Product Associate, Operations & Testing

Location: For Those Who Work At Home, Ohio Position Location Policy General Location: Open on location within the United States Hybrid Requirement (if within specific cities): If the selected candidate resides in Cleveland, OH, Buffalo, NY, or Albany, NY, or near a KeyBank office (non-branch location), they are expected to work on-site 3 days per week at the nearest location). Remote work offered if outside of Key Bank footprint. This position is NOT eligible for employment visa (e.g., H-1B) sponsorship. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United Stated on a full-time basis.

The Production Associate is responsible for the operational governance, testing, validation, and implementation of payment network releases, pricing changes, and production control processes across merchant services platforms and client-facing applications. This role serves as the primary coordination point between Product, Pricing, Operations, Networks and third-party processors to ensure production changes are implemented accurately, tested thoroughly, and aligned with governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) requirements. The ideal candidate combines strong payments industry knowledge with expertise in release management, operational risk controls, change management, pricing validation, and regulatory compliance. Essential Functions Network Release Oversight Coordinate release planning across Product, Technology, Operations, Risk, and external processing partners. Develop and maintain testing schedules, deployment plans, and production readiness reviews. Ensure timely implementation of new network functionality, compliance requirements, fee changes, and operating rule updates. Review vendor release documentation and implementation requirements. Track external dependencies and ensure partner readiness for production deployments. Track release deliverables, dependencies, risks, and issue remediation through deployment completion. Pricing Change Testing & Validation Govern implementation of pricing, interchange, assessments, network fees, and processor fee changes. Develop testing and validation strategies for pricing changes across merchant-facing applications, billing systems, and operational workflows. Coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT), regression testing, and production validation activities. Investigate and resolve pricing discrepancies prior to production deployment. Partner with Pricing and Product teams to ensure pricing changes align with approved business requirements. Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Maintain governance frameworks supporting production change management and operational controls. Ensure adherence to internal risk management policies, regulatory requirements, PCI standards, and network mandates. Maintain audit-ready documentation for change approvals, testing evidence, and implementation records. Monitor control effectiveness and identify opportunities for process improvements. Support internal audits, regulatory examinations, and risk reviews. Production Operations & Change Management Lead production readiness and implementation reviews for high-impact changes. Establish deployment, rollback, and contingency procedures. Partner with Pricing teams on post-implementation performance and issue resolution activities. Develop operational metrics and reporting related to release quality, testing effectiveness, defects, and compliance.

Education Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Technology, Finance, or related field. Work Experience Minimum 2 years merchant acquiring or merchant services Minimum 2+ years of experience in payments, banking operations, production support, release management, or operational risk. Experience with payment card network rules and releases (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express). Experience coordinating testing, UAT, and production deployments. Excellent project management and stakeholder management skills. Experience working