Cards & Payments Product Innovation Specialist - Openbank

IT STARTS HERE

Santander (www.santander.com) is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organization, and our people are at the heart of this journey. Together, we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation, and the courage to challenge what’s possible.

This is more than a strategic shift. It’s a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference.

Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper. We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.

Openbank is Santander Group's global digital consumer bank, bringing together retail banking, mobility finance and consumer lending solutions in one integrated digital platform.

THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE

Openbank is looking for a Cards & Payments Product Innovation Specialist based out of Madrid.  

You will drive the evolution of the cards and payments proposition with a fintech mindset, identifying customer needs, market trends and new business opportunities and turning them into simple, distinctive and scalable digital products. Own product definition and business prioritization, providing delivery teams with clear customer journeys, functional requirements, acceptance criteria and measurable outcomes.

We’re shaping the way we work through innovation, cutting-edge technology, collaboration and the freedom to explore new ideas. To succeed in this role, you will be responsible for:

• Product innovation and opportunity identification: Identify unmet customer needs, fintech and retail digital trends, and new business opportunities, translating them into differentiated product concepts and scalable propositions.
• Product strategy and prioritization: Define the product vision, value proposition and opportunity pipeline. Prioritize initiatives based on customer value, differentiation, business potential, strategic alignment and speed to market.
• Customer experience and product definition: Define simple and intuitive customer journeys, business rules, functional requirements and acceptance criteria, ensuring commercial, regulatory and operational viability.
• Data-driven validation and growth: Use customer insight, market analysis and product KPIs to validate opportunities, build business cases and assess measurable customer and business impact.
• Cross-functional product leadership: Coordinate Digital Channels, UX, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Growth and external partners, providing clear product decisions and visibility to senior management. Day-to-day project management, testing coordination and operational implementation remain with the relevant delivery teams.
• Market and ecosystem evolution: Assess relevant fintech, payments, digital commerce and regulatory developments, and identify partnerships or ecosystem opportunities that can improve the customer proposition or unlock growth.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Our people are our greatest strength. Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organization. We’re enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring.

The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Professional Experience

• +4 years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated product excellence, entrepreneurial drive and tangible product outcomes will be valued above tenure.
• Experience in fintech, payments, digital commerce, wallets, card issuing, acquiring or consumer digital products will be especially valued; candidates from outside traditional banking are strongly encouraged.

Education

•       Business Administration, Engineering, Economics, Finance, Design, Technology or a similar degree (required).

•        Additional knowledge of payments, cards, fintech, digital commerce, customer experience or digital product development will be highly valued (preferred).

Language

•       High level of English (Required)

Hard Skills

• Strong knowledge of payments, card products or adjacent fintech propositions. (Required)
• Demonstrated ability to identify unmet customer needs and turn loosely defined opportunities into differentiated product concepts, experiments and scalable propositions. (Required)
• Outstanding product judgment and a high bar for quality, simplicity and customer experience. (Required)
• Strong analytical and commercial capabilities, able to interpret customer, market, competitor and KPI/economics data to identify opportunities and assess impact. (Required)
• Ability to prioritize based on customer value, differentiation, business potential, strategic alignment, speed to market and execution complexity.
• Experience defining customer journeys, value propositions, functional requirements, business rules and acceptance criteria. (Required)
• Ability to coordinate and influence Digital Channels, UX, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Growth and external partners.
• Resilience and pragmatism to push valuable ideas through complexity without losing customer simplicity.

Soft Skills

• Curiosity and the ability to learn the banking and operational model quickly are essential.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, curiosity and ambition to build, test and improve new propositions.
• Constructive challenger, comfortable questioning established assumptions and navigating organizational constraints.
• High energy and bias for action, with ownership to move ideas from opportunity identification to validation, business case and delivery.
• Original thinker who brings external perspectives and avoids replicating existing ways of working.
• Ability to inspire teams and create momentum around a compelling product vision.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including senior stakeholder communication.

WE VALUE YOUR IMPACT

Your contribution matters, and it’s recognized. You can expect a fair, competitive reward package that reflects the impact you create and the value you deliver. But we know rewards go beyond numbers.

• We offer more than just a paycheck—our benefits are designed to support your life, your goals and your well-being, now and into the future.
• Your health is our priority. Through BeHealthy, our global wellness programme, we promote Holistic wellbeing
• We know family is everything. That’s why we offer parental leave, childcare support and family-friendly programmes tailored to each life stage.
• We’re enable our teams to go beyond through global opportunities and broad career paths.
• We believe in the power of helping. You can dedicate part of your working hours to volunteering

We’re here to keep you motivated, help you reach your goals, and celebrate your progress, every step of the way.

Openbank is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered as equal without paying attention to gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, political orientation, union membership nor disability status.

We make recruiting decisions based on your experience and skills. We value your passion to discover, invent, simplify, and build.

The personal data you provide as well as any data generated during the selection process are confidential and will be processed by Open Bank, S.A. with registered office at Avenida de Cantabria, n/n, 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid), for the sole purpose of managing your participation in the selection processes and, where appropriate, to formalise your recruitment.  

For further information about your rights and data protection, please read the Openbank Privacy Policy applicable to this type of data processing here

READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN YOUR JOURNEY?