What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Director - Payments position at Photon?
Product Director - PayFac & Platforms
Berkeley Heights, NJ /Alpharetta, GA
Role Summary
We are seeking a Product Director to lead strategy and execution for our PayFac and Platforms offerings, with a focus on payment flows, instruction-based funding, and segment expansion. This role will drive core payment infrastructure, funds orchestration, and monetization models that enable platforms and merchants to scale efficiently within a compliant PayFac framework.
Key Responsibilities
Define and execute product strategy for PayFac and platform payment capabilities, with emphasis on payment orchestration, settlement flows, and funding models
Own end-to-end payment flows including authorization, capture, settlement, funding, reconciliation, and exception handling
Design and scale instruction-based funding capabilities (e.g., merchant-of-record funding, split settlements, programmable payouts, event-driven funding triggers)
Lead architecture and productization of funds flow models, including FBO structures, balance management, prefunding, and liquidity optimization
Drive expansion into new merchant segments and platform verticals by tailoring payment capabilities, pricing models, and risk constructs
Develop flexible commercial constructs (wholesale, rev share, managed PayFac) aligned to segment needs and partner maturity
Partner with risk, compliance, and finance teams to ensure scalable governance of funding flows, exposure limits, and loss controls
Collaborate with engineering to build resilient, API-driven services for payment orchestration and funding instruction management
Support large platform deals with clear articulation of payment flows, economics, and operating model differentiation
Benchmark and evolve capabilities against leading PayFac/platform providers with focus on payment performance, funding flexibility, and monetization
Required Experience
8 years in product management with deep experience in payments, PayFac, or platform ecosystems
Proven experience owning payment flows (auth settlement funding) and designing scalable funds flow architectures
Strong understanding of instruction-based funding models, including split payments, staged funding, and programmable disbursements
Experience expanding payment products into new segments (SMB, enterprise, vertical SaaS, marketplaces) with differentiated value propositions
Familiarity with PayFac operating models, sponsor bank relationships, and associated compliance frameworks
Experience building API-first, modular payment services
Experience designing multi-party payment flows (platforms, sub-merchants, third-party payouts)
Background in pricing strategy and unit economics for payment platforms
Leadership Profile
Strong executive presence with ability to communicate complex payment and funding constructs simply
Structured, outcomes-driven leader with strong ownership of P&L and platform performance
Collaborative operator across product, engineering, risk, finance, and commercial teams