Merchant Services Strategy Advisor

HonorVet Technologies(SDVOSB) is a certified veteran-owned staffing and workforce solutions company recognized for its industry certifications, commitment to quality talent acquisition, and excellence in delivering IT, healthcare, federal, state, and SLED (State, Local, and Education) staffing services, helping organizations build reliable, compliant, and high-performing teams across mission-critical sectors.

Job Title: Merchant Services Strategy Advisor
Location: Remote
Duration: 6 Months
Must-Have Experience

• Commercial banking experience
• Payment gateway experience
• Payments/repayments experience
• 7–20+ years of relevant experience (15–20 years preferred)

 
Job Description
We are seeking an experienced contract consultant to provide strategic guidance, operating model design, and execution support for establishing a new merchant services relationship with a commercial bank.
The engagement focuses on designing and implementing a merchant acquiring and sponsorship model for debit card acceptance, with a roadmap to later enable credit card acceptance. The advisor will play a key role in defining the target operating model and ensuring the structure supports scalability, regulatory compliance, and future flexibility for direct integrations with payment gateways and processors.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and design the end-to-end merchant services operating model (acquiring, sponsorship, settlement, and processing)
• Lead cross-functional workstreams with internal stakeholders and external banking and payment partners
• Support setup of merchant acquiring relationships with a commercial bank
• Ensure alignment across card network rules, settlement processes, reconciliation, and dispute management
• Provide expertise on PCI compliance, risk, and regulatory requirements
• Guide integration strategy for payment gateways and processors
• Develop vendor and contract strategy to ensure flexibility and scalability
• Identify and mitigate operational and technical risks across the payments ecosystem
• Ensure future optionality for direct gateway/processor relationships

Required Expertise

• Merchant acquiring and sponsorship models
• Commercial bank payment ecosystems
• Payment gateway and processor integrations
• Card network rules and compliance frameworks (Visa/Mastercard, etc.)
• Settlement, reconciliation, and dispute management processes
• PCI DSS, risk, and compliance in payments
• Operating model and payments architecture design
• Vendor management and contract structuring