Harsh Thakkar
Senior Product Manager — Cash Management, Treasury & Payments
Senior Product Manager with 12+ years of experience across commercial banking, cash management, and payments in North America. I lead end-to-end development and delivery of treasury and payment solutions — Virtual Accounts, liquidity management, cash concentration, investment sweeps, domestic and cross-border payments, and merchant acquiring — from strategy and client discovery through commercialization and adoption.
Professional Experience
Fiserv — Berkeley Heights, NJ
Leading product development and enhancements for merchant acquiring solutions across Fiserv platforms, supporting merchant onboarding, payment processing, settlement, and reporting.
- Lead product development and enhancements for merchant acquiring solutions supporting merchant onboarding, payment processing, settlement, and reporting across Fiserv platforms.
- Partner with business, operations, technology, and vendor teams to define product requirements, prioritize roadmap initiatives, and deliver scalable payment acceptance capabilities.
- Manage integrations across acquiring services and payment platforms to streamline merchant onboarding, improve processing efficiency, and enhance the merchant experience.
- Analyze transaction data, merchant feedback, and operational metrics to identify product opportunities, optimize workflows, and drive adoption and growth.
BMO Commercial Bank — Toronto, ON
Led product initiatives for North American business and commercial banking clients across treasury, liquidity, and payments, from roadmap through go-to-market.
- Led product initiatives for North American business and commercial banking clients across treasury, liquidity, and payments.
- Developed and managed product roadmaps by evaluating client needs, market opportunities, competitive intelligence, and business priorities.
- Led initiatives across ACH, wire, and cross-border payment capabilities, partnering with technology, operations, risk, compliance, and external partners to deliver scalable payment solutions.
- Translated client and business needs into product requirements and aligned cross-functional teams through delivery.
- Developed and executed go-to-market strategies with Sales, Marketing, and Client Services to communicate product value, support rollout, and drive adoption.
- Established and monitored product KPIs, using performance data and client insights to identify trends, measure progress, and support executive decision-making.
- Championed digital-first experiences by transforming traditional banking capabilities into intuitive, self-service digital journeys.
RBC Capital Markets — Toronto, ON
Led implementation of Virtual Accounts Management and liquidity management products for the US Cash Management team, from strategy through adoption.
- Led implementation of Virtual Accounts Management and liquidity management products for the US Cash Management team.
- Developed strategic product roadmaps for cash management solutions addressing use cases like multi-entity structures, payables & receivables solutions, in-house banking, MMMF sweeps, and notional pooling.
- Developed and executed change-management strategies including communications, training, and readiness plans to accelerate adoption and minimize disruption.
- Applied design thinking principles to conduct problem discovery sessions, resulting in user-centered solutions that enhanced product adoption while advocating for a user-first approach.
- Developed product vision and strategy decks articulating the value proposition, long-term vision, market opportunity, competitive landscape, and go-to-market strategy.
- Consistently made data-driven decisions by measuring product performance through key metrics (KPIs).
- Collaborated with Risk teams to align product features with regulatory requirements, including AML, KYC, and fraud controls.
- Aligned engineering, sales, risk, compliance, and commercialization teams on product vision, strategy, and execution.
TD Securities — Toronto, ON
Led technical implementation of Virtual Account Management and international payments for the cash management business, bridging business and technology teams.
- Led technical implementation of Virtual Account Management and international payments for the cash management business.
- Translated business requirements into detailed technical specifications, user stories, and acceptance criteria, bridging business and technology teams.
- Integrated core banking systems with US payment rails, ensuring secure and compliant transmission of financial data.
- Managed product and technology workstreams across timelines, risks, and dependencies while partnering with business and engineering stakeholders.
- Designed API requirements and supported integrations to enable data exchange across banking platforms and improve process efficiency.
- Supported payment messaging capabilities including PAIN, CAMT, and MT messages in alignment with ISO 20022 standards.
- Partnered with Risk and Compliance teams to ensure solutions aligned with AML, OFAC, and KYC requirements.
- Led Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog refinement, stand-ups, and retrospectives.
Scotiabank Digital Factory — Toronto, ON
Spearheaded the technical implementation of Scotia Smart Investor, a digital investment recommendation product, while driving onboarding and process improvements.
- Spearheaded technical implementation of Scotia Smart Investor, a digital product that recommends investment plans (RRSP, TFSA, NRSP) and products (GICs, Mutual Funds) based on customer risk appetite.
- Translated business requirements into detailed technical specifications for multiple deposits and investments products.
- Led sprint planning, backlog refinement, and sprint review sessions to prioritize features and align with business objectives.
- Collaborated with design teams to develop user-friendly onboarding flows, reducing onboarding time by 15%.
- Worked with microservices to facilitate seamless data integration, reduce manual errors, and enhance process automation.
- Performed hands-on QAT and UAT testing on builds while supporting the QA team in test case creation and scenario development.
Tata Consultancy Services / Bank of Montreal — Toronto, ON
Implemented Bill C-86 regulatory requirements at BMO, aligning bank systems with new consumer protection and transparency standards.
- Implementation of regulatory requirements for Bill C-86 at BMO, aligning the bank's systems with new regulatory standards to enhance consumer protection, improve transparency, and ensure fair banking practices.
- Conducted data profiling and analysis using Netezza SQL, verifying the accuracy of source data for ETL processes.
- Prepared physical data models, data movement models, and interface specification documents to support project requirements.
- Engaged with developers, QA teams, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment on technical requirements and milestones.
- Mapped data between source and target systems to define transformation rules for the ETL process. Supported UAT cycles for end-to-end testing to meet approved functional requirements.
- Created onboarding documents for the AWS team for Kafka streaming, enabling message value reception in the landing zone.
- Analyzed end-user requirements and business rules, working closely with Solution Architects to understand the current system.
- Executed SQL queries including select, insert, update, delete, and joins to retrieve data from databases for data validation and analysis.
Synechron Inc. — New York, NY
Delivered scalable trading solutions for global cash equities and prime business operations, bridging technical and business teams.
- Conducted detailed cost/benefit analysis and presented reports on losses associated with the legacy system at the client's organization.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including engineering, business lines, and product teams, to deliver scalable, high-quality trading solutions for global cash equities and prime business operations.
- Facilitated Scrum meetings, managed the JIRA board, resolved blockers, and acted as a liaison between the technical team and business.
- Drafted documents including Business Requirements Documents (BRD), Functional Specification Documents (FSD), Project Scope Definitions, Data Mapping, and Impact Analysis Documents.
- Developed test cases and scripts and assisted the testing team with Unit, Integration, and Non-functional Testing.
- Used GET, POST, DELETE, and PUT web methods to test API endpoint responses, response time, and error codes using Swagger.
Axis Bank — India
Owned requirements documentation and traceability across the SDLC for new banking modules, from wireframes through test coverage.
- Created Business Requirement Documents (BRD), Functional Requirement Documents (FRD), Non-Functional Requirement Documents (NFRD), and Use Case Documents (UCD).
- Maintained a Change and Traceability Matrix throughout the project, keeping track of scope, timelines, and budget.
- Created wireframes and mockups using Balsamiq for new modules being added to the current system.
- Maintained a Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) throughout all phases of the SDLC to map requirements with test cases.
Certifications
SAFe® 6 Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM)
August 2024
Credential ID: 80091961-9357
Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®)
August 2022
Credential ID: 1620764
Certified Scrum Master® (CSM®)
August 2022
Credential ID: 1635062
Education
Master of Science in Finance
Graduate coursework in corporate finance, financial markets, and investment analysis — the foundation for a career spent turning financial complexity into products people can actually use.