Product Owner

About the Role

We’re seeking an experienced Product Owner (or Product Manager) to join our expanding team. You’ll lead the evolution of key products and processes that drive Forward’s scalability, efficiency, and success across our partners, merchants, and operations.

This role is ideal for a hands-on, intellectually curious product professional who thrives in small, fast-moving environments. You’ll collaborate closely with engineering, operations, compliance, and external partners to streamline how we onboard, monitor, and support thousands of merchants and sub-facilitators.

You’ll be joining a company in the steep part of its growth curve, where every idea matters and every improvement has a visible impact.

What You’ll Do

Product Planning & Roadmapping

• Translate business objectives into actionable roadmaps balancing immediate needs with long-term strategic outcomes.

• Identify and deliver high-ROI improvements that enhance operational efficiency and customer experience.

• Support the vision for products, tools, and our infrastructure ensuring they scale alongside our growing portfolio of partners and merchants.

Execution & Ownership

• Own your backlog: define, prioritize, and refine user stories with clear acceptance criteria.

• Collaborate daily with developers, QA, and stakeholders to ensure sprint goals are met and deliverables create measurable value.

• Make data-driven trade-offs that optimize outcomes—not just features—for the business and our users.

• Stay deeply connected to customer and partner feedback, ensuring your products reflect real internal and external customer needs.

Collaboration & Communication

• Serve as the bridge between technical and non-technical teams—translating complex ideas into clear requirements and vice versa.

• Work closely with leadership and operations to understand bottlenecks and opportunities for automation.

• Participate in sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives; drive clarity, alignment, and momentum.

AI-Driven Innovation

• Actively use AI tools to enhance your own product management workflow—research, documentation, backlog refinement, and roadmap planning.

• Identify ways AI can be embedded in our platform (e.g., automated risk scoring, merchant support, and anomaly detection).

• Help establish a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement around how we leverage AI internally and for our customers.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner or Product Manager in the software industry.

• Proven success delivering products and tools from concept to launch.

• Deep understanding of Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and modern software development practices.

• Experience in one or more of these domains: payments, fintech infrastructure, merchant acquiring, banking, and/or compliance/KYC/KYB.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; able to simplify the complex and engage both engineers and executives.

• Analytical mindset with comfort making trade-offs and decisions using data and business context.

• Hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Notion AI, etc.) to accelerate product management tasks.

• Passion for working in small, collaborative teams where creativity, initiative, and ownership matter more than process.

About Forward Payments

At Forward, we make it easy for software companies to turn payments into their biggest growth driver. Our platform includes everything they need to succeed in payments—modern, feature-rich technology built to support the unique nuances of their diverse markets.

Our culture is rooted in the timeless principles of ethos, logos, and pathos—the foundations of trust. We value transparency and integrity, bring clarity to complex problems, and act with empathy because we’ve been in our customers’ and teammates’ shoes. These values shape everything we build, every partnership we form, and how we show up for one another as a team.

We’re growing fast and looking for passionate builders who want to help us shape the future of payments. If you’re energized by complex systems, creative collaboration, and getting things done in a high-trust environment—you’ll fit right in.

Ready to move Forward?

If you’re ready to join a team that values transparency, logic, and heart as much as technical excellence, we’d love to meet you.

Apply today and help us move payments—and your career—Forward.