| What we are looking for
Reporting to the Manager, ISO 20022 COE, the Senior Analyst (Senior Technical SME) acts as the primary technical anchor and subject matter expert for ISO 20022 messaging standards across core payment rails, owned and operated by Payments Canada.
This senior role is responsible for executing advanced technical analysis, managing complex message schemas and leading hands-on technical validation and defect remediation across core payment systems. Operating as technical expert within the team, this role emphasizes owning the end-to-end integrity of technical artifacts, performing rigorous peer reviews and resolving intricate data mapping misalignments between domestic rails and global standards. The Senior Analyst leads strategic discovery and feasibility studies for emerging payment initiatives, spearheads technical triage during critical testing windows and provides mentorship to junior technical staff.
Duties and Responsibilities
Technical Leadership and Standards Governance
Serve as a technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) for ISO 20022 message design, validation rules, schema versioning and market practice documentation across all payment streams with a primary focus on one of the payment systems operated by Payments Canada.
Proactively manage the technical delta between legacy baselines and modern financial messaging standards.
Author, review and maintain high-impact technical documentation, including Market Practice Documents, Message Specifications and Companion Documents.
Identify, track, and mitigate complex architectural data risks, such as data truncation, character set misalignments and compliance mapping gaps (e.g., adoption of Structured Postal Addresses, Ultimate Parties, and FATF/CPMI requirements).
End-to-End Testing and Defect Remediation
Serve as the single point of contact and final escalation tier for complex technical defect triage across System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Industry Testing rounds.
Partner with participants, external delivery partners, and central bank teams to resolve multi-party integration blockers.
Establish automated frameworks for message validation tools, optimizing the testing lifecycle for participant financial institutions.
Strategic Projects and Discovery
Lead technical scoping, impact assessments and feasibility studies for net-new strategic initiatives.
Collaborate with Enterprise Architecture, Product, and external vendor teams to evaluate downstream impact assessments for proposed system upgrades.
Formulate technical options and remediation paths for senior leadership to de-risk delivery timelines for the strategic initiatives.
Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration
Work closely with industry working groups and represent the organization in relevant ISO 20022 forums with a focus on the primed payment system.
Mentorship and Peer Review Excellence
Drive accountability and technical quality within the COE by establishing rigorous self-QA and peer-review protocols for all message mapping and technical drafts.
Provide continuous technical mentorship and technical coaching to junior staff to uplift overall team capability and eliminate single points of failure.
Continuous Improvement
Monitor evolving industry trends and regulatory changes related to ISO 20022 and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
Technical Competencies
Knowledge of the Canadian Payments Industry, in particular the Canadian Payments Clearing and Settlement Systems.
Strong understanding of ISO 20022 business model, logical data structure, and physical syntax (XML/JSON data formats)
Proven experience using tools like SWIFT MyStandards to define, document, and publish market-specific Usage Guidelines (e.g., HVPS+, CBPR+).
Critical reasoning and analytical thinking
Ability to perform research
Ability to write in a clear and concise fashion
Ability to create impactful presentations
Strong business acumen related to the Financial Services and…