Product Analyst — Merchant Services (Payments) (contract)

Description

Title: Product Analyst — Merchant Services (Payments)

Locations: Charlotte, NC

Duration: 24 months

Work Engagement: W2

Work Schedule: 3 days in office/2 days remote

Benefits on offer for this contract position: Health Insurance, Life insurance, 401K and Voluntary Benefits

Summary:

In this contingent resource assignment, you may: Consult on complex initiatives with broad impact and large-scale planning for Business Execution. Review and analyze complex multi-faceted, larger scale, or longer-term Business Execution challenges that require in-depth evaluation of multiple factors including intangibles or unprecedented factors. Contribute to the resolution of complex and multi-faceted situations requiring solid understanding of the function, policies, procedures, and compliance requirements that meet deliverables. Strategically collaborate and consult with client personnel. Required Qualifications: Business Execution, Implementation, or Strategic Planning experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work or consulting experience, training, military experience, education.

Responsibilities:

Backlog & Story Excellence (Primary Focus)

• Maintain a high‑quality backlog with two sprints of Definition‑of‑Ready (DoR) items.

• Break down epics/features into clear user stories with testable acceptance criteria.

• Lead refinement: expose dependencies, clarify scope, articulate value, and surface risks.

• Identify unplanned work and propose trade‑offs to protect delivery.

Product Analysis

• Document current state (flows, processes, data).

• Identify gaps, defects, and practical resolution options.

• Shape problem statements and solution approaches for PO decisioning.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Translate business needs into concrete requirements.

• Work with SMEs to validate use cases and acceptance criteria.

• Support control/audit requests with clean, traceable documentation.

Quality, Testing & Production Readiness

• Document use cases and scenarios for design and UAT.

• Partner with UAT leads and perform lightweight testing when required.

• Represent the team in production triage and lead defect intake/analysis.

Sprint Planning & Delivery Rhythm

• Support Sprint Planning: review outcomes, identify carryover, prepare upcoming work.

• Surface risks, assumptions, and dependencies; keep PO decisions well documented.

Qualifications:

• Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

• Proven experience as a Product Analyst/Business Analyst in Agile delivery (Scrum/SAFe).

• Strong user story writing, acceptance criteria definition, and refinement facilitation.

• Ability to turn abstract ideas into clear, testable requirements.

• Experience in defect/root‑cause analysis with engineering/QA teams.

• Proficiency with Agile tools (Jira/Azure Boards) and documentation (Confluence, process/data mapping).

• Financial Services background—especially Payments/Merchant Services (e.g., onboarding, processing flows, chargebacks, settlement, reconciliation). (preferred)

• Familiarity with controls, audit readiness, and regulated delivery (PCI-DSS a plus). (preferred)

• Comfort navigating complex stakeholders and clarifying ownership. (preferred)

• Basic data analysis (SQL or similar). (preferred)

• Relevant certifications (CSPO/PSPO, SAFe POPM, ICP‑BA, etc.). (preferred)