Fractional Consultant (Payments/ Tsys)

Senior Payments Consultant ​/​ TSYS Acquiring SME
International Tech Services Co (ITSC)
Remote (US​/​Canada​/​Europe), minimum 6 hours' daily overlap with North American business hours
1 December ​/​ ASAP
Long-term, full-time
Programme Context
ITSC is consolidating multiple payment gateways onto a single target platform in a SAFe​/​Agile environment. This is a hands-on delivery role requiring deep US merchant acquiring and TSYS Acquiring expertise, not generic payments advisory experience.
Role Summary
Act as the senior US Payments and TSYS Acquiring SME, translating processing behaviours into executable migration rules, mappings, specifications and production-readiness decisions. Work with architecture, BAs, engineering, migration, QA and operations to minimise cutover and reconciliation risks and accelerate certification and go-live.
Key Responsibilities
- Assess gateway​/​processor interfaces, dependencies and processing differences; define fit-gap findings and target-state options.
- Translate US acquiring and TSYS processing requirements into migration rules, data mappings, interface specifications and delivery decisions.
- Guide coexistence, cutover, reconciliation, exception management and production-readiness strategies.
- Review end-to-end scenarios, integration designs and controls with technical and business teams; validate test coverage against scheme and processor requirements.
- Resolve complex processor​/​network issues and advise on certification, scheme mandates, PCI and regulatory requirements.
- Support SAFe PI planning, sprint delivery, design reviews, UAT, defect triage and go-live decisions.
Required Domain Expertise
- US merchant acquiring: Gateway​/​processor architecture, merchant and terminal interfaces, payment networks and downstream settlement systems.
- TSYS Acquiring: Strong hands-on experience with Saratoga, Sierra or Summit, including TSYS BETs and TSYS PPM.
- TSYS interfaces: EIS 1080 (authorization) and EIS 1081 (settlement and clearing).
- Transaction lifecycle: Authorization, reversals, capture, clearing, settlement, funding, reconciliation, disputes​/​chargebacks and exception handling.
- Card schemes: Visa​/​Mastercard mandates, card-present​/​not-present transactions, tipping, surcharges, split billing, DCC​/​FX, tokenization and digital wallets.
- POS​/​terminals: Verifone​/​Ingenico integrations, message formats, routing, protocols and certification.
Minimum Qualifications
- 10+ years in US payments, merchant acquiring or processing, with substantial hands-on TSYS Acquiring delivery experience.
- Demonstrable work on Saratoga, Sierra or Summit and practical experience with TSYS BETs​/​PPM.
- Proven delivery of major gateway​/​processor integration or migration programmes, including reconciliation and cutover.
- Ability to interpret APIs, interface specifications, transaction traces, SQL evidence and data mappings.
- Strong stakeholder management, problem-solving and ability to challenge technical and business assumptions.
Preferred Qualifications
- SAFe​/​Agile delivery experience, including PI planning and sprint ceremonies.
- Jira, Confluence or Azure DevOps experience.
- Responsible use of AI tools throughout the SDLC.
Mandatory Screening Requirements
Candidates must demonstrate specific US acquiring and TSYS Acquiring project experience, identifying platforms, interfaces, components and their personal hands-on contributions. Issuer processing, generic payments experience or TSYS brand familiarity alone is insufficient.
Equal Opportunity
ITSC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Candidates are considered without discrimination based on legally protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodations are available throughout recruitment.

Skills
Azure, SQL, Agile, Jira, Confluence

Work arrangement
Yes