FirstRand

Product Specialist (Capability - Payment Platform)

Johannesburg Full time

Job Description

A motivated Product Specialist / Capability Specialist is required to support the Payments Platform team in delivering modernisation initiatives. The role supports the Technical Product Manager and delivery teams by enabling feature delivery within the new target architecture, documenting processes, monitoring platform performance during transition, and building capability in modern payment technologies.

This role provides strong exposure to payments platforms, APIs, regulatory and compliance considerations, and day‑to‑day platform operations. It offers hands‑on involvement in legacy‑to‑modern transformation within a banking environment and is well suited to individuals looking to develop deep technical and product expertise while progressing toward more senior product or capability leadership roles.

Support Capability Delivery:

Help define and prioritise user stories/features for modernisation phases (e.g., API enablement, real-time capabilities, ISO 20022 readiness, legacy decoupling). Participate in backlog grooming, sprint planning, Agile ceremonies and support incremental delivery of modern components.

Requirements Gathering & Analysis:

Collect/document business, operational, and technical needs related to modernisation/enhancements of payment capabilities (e.g., migration requirements, data mapping for richer standards, integration with new rails). Translate needs into clear specifications for engineering teams.

Platform Monitoring & Support:

Track key platform health metrics, transaction success rates, and operational KPIs. Help investigate and resolve production issues, working closely with engineering, operations, and support teams. Report on metrics for both legacy and modern environments (transaction success, uptime, migration progress, cost impacts). Assist in issue resolution during phased rollouts and cutovers.

Documentation & Knowledge Management:

Maintain/update capability documentation, including process flows, API specs, migration guides, capability matrices, and transition playbooks. Contribute to knowledge sharing across teams.

Testing & Validation:

Support UAT, regression, and validation for modernisation releases (new APIs, real-time flows, tokenization/security enhancements). Help ensure releases meet quality, compliance, performance standards, and stability across old/new systems.

Stakeholder Coordination:

Act as a point of contact for day-to-day queries from operations, compliance, risk, and business teams. Facilitate communication between product, engineering, and support functions.

Market & Modernisation Awareness:

Research payment modernisation trends (cloud-native design, ISO 20022 benefits, real-time rails, fraud prevention in instant payments) and provide basic insights to inform discussions. Identify opportunities to enhance platform usability, efficiency, or compliance. Participate in retrospectives and process optimization initiatives.

Continuous Improvement:

Identify opportunities to enhance modernisation processes, reduce technical debt, or improve usability in the evolving platform.


Qualification Requirement:

  • Bachelor's degree in business, Finance, Computer Science, Information Systems, Economics, or a related field will be preferred
  • At least 2 years in fintech, banking and payments,
  • Experience in product support, business analysis, operations, or a technical/analytical role and exposure to payment system projects (even legacy support or initial modernisation phases) is valuable
  • Experience with SQL, data analysis tools or basic API testing
  • Basic understanding of payment flows, legacy vs. modern architectures (e.g., API-first, real-time vs. batch), and standards like ISO 20022. Familiarity with Agile tools (Jira, Confluence).

#POST

#FNB

#LI-NM7

 

Important Closing Date Note

Take note that applications will not be accepted on the below date and onwards, kindly submit applications ahead of the closing date indicated below.

26/03/26

All appointments will be made in line with FirstRand Group’s Employment Equity plan. The Bank supports the recruitment and advancement of individuals with disabilities. In order for us to fulfill this purpose, candidates can disclose their disability information on a voluntary basis. The Bank will keep this information confidential unless we are required by law to disclose this information to other parties.