The role will drive RuPay Acceptance, Affordability on UPI, Merchant Growth, AI-led Payments Innovation, Ecosystem Expansion, and Product Delivery across domestic and international payment acceptance ecosystems. Key Responsibilities Product Innovation & Delivery • Build a comprehensive RuPay acceptance strategy for domestic and international POS/E-com. • Define segment-specific playbooks for micro-merchants, MSMEs, organized retail, travel, hospitality, and cross-border clusters. • Collaborate with acquirers and PAs to streamline merchant onboarding, pricing, and settlement flows. Affordability on UPI • Drive merchant acceptance of credit on UPI, including RuPay Credit Card on UPI and Credit Line on UPI, across QR, intent, and collect flows. • Build and scale EMI and installment constructs at checkout, working with issuers, PAs, and merchants on offer design, funding models, and seamless customer journeys. • Expand affordability acceptance into high-ticket and aspirational categories such as electronics, travel, education, healthcare, and home improvement. • Work with TPAPs, banks, and internal teams to remove friction in credit-on-UPI discovery, eligibility, and checkout experience. AI-led Acceptance & Growth • Apply AI/ML models for merchant segmentation and targeting, identifying high-potential merchants and categories for acceptance and affordability expansion. • Use AI-driven insights to predict and reduce transaction declines, improve approval rates, and optimise routing. • Partner with risk and technology teams on AI-based fraud and risk management for credit on UPI and card acceptance. • Explore AI-native payment experiences, including conversational and agentic commerce use cases, and define how RuPay and credit on UPI are accepted in these new journeys. • Build AI-powered personalisation for merchant offers and affordability propositions at scale. Ecosystem & Stakeholder Management • Build strong relationships with banks, PAs, POS OEMs, gateways, TPAPs, and international partners to accelerate adoption. Desired Candidate Profile Experience • 4+ years of experience in payments, cards, UPI, fintech or merchant acquiring. • Strong expertise in settlement and payment journeys. • Experience in Credit Card on UPI, Credit Line on UPI, EMI and affordability solutions. • Strong product strategy and execution skills, from proposition design to launch and scale. • Proven experience managing banks, PAs, TPAPs, merchants, gateways and other ecosystem partners. • Strong data and analytical orientation, with understanding of TPV, approval rates, declines, conversion and merchant activation. • Exposure to international acceptance/cross-border payments and AI-led payment solutions is preferred. AI Experience Required • Experience leveraging AI/ML models for merchant segmentation, acceptance growth, transaction optimization, approval-rate improvement, fraud detection, risk management and merchant personalization. • Exposure to AI-led payment solutions, conversational commerce, agentic commerce and AI-powered customer payment journeys is highly preferred. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Merchant Acceptance Growth • Domestic POS/E-com activation and retention. • Expand acceptance across micro-merchants, MSMEs, organized retail, travel, hospitality, and other strategic segments. Affordability on UPI • Merchant acceptance and TPV growth for Credit Card on UPI, Credit Line on UPI, and EMI transactions. • Drive adoption across high-value categories such as electronics, education, healthcare, travel, and home improvement. Usage & Revenue • TPV growth across domestic and international acceptance. • Deliver sustained growth in transaction count and merchant-acquiring revenue. AI Impact • Measurable uplift in approval rates, decline reduction, and merchant targeting efficiency from AI-led initiatives. • Improve merchant acquisition and targeting through AI/ML-driven segmentation. • Drive adoption of AI-powered payment and commerce experiences. Coverage • BIN enablement and compliance certifications. • Increase BIN enablement across acquiring partners and acceptance infrastructure. • Ensure timely completion of certifications, compliance requirements, and ecosystem readiness for new products and payment capabilities. Quality Metrics • Approval rates and dispute SLA adherence. • Improve transaction success and customer experience through higher approval rates. • Maintain dispute resolution and chargeback management within defined SLA timelines. • Ensure seamless onboarding, settlement, and merchant servicing processes. Success Metrics • Merchant Activation & Retention • RuPay Acceptance Growth • Credit on UPI TPV Growth • EMI Transaction Growth • Domestic & Cross-Border TPV • Approval Rate Improvement • Transaction Decline Reduction • AI-Driven Merchant Conversion • BIN Enablement Coverage • Dispute SLA Compliance • Partner Ecosystem Expansion (Banks, PAs, TPAPs, Gateways, POS OEMs)