Senior Product Owner – Enterprise API Strategy & Ecosystem Enablement

Role overview

M&T is growing its enterprise API platform so it can support Digital Assets, Open Banking and integrations with clients and fintechs that can be repeated instead of rebuilt each time. The Senior Product Owner is accountable from start to finish for the strategy, roadmap and delivered value of those API capabilities, at a scope that covers several teams and stakeholder groups.

The job goes well past managing one backlog. You would set portfolio-level priorities, keep other Product Owners aligned, and define the vision, outcomes and governance that treat APIs as a strategic platform. Day-to-day partners include Open Banking stakeholders, Digital Assets leadership, Commercial Banking partners, and the bank's technology and enterprise risk teams, with the shared aim of APIs that are reusable, scalable, secure and compliant wherever the bank uses them.

What you will do

• Set and own the product vision and roadmap for enterprise APIs, covering Open Banking and Dodd-Frank 1033, stablecoin and Digital Assets enablement, Treasury Management and Commercial Banking APIs, and integrations with partners and fintechs.
• Turn enterprise and business-line strategy into sequenced roadmaps built around outcomes, working at portfolio and ART level to define features, epics and dependencies between teams instead of only single-team stories.
• Own the product model for the API platform so services are built for reuse, scale and compliance from the outset.
• Lead developer experience outcomes by setting requirements for API documentation standards, onboarding patterns, the developer portal and the sandbox.
• Spot business or regulatory opportunities and work out the resources needed to pursue them.
• Create and keep improving API governance and standards that fit enterprise principles, security needs and what regulators expect.
• Influence senior stakeholders by framing decisions clearly, spelling out trade-offs and prioritizing on value.
• Work with engineering and architecture on APIs that are secure, compliant and built to be reused and extended over the long run, keeping delivery within Digital Operational standards, internal controls, audit expectations and the enterprise's appetite for risk.
• Write user stories with acceptance criteria and groom the backlog alongside the team, supporting its move toward Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD).
• Guide and coach fellow Product Owners across the API ecosystem, keep prioritization, standards and delivery practices consistent across teams, and track outcomes through metrics and feedback loops.

What the employer is looking for

• Bachelor's degree plus at least 10 years of experience in business, analytical, technical and/or product roles; without a degree, at least 14 years of combined higher education and work experience that includes those 10 years.
• 7 or more years as a Product Owner or Product Manager on platform or enterprise capabilities.
• Proven ownership of bank APIs delivered to production, including hands-on management of REST APIs exposed externally in a financial services setting.
• Working knowledge of API contract design with OpenAPI/Swagger, versioning, backward compatibility, security and customer consent requirements.
• A track record of converting strategy from many stakeholders into roadmaps that teams can execute.
• Strong written and spoken communication with senior stakeholders, and the ability to influence without formal authority in a matrixed organization.
• Experience working in regulated environments.
• Attention to outcomes for customers and the business over the technical "how".
• Ability to obtain and keep US work authorization without company involvement; visa sponsorship is not offered for this role.

Good to have

• Experience with Open Banking and data sharing driven by consent, such as Dodd-Frank 1033.
• Hands-on work with API catalogs, enterprise developer portals and standards for documentation.
• A background in Commercial Banking, B2B, embedded banking or partner platforms.
• Familiarity with emerging payments technologies or digital assets.

Benefits and compensation

• Pay range of $148,300 to $247,100 a year (USD), with the final figure set by the candidate's knowledge, skills and experience.
• Relocation is available for the Buffalo, NY location.
• Benefits spanning medical cover and retirement plans.
• 40 paid hours a year for volunteering.

About M&T Bank

M&T Bank Corporation, a financial holding company, has its headquarters in Buffalo, New York. Its affiliates pair M&T Bank's traditional banking with wealth management and institutional services from Wilmington Trust. The bank runs a network of 2,200 ATMs and more than 1,000 branches in 12 states between Maine and Virginia, plus Washington, D.C., and has operated for over 165 years. It names integrity, ownership, collaboration, curiosity and candor as its core values.