PRODUCT OWNER, CARD PROGRAMS

FlexUnited StatesRemoteFull-timePrincipal, 12–15+ yearsListed 3 months ago

Apply now

About this role

You will own Flex's card programs end to end. We are running a meaningful annualized credit program today. We are launching multiple new card products in the next two quarters. Your job is to scale this from one major program to five-plus and take total volume across the portfolio up by more than an order of magnitude.
This is not a card fulfillment seat. This is the owner of every layer of our card stack: ledger, processing, servicing, fulfillment, BIN sponsor relationships, network relationships, and the operational discipline that lets us run multiple programs concurrently without seams.
We want someone who has personally spun up a card program from scratch, not as a secondary contributor. Someone who can sit in a meeting with Marqeta or Visa, hear a vendor explanation, and call out exactly where the story is bullshit. Someone who knows what FTS, ARI, DPS, BINs, and the rest of the alphabet actually mean and where vendors hide behind acronyms.
What you will do
----------------
Own every layer of Flex's card programs: ledger, processing, servicing, fulfillment, BIN sponsor management, network relationships.
Lead the Marqeta strategy and the Visa Direct relationship. Hold vendors accountable. Drive the technical and commercial negotiations.
Build the operational infrastructure that supports five concurrent card programs. 
Architect the path to scale the portfolio by more than 20x. Build the operating model that makes that scale possible without breaking customer experience.
Recruit the next layer of the card programs team as the function grows. You will tell us who we need to hire and when.
Translate the technical complexity of card issuing into clear product decisions for the rest of the company. We have struggled to communicate the now program, the transition, and the future program. Fixing that is part of your job.
What you will need
------------------
You have personally spun up at least one card program from scratch as the primary owner. If you were the secondary contributor on someone else's program, this is not the seat for you.
Hands-on depth across ledger, processing, servicing, and fulfillment. You know what each of these is, who the vendors are, and where the operational risk lives.
Deep familiarity with BIN sponsor dynamics, issuer processor mechanics, and card network rules. You can hold a real conversation about a processor migration or a network compliance issue.
Senior plus. Typically 5 to 12 years of experience. Title is not the point. Building the business unit is.
You are willing to be the only person on this for a stretch and then build the function around you.
You can read vendor decks and decide what is real and what is sales theater.
Target companies and what we want to see from each
--------------------------------------------------
The net is narrower here than for the other product owner roles. We are looking for operators who have personally built card programs, not adjacent.
Visa. Led the Visa side of a major issuer program (Apple Card, Cash App Card, X1, Brex, Ramp, Robinhood) as a primary contributor. Worked on Visa Direct or Visa DPS specifically. We are open to candidates from the network but allergic to people who got stuck there. The story we want to hear is "I owned a real program, scaled it, and now I want to build something from the ground up."
Mastercard. Same as Visa. Anyone who worked on Mastercard Send or on the issuer side of a major program. Same filter on getting-stuck-versus-leaving-to-build.
Marqeta. Led the implementation for one of the major Marqeta customers (Block, DoorDash, Affirm, Klarna, Instacart, Uber, JPMorgan) as the primary IC. Worked on the core issuing infrastructure (ledger, processing, tokenization) or on the platform's program management layer. Bonus if you led a customer through a processor or BIN sponsor change.
Lithic. Built card issuing infrastructure or owned the BIN sponsor strategy. Led API platform expansion to new fintech customers. Privacy.com consumer product leadership is also relevant for someone who has run a full P&L on a card program.
Unit. Built the card programs side of the BaaS platform. Owned partner bank relationships (Pacific West, Blue Ridge, Thread) for card programs specifically. Led customer card program implementations from kickoff through GA.
Highnote. Founding team or early product hire. Built the ledger, processing, or program management core of the platform. This is a tight net but the right candidate from Highnote would be exceptional for this seat.
Galileo (pre-SoFi acquisition). Built core card processing infrastructure or led a major customer program (Chime debit, early fintech card customers). Same Carta-Wells Fargo style of deep implementation experience applies here.
Stripe Issuing. Shipped Stripe Issuing 0-to-1 after the 2018 launch. Owned major customer card program implementations (Ramp, Shopify Balance, others). Led the integration of Stripe Issuing with Stripe Treasury for the integrated banking-plus-card play.
Adyen Issuing. Shipped the Adyen Issuing product after its 2021 launch. Led a customer card program from spec through GA on the platform.
Checkout.com. Built issuing capabilities or owned a major customer card program. Same depth requirements as the others.
Brex. Built the Brex Card program from scratch in the 2017 to 2019 era. Owned the rewards engine, the underwriting integration, or the transition between processors or BIN sponsors. Bonus for anyone who shipped the Brex Cash debit card or the consumer-style spend products.
Ramp. Built the Ramp Card program. Owned the Stripe Issuing implementation, the BIN sponsor relationship, or the transition to deeper processor integration. Anyone who scaled the card from launch through hypergrowth is relevant.
Mercury. Built the IO Card credit card program from scratch. Owned the Mercury Debit Card operations at scale. Especially interesting if you led the partner bank or processor side.
Cash App Card. Owned a specific feature area at massive scale (Boost rewards, dispute and fraud ops, virtual card, Cash App Pay integration). The bar is real ownership of a discrete program area, not feature-level work.
Apple Card team (Goldman side). Owned a feature area on Apple Card. Rewards, dispute resolution, fraud, or virtual card. Anyone from the Goldman side of the program is interesting if they have program ownership depth.
Chime. Built or scaled the Chime debit card program at the largest neobank scale in the US. Owned SpotMe operations, Credit Builder card launch, or the processor and BIN sponsor relationships.
SoFi. Built the SoFi Credit Card program from launch (the 2020 to 2022 era). Owned the credit card P&L or the integration with the broader SoFi product surface.
X1 (now Robinhood Credit Card). Founder or early team member of X1. You built the credit card from scratch, navigated the BIN sponsor relationship as a startup, and scaled to acquisition. This is a high-signal background.
Petal. Built the Petal credit card from scratch. Especially the alternative underwriting and the program operations.
Counter-signal candidates
-------------------------
If a candidate's resume says "Card PM at BigCo" but cannot tell you who their BIN sponsor was, what processor they ran on, and what they would change about that stack, they were not running the program.
If a candidate has only worked at one of the networks (Visa, Mastercard) without ever operating on the issuer side, they will struggle to make the buyer-side decisions this role requires.
If a candidate was at a fintech but only owned the consumer-facing card UI (the rewards screen, the card art, the activation flow) without touching ledger, processing, servicing, or BIN sponsor work, the gap is too wide.
If a candidate has never personally read a network operating regulation or a BIN sponsor agreement, this is not the seat.
What we offer
-------------
A founding-stage seat with elite peers and direct access to leadership, customers, and investors.
A Series B balance sheet with a clear path to profitability by late 2026.
Real equity. The kind that matters if you help build something big.
Comprehensive benefits and perks. Semi-annual offsites that actually bring the team together. A culture that supports remote work and rewards execution over presence.
Why join us
-----------
Build something generational. We are capturing the full lifecycle of money for ambitious business owners.
Work on real money, real risk. Payments, credit, banking at serious scale.
Solve hard problems. AI, underwriting, compliance, and global finance from first principles.
True ownership. Small teams, high trust, real accountability.
Founder-level exposure. Direct access to leadership, customers, and investors.
High bar, high taste. Move fast without cutting corners.
Elite peers. Builders, not tourists.
Real upside. Meaningful equity if you help build something big.