizational events.
• Monthly all staff forums led by our Executive Leadership Team.
| Our Commitment to Fair Hiring
At Payments Canada, we are dedicated to fair, transparent and inclusive hiring. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. Our recruitment process uses automated tools, but not generative AI, to objectively screen and evaluate applications and confirm that a candidate’s qualifications meet job requirements.
It is important to remember that these tools support, but do not replace, human decision-making. Our trained recruitment professionals and hiring managers always make the final hiring decisions.
| Our diversity, inclusion and equity commitment
At Payments Canada, we are committed to making everyone feel they can be themselves and thrive at work. We will continue to build on a foundation of respect and appreciation for diversity in all forms and collectively create an inclusive and equitable culture where our differences are valued.
We are committed to employment equity and actively encourage applications from women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. If selected for an interview, please advise us if you require special accommodation by emailing hrinfo@payments.ca.
We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity. Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview.
