Product Owner

About the Role

UniqPay is seeking a dedicated Product Owner to take full responsibility for the product roadmap and backlog concerning the UniqPay platform’s acquiring, payouts, currency conversion, and risk segments. This pivotal position involves deciding what features get developed, their prioritization, and the rationale behind these decisions. The Product Owner serves as the primary advocate for merchants, acquirers, and regulators within the engineering process and holds exclusive ownership of the scope and acceptance criteria for every sprint.

Positioned at the crossroads of Engineering, Compliance, Operations, and Sales, the Product Owner consolidates merchant needs, partner limitations, and regulatory mandates into a single prioritized product roadmap. Responsibilities include authoring detailed engineering specifications and integrating launch learnings into subsequent releases. Given the international and regulated nature of the merchants involved, substantial hands-on experience in these sectors is a must.

Core Responsibilities

• Manage and update the product roadmap for acquiring, payouts, foreign exchange (FX), and risk, ensuring balanced consideration of merchant demand, commercial priorities, technical debt, and regulatory requirements.
• Create well-defined, testable user stories and acceptance conditions, thoroughly addressing complex payment scenarios such as declines, retries, cascading payments, chargebacks, partial settlements, and foreign exchange fluctuations.
• Oversee sprint activities including planning, refinement, and review, serving as the sole authority on scope and acceptance decisions, monitoring delivery progress, and making trade-offs proactively.
• Translate regulatory requirements—including licensing, KYC and KYB standards, AML surveillance, data residency, and payment scheme rules—into precise product specifications tailored for each jurisdiction, and adjust priorities as regulations evolve.
• Engage in structured discovery processes with regulated merchants and acquiring/banking partners to acquire market-specific insights on local payment methods and settlement mechanisms.
• Lead product integration efforts involving PSPs, acquirers, and merchants encompassing API specifications, scheduling, and configuration of payment channels.
• Establish and monitor key performance metrics such as approval rates, transaction latency, settlement accuracy, onboarding duration, and merchant retention, using data insights to guide prioritization.
• Conduct thorough launch readiness reviews and post-launch/post-incident analyses, converting findings into actionable backlog improvements or process updates.

Who You Are

• Experience: Have accumulated between 4 to 6 years in product ownership or management roles; crucially, possess a minimum of 2 years working within payments or fintech products serving iGaming, cryptocurrency, or foreign exchange merchants on international platforms.
• Industry expertise: Deep understanding of revenue drivers and loss factors within targeted regulated verticals, including knowledge of cascading transactions, approval rates, on/off-ramp flow dynamics, settlement processes, and margin structures.
• Regulatory competence: Practical experience embedding licensing, KYC/KYB, AML, data residency, and payment scheme compliance requirements into product designs spanning multiple jurisdictions.
• Execution capabilities: Proven agility in backlog management — defining user stories, facilitating agile ceremonies, and being accountable for sprint deliverables.
• Technical acumen: Comfortable collaborating closely with engineers on API-centric applications and third-party integrations; adept at interpreting sequence diagrams and API logs independently.
• Decision-making skills: Strong judgment to assertively say no, effectively communicating prioritization choices to diverse stakeholders including founders, compliance personnel, and engineering teams.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Finance, or related disciplines is preferred; professional certifications such as CSPO or PSPO are advantageous.

Additional Advantages

• Experience engaging directly with regulators, auditors, or card schemes during licensing applications, audits, or reviews.
• Track record of launching products in new countries or corridors, adapting to local payment modalities and regulatory requirements.
• History of establishing product management functions in early-stage companies where no prior product processes existed.

Career Path and Hiring Process

The Product Owner role serves as a pathway to becoming a Product Manager by demonstrating full ownership of the roadmap, maintaining compliance across regulations, and elevating strategic thinking. The hiring process usually lasts three to four weeks, involving practical exercises simulating the actual job and discussions with colleagues including founders. The company commits to responding to applicants within three business days and supports flexibility upon request.

Inclusivity Statement

The team thrives on a diverse mix of nationalities, time zones, and payment experiences, fostering inclusive decision-making in cross-border payments. Everyone is encouraged to be themselves.