Cards Technical Implementation Lead📣 Job Ad

About the Role

Coefficient Alliances & Ventures (Coefftalent) is seeking a Cards Technical Implementation Lead to join their team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time role is central to driving the end-to-end technical implementation, certification, and production launch of card programmes for a client, a global Cards & Payments firm engaged with a leading bank in Riyadh.

Role Overview

The Cards Technical Implementation Lead provides dedicated card-domain implementation expertise, supporting the client’s technology and product teams within Saudi Arabia. This position involves coordinating and executing critical technical workstreams necessary to establish card programmes under the Kingdom’s principal membership model. Key activities include BIN application and configuration, ICA assignment, processor integration, scheme certification, physical-card issuance, and digital-card enablement.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the full technical delivery lifecycle for consumer credit, wallet-linked, and commercial card programs in the KSA market, developing and maintaining comprehensive project plans for BIN request/setup, ICA assignment, CMS integration, processor connectivity, and scheme certification.
• Drive principal membership enablement, coordinating ICA assignment, membership documentation, and regulatory submissions to SAMA, ensuring operational activation within the first 8 weeks.
• Oversee card productionisation and digital issuance, from card design and personalisation through production, fulfilment, and digital provisioning, ensuring integration with processing platform personalization bureaus per scheme requirements.
• Execute digital wallet and tokenisation launches (*, Apple Pay, Google Pay, xPay), including MDES setup, tokenisation services deployment to production, 3DS authentication configuration, and end-to-end digital provisioning flow validation.
• Lead scheme certification and quality assurance, including MIP testing, parametrisation workbook completion, package configuration, SIT/UAT, performance testing, and security testing, ensuring 100% of P1/P2 defects are resolved prior to go-live.
• Manage authorisation, authentication, and dispute management configuration, ensuring post-launch operational readiness, including production incident management, initial stabilisation, and comprehensive handover documentation for BAU operations teams.
• Coordinate across all parties—Processor, personalization bureaus, and the client's product, technology, and compliance functions—facilitating workshops, solution design sessions, and weekly/monthly governance cadence.

Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in payments technology, card issuing/processing, and technical implementation programme delivery.
• Proven experience launching card products end-to-end, including credit, wallet-linked prepaid, and commercial cards.
• Demonstrable experience delivering greenfield card launches, from programme setup through to production go-live.
• Deep understanding of issuer processing, card-management systems, and the card lifecycle: issuance, authorisation, clearing, settlement, chargebacks, and disputes.
• Strong knowledge of SAMA requirements relevant to card issuing and consumer-finance products.

Technical Proficiency

• Hands-on experience with BIN setup, ICA assignment, processor integration, scheme certification, and launch-readiness activities.
• Working knowledge of ISO 8583 and ISO 20022 messaging, tokenisation, 3DS, card personalisation, and digital-wallet enablement.
• Experience implementing digital wallets and tokenisation solutions, including MDES and xPay solutions.

Regional and Industry Exposure

• Experience working within fintech, BNPL, issuing-bank, processor, or payment-scheme environments.
• Strong preference for experience delivering card programmes in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, or wider MENA region.
• Exposure to global card markets is considered beneficial.