Remittance Business/Project Manager

Job Title: Remittance Business/Project Manager

Employment type: Contract (On-site)

Contract length: 6-12 months

Location: Riyadh, KSA

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

We are looking for a driven and detail-oriented Project Manager to be seconded full-time at a leading bank in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, embedded within the Cards & Payments department. In this role, you will own the end-to-end delivery of payments and remittance projects — from initiation and requirements gathering through to UAT, go-live, and post-deployment monitoring — while also supporting day-to-day operational flows within the remittance and payment's function.

This is a hands-on, client-facing role that requires strong coordination across internal bank teams, third-party vendors, technology partners, and scheme operators. You will be expected to operate independently on-site, represent the engagement professionally, and drive project outcomes with minimal supervision.

Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Project Delivery:

• Lead end-to-end delivery of payments and remittance projects including new product launches, system upgrades, API integrations, and payment scheme implementations (e.g. SARIE, BUNA, AFAQ, IPS).
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, timelines, RACI matrices, and status reports using tools such as JIRA, CLM, or equivalent.
• Gather and review functional requirements and support the production of Business Requirement Documents (BRDs) in coordination with technology and business teams.
• Coordinate across business, technology, compliance, and vendor teams to ensure milestones are met on time and within scope.
• Manage UAT cycles: define test cases, coordinate functional, regression, and system testing, review UAT evidence, track defects, and manage resolution with vendors and technical teams.
• Monitor post-deployment production performance and escalate issues promptly to ensure business continuity.

Payments & Remittance Operations Support:

• Support the operational management of inbound and outbound payment and remittance flows, including SWIFT, local transfers, bulk payments, and API-based transactions.
• Assist with monitoring remittance flows via portals, FTP, and API tools, and support settlement activities including nostro/vostro account reconciliation and correspondent bank charge management.
• Help identify and implement process improvements and automation opportunities within existing operational workflows.
• Act as a point of escalation for operational incidents, coordinating with technology teams to drive timely resolution.
• Support compliance with SAMA regulations and relevant scheme rules across all project and operational activities.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management:

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with internal client stakeholders across operations, technology, compliance, and business.
• Manage day-to-day interactions with external vendors, MTOs, correspondent banking partners, and scheme operators.
• Prepare and present project updates, steering committee materials, and risk/issue logs to senior stakeholders.

Knowledge and Experience:

Essential:

• 6–8 years of experience in project management within the payments, remittance, or financial services sector.
• Demonstrated experience delivering payments or remittance projects at a bank, fintech, or money transfer operator (MTO) in KSA or the GCC.
• Solid understanding of Saudi and GCC payment schemes, including SARIE, BUNA, AFAQ (GCC RTGS), IPS (Instant Payment System), and SAMA regulatory requirements.
• Hands-on experience with SWIFT messaging standards — MT (Series 1, 2 & 9) and MX/ISO 20022 messages (PACS, PAIN, CAMT) — and cross-border payment flows.
• Experience with API integration projects, including correspondent bank integrations, identity/KYC APIs, and MTO platform connectivity.
• Familiarity with payment system platforms such as OPF (Open Payment Framework), TMS/X, GTX, or similar core payments infrastructure.
• Experience managing end-to-end UAT processes including functional, regression, and system testing, and coordinating vendor-side defect resolution.
• Proficiency with project management tools such as JIRA, CLM, or equivalent.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills — able to engage confidently with both technical teams and senior business leaders.

Desirable:

• Familiarity with incident management tools.
• Exposure to core banking systems (e.g., T24/Temenos, Oracle)
• Knowledge of settlement mechanisms including SWIFT, GCC RTGS, and local scheme settlement flows.
• Familiarity with ELM APIs (e.g., Tahaquq, Nafath, Yakeen) and Saudi digital identity integration frameworks.
• Arabic language proficiency (spoken and/or written) is a plus.
• PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification is an advantage.