Role & responsibilities

- Engage and Collaborate with External Partners: Establish and maintain strong working relationships with OEMs, telecommunications operators, industry research labs, and other deep tech units to identify potential collaboration opportunities that leverage pioneering technologies.
- Synergy Identification: Analyse partner capabilities and ongoing research initiatives to uncover synergies with our R&D; goals in payments technology and co-create project concepts with high innovation and business impact potential.
- Internal Stakeholder Alignment: Work closely with product teams, engineering groups, and other internal units to understand their challenges, gather detailed problem statements, and communicate R&D; progress and opportunities effectively.
- Project Facilitation: Support the R&D; team by translating complex technical discussions into actionable project plans that balance research rigor with commercial feasibility.
- Innovation Scouting & Road mapping: Monitor emerging trends in payments tech and adjacent fields, providing inputs to shape the teams research roadmap and prioritize initiatives that align with strategic goals.
- Technical Evangelism: Act as a bridge between deep technical experts and internal teams, driving awareness and understanding of cutting-edge innovations in the payments domain.
- Documentation & Reporting: Produce transparent, concise reports and presentations summarizing collaborative insights, project statuses, and business impact potential for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred candidate profile

Technical Qualifications:

- Bachelors degree in computer science, Electronics, Telecommunications, or a related engineering discipline. Advanced degrees are a plus.
- Strong understanding of payments ecosystems, including transaction processing, security protocols, and hardware/software integrations.
- Familiarity with deep tech areas such as IoT, edge computing, protocols (MQTT, EMV, etc) secure element technology,



next-gen telecom infrastructure (5G/6G), cryptography, quantum (on the job learning is encouraged, basic know how is required)
- Ability to grasp complex technical concepts quickly and communicate them effectively to diverse audiences.
- Experience working in collaborative environments.
- Business & Interpersonal Skills:
- Excellent stakeholder management skills with proven ability to align multiple teams and external partners around common goals.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to synthesize technical and business inputs into coherent development opportunities.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills, capable of tailoring messaging between technical experts and internal business units.
- Proactive and self-driven with the ability to balance multiple projects and priorities in a dynamic environment.
- Collaborative mindset with a passion for innovation and an entrepreneurial approach to R&D; challenges.

Expectations:

- Serve as the go-to liaison for external technical partnerships and internal R&D; alignment within the payments domain.
- Deliver well-vetted use cases and project proposals that blend research innovation with practical commercial potential.
- Drive continuous knowledge exchange between external labs, OEMs, telcos, and internal teams to foster an ecosystem of collaboration.
- Ensure timely, transparent communication on project progress and opportunity pipelines to R&D; leadership and relevant stakeholders.
- Contribute to the strategic evolution of the companys R&D; roadmap by integrating insights from external ecosystem and internal problem statements.

• Maintain a strong network of contacts within relevant technology and research communities to enable ongoing opportunity identification.

• This role offers a unique opportunity to influence the future of payments technologies by bridging deep technical exploration with real-world impact, making it ideal for individuals passionate about innovation and collaboration in a fast-evolving sector.

📌 Senior Associate Ecosystem Industry Partnerships (Mumbai)
🏢 National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI)
📍 Mumbai