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.
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.
Travel
- Occasional travel to include overnight stay.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Please click here for a list of benefits for which this position is eligible.
Key has implemented an approach to employee workspaces which prioritizes in-office presence, while providing flexible options in circumstances where roles can be performed effectively in a mobile environment.
Qualifications 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 with processors such as Fiserv, FIS, Global Payments, Elavon, TSYS, or Worldpay. (preferred)
- Experience supporting audits, risk assessments, and control testing. (preferred)
Core Competencies
- All KeyBank employees are expected to demonstrate Key’s Values and abide by Key’s Code of Conduct.
Skills
- Strong understanding of:
- Merchant pricing models
- Interchange and assessments
- Payment processing workflows
- Change management methodologies
- Operational risk controls
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- Knowledge of PCI DSS and card network operating regulations (preferred)
Physical Demands
- General Office - Prolonged sitting, ability to communicate face to face in person or on the phone with teammates and clients, frequent use of PC/laptop, occasional lifting/pushing/pulling of backpacks, computer bags up to 10 lbs.
This position is eligible to earn a base salary in the range of $69,000.00 - $105,000.00 annually. Placement within the pay range may differ based upon various factors, including but not limited to skills, experience and geographic location. Compensation for this role also includes eligibility for incentive compensation which may include production, commission, and/or discretionary incentives.
Job Summary
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.