Senior Associate - Payments and Digital Financial Services

About this role

The Payments and DFS Senior Associate is responsible for leading a team of consultants in providing strategic advice to banks, payment service providers, regulators and fintechs on matters involving payments, open finance and virtual assets. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of the payments industry, as well as experience in consulting and business development.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Delivery
• Serves as Project Manager, responsible for overall project execution and delivery
• Depending on the project team size and structure, contributes to project execution: analysis, synthesis and deliverable development
• Coordinates project teams, manages timelines, and ensures deliverables meet quality standards
• Maintains regular client communication and manages day-to-day client relationships
• Escalates issues appropriately and proactively problem-solves delivery challenges
• Business Development
• Provides quality control and sign-off on proposals developed by associates
• Leads proposal development directly when required by resource capacity
• Contributes to opportunity identification and pipeline development
• Builds and maintains relationships with client counterparts
• Operational and Financial Responsibility
• Leads one of the four service line work streams: Strategy, Research, Program Management, or Policy
• Accountable for achieving the assigned work stream financial target of USD 400,000 per annum (RFPs and direct client engagements)
• Monitors the work stream pipeline and proactively identifies opportunities to meet targets
• Knowledge Management & Thought Leadership
• Owns responsibility for drafting knowledge management materials to drive engagement. Target: Produces one knowledge piece per quarter.
• Represents the service line at key ecosystem events as assigned by the Manager/Principal/Head of Service Line
• People Management
• Official line manager to associates and analysts
• Conducts quarterly 1:1 meetings with line associates and analysts
• Conducts performance reviews and supports career development planning
• Ensures appropriate resourcing and workload management for direct reports
• Working Groups & Initiatives
• Leads one working group (e.g., Recruitment, Communications, Onboarding, Partnerships)
• Sets working group objectives and ensures progress against goals
• Reports on working group activities to service line leadership

Requirements

The successful candidates will thrive in a fast-paced environment, enjoy the flexible nature of the job, and like to hit the ground running. You are pro-active and hands-on, with the ability to not only work effectively as part of team, but also to motivate the team and ensure they can excel.

• You are likely to have:
• Master's degree in Economics, business administration (MBA) or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in consulting or payments or DFS

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Commitment to excellence and client service