Projects & MIS

Head of Projects & MIS for Banking Operations

Location: Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra

Department: Projects & MIS (reporting into Operations)

Reporting To: Head of Operations

About the Role:

We're looking for a highly accomplished and seasoned Head of Projects & MIS to strategically drive operational excellence and innovation within our Payments Bank operations. Reporting directly to the Head of Operations, you'll be pivotal in shaping our digital payment ecosystem. You'll be responsible for the strategic direction, oversight, and successful delivery of all operational projects, ensuring business needs are accurately translated into cutting-edge technological solutions. This role demands robust MIS capabilities to provide actionable, real-time insights crucial for high-volume transaction processing and enhancing the digital customer experience. With 15+ years of banking or payments industry experience and a deep understanding of Payments Bank operations, you'll guide your team to execute initiatives that enhance efficiency, compliance, and customer delight.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Project Oversight & Direction

Strategic Project Portfolio Management: Define and manage the overall project roadmap for operational initiatives focusing on digital payments (UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS), wallet services, digital onboarding, customer service for payment products, and internal settlement processes. Ensure alignment with the Head of Operations' vision and the Payments Bank's strategic goals for rapid growth and efficiency.

Business Requirements Strategy: Oversee the process of gathering and documenting business requirements for operational projects, ensuring that Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) are comprehensive, clear, and accurately reflect the needs of the operations teams, especially concerning payment flows and digital interfaces.

Stakeholder Engagement: Maintain strong relationships with senior operational leaders, IT heads, product teams, and external partners (e.g., payment networks, technology vendors). Facilitate high-level discussions, manage expectations, and ensure seamless collaboration to unblock issues and drive project success.

Risk Management & Quality Assurance: Oversee the identification and mitigation of operational and technological risks specific to a Payments Bank, including transaction fraud prevention, real-time monitoring capabilities, and ensuring the resilience and scalability of payment systems. Ensure all solutions developed meet high quality standards and effectively address business needs and regulatory compliance.

Process Improvement Leadership: Champion continuous improvement initiatives within operations, advocating for extensive automation for high-volume transactions, real-time processing, and innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, reduce manual intervention, and improve Straight Through Processing (STP) rates.

Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop the Projects & MIS team, fostering a high-performance, agile, and technologically adept culture focused on payment operations and digital innovation.

2. MIS Strategy & Insight Generation

MIS Vision & Framework: Define and continuously evolve the MIS strategy for the Operations department, ensuring it provides comprehensive, timely, and actionable insights crucial for a Payments Bank, including real-time transaction monitoring, payment success rates, digital channel performance, customer onboarding funnel analytics, and operational efficiency metrics.

High-Level Reporting & Analysis: Oversee the design and development of executive-level dashboards and reports that clearly articulate key performance indicators (KPIs), operational metrics, and strategic trends related to payment processing and digital operations.

Data-Driven Decision Support: Guide the team in conducting in-depth data analysis to identify performance gaps, root causes of operational issues (e.g., payment failures, reconciliation breaks), and opportunities for optimizing payment flows and enhancing fraud detection. Present high-level findings and strategic recommendations to senior management.

Data Governance & Quality: Ensure robust data governance frameworks are in place for operational data, promoting accuracy, consistency, and integrity across all MIS reports, particularly for critical transaction data.

Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration or a related quantitative field. A Master's degree (MBA) is highly preferred.

Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in the Indian banking or financial services industry, with a significant and demonstrable focus on operations management, business analysis, and successful project delivery within a Payments Bank, FinTech company specializing in payments, or the digital/payments division of a large commercial bank.

Deep domain expertise in Payments Bank operations or the digital payments ecosystem, specifically in areas like Onboarding (digital, low-friction), high-volume Payment Processing (UPI, IMPS, Wallets), digital Settlement & Reconciliation, and digital Customer Service for payment products.

Strong understanding of associated processes, risks (especially fraud and operational risk in digital payments), and regulatory requirements relevant to Payments Banks in India (RBI guidelines for Payments Banks, PMLA, AML, KYC).

Proven track record of strategically overseeing and driving large-scale, complex technology and business transformation projects within a digital/payments-centric operational environment.

Strong understanding of project methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid). PMP/Prince2 certification is highly advantageous.

Experience with Business Intelligence (BI) platforms (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) and a strong grasp of how data can be leveraged for real-time operational insights in a high-volume transaction environment.

Exceptional communication (written and verbal), presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels, including product and technology leadership.

Strong leadership capabilities, with proven experience in leading and mentoring a team of project managers and analysts in a fast-paced, technologically driven environment.

Highly analytical and strategic thinker, with the ability to identify critical issues, interpret complex payment data, and formulate effective solutions.