Senior Technical Ops — APM (Alternative Payment Methods)

Role Overview   The Senior Technical Support Engineer specializing in Alternative Payment Methods (APM) is a critical technical role responsible for the stability, performance, and reliability of all APM integrations within our PSP/fintech ecosystem.   This engineer acts as the top-tier technical expert for merchants, internal Product/Engineering teams, and external payment partners. The primary focus is on resolving complex incidents, driving deep root-cause analysis (RCA), leading operational improvements, and guaranteeing seamless, high-volume transaction processing for all supported APMs.   Success in this role requires advanced technical proficiency, superior analytical skills, and the ability to articulate complex issues clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.   As Unlimit evolves toward AI-native financial infrastructure, this role will also leverage intelligent monitoring, automation, and AI-assisted operational workflows to detect anomalies faster, improve incident response, and continuously enhance the reliability of payment integrations.  

Areas of Responsibility

1. Expert Incident & Problem Management

Serve as the highest escalation point for all critical APM-related issues across production and sandbox environments.

Conduct in-depth troubleshooting of complex transaction failures, including authorization declines, settlement discrepancies, callback issues, and routing problems.

Perform real-time analysis using logging and monitoring tools (Kibana, Datadog, Grafana, Splunk) to quickly diagnose system anomalies and errors.

Coordinate incident resolution efforts with Engineering and DevOps, focusing on swift mitigation and long-term recurrence prevention.

Lead emergency response protocols during major outages impacting APM transaction flows.Execute deep-dive Post-Incident Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and present findings to Product and Engineering teams.

2. APM Performance & Monitoring

Develop, maintain, and optimize monitoring dashboards, alerts, and system health checks specific to APMs.

Analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as success rates, latency, and drop-off rates to identify and propose systemic improvements.

Drive proactive detection initiatives to flag merchant-level or provider-level processing issues before they escalate into incidents.

3. Integration & Merchant Suppor

Provide senior-level technical consultation to merchants integrating various APMs (e.g., Pix, Sofort, iDeal, Klarna, local wallets).

Review and validate API specifications, payload structures, webhook configurations, and authentication mechanisms.

Assist with integration test scenarios and required APM certification processes.

4. Operational Excellence & Automation

Propose and drive solution implementations (automation, tooling, configuration changes, or product enhancements) to reduce recurring incidents and operational friction.

Create and maintain comprehensive documentation, including detailed runbooks, troubleshooting guides, and standard operational procedures.

Promote operational excellence through standardization and knowledge sharing.

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Serve as the technical APM subject matter expert for Product Managers, Engineering, Compliance, and Partner Management teams.

Provide support insights that influence product backlog prioritization and roadmap decisions.

Articulate APM-specific technical constraints, regional nuances, and compliance requirements to internal stakeholders.

6. External Partner Liaison

Act as the primary technical point of contact with APM providers and acquirers.

Manage and escalate persistent technical issues, ensuring adherence to partner SLAs.

Validate the impact of provider updates, maintenance schedules, and API changes on our merchant base.

Required Skills & Experience

Payment Systems: Deep, hands-on understanding of payment processing workflows, specifically APM models and related regional payment regulations.

APIs & Data: Proven experience with REST APIs, webhooks, JSON, and authentication protocols.

Monitoring & Logging: Proficiency with enterprise-grade monitoring and logging systems (Datadog, Grafana, Kibana, ELK Stack, Splunk).

Data Analysis: Strong proficiency in SQL for complex transactional data analysis.

Coding: Ability to read and debug code snippets (e.g., Python, Node.js, Java).

Infrastructure (Plus): Familiarity with microservices architecture, cloud environments (AWS/GCP), and CI/CD pipelines.

Strong AI-driven mindset and curiosity about emerging AI technologies.

Hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g., LLMs, automation frameworks, AI-assisted development tools) to enhance productivity or system performance.

Professional Experience

4–7+ years in a senior technical support, payments engineering, or integration engineering role.

Essential: Prior experience within a high-volume PSP, fintech, or banking environment is strongly preferred.

Experience supporting global payment methods and managing high-traffic systems.

 

Key Competencies

Exceptional problem-solving, analytical, and critical-thinking abilities.

Outstanding written and verbal communication, capable of distilling complex technical concepts.

Demonstrated ability to remain calm and effective while managing critical incidents under pressure.

High sense of ownership, bias for action, and commitment to operational improvements.

Success Metrics

Reduction in the Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) for APM incidents.

Successful achievement of high SLA resolution rates for merchant and internal support tickets.

Measurable improvement in overall APM transaction success rates and system reliability.

Positive results in cross-team collaboration surveys and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

High merchant satisfaction scores (CSAT/NPS) related to APM support.