Payment Operations Manager

About this role

Overview

About Astra

Astra is building mission-critical infrastructure for moving money at scale. Our platform processes billions in annual transaction volume with 99.9%+ uptime, powering real-time transfers, bank debits, card disbursements, and complex financial compliance systems. We provide APIs and automation tools that enable businesses to move money programmatically while maintaining strict regulatory requirements.

The Role

Every dollar that moves through Astra touches payment operations. Settlement has to close. Disputes have to be answered. Edge cases have to be caught before a client does. Right now, Astra has built systems and automations to handle as much of these workflows as possible, but we are scaling fast and this role will define how efficiently we are able to do so.

You will own the operational layer of Astra's payment processing engine: reconciliation across every rail we support, the monitoring infrastructure that catches breaks before they become incidents, and the dispute workflow from intake to outcome. You will report directly to the CEO and work side by side with Engineering, Compliance, and Banking Partnerships to make the entire system more reliable over time.

This is a builder role. The processes, tooling, and standards you put in place will define how Astra operates at 10x current volume. If you want to manage an existing function, this is not the right fit. If you want to build one, it is.

What You’ll Do

Reconciliation and Settlement

• Own end-to-end reconciliation across all Astra rails: Visa Direct, Mastercard Move, RTP, FedNow, ACH, and stablecoin
• Build and maintain daily/intraday settlement processes that catch breaks early and resolve them fast
• Partner with Engineering to automate reconciliation pipelines - reducing manual toil, not just documenting it
• Establish clear exception workflows: categorize, route, escalate, and close breaks within defined SLAs
• Own the source-of-truth ledger that Finance, P...