Consultant - Payment Systems Governance and Operations at PATH

Job Responsibilities:

Inception Phase:

• Conduct an inception phase to build a full understanding of the South Sudan context, engage with key stakeholders, and confirm the approach for the assignment. This phase will include:
• Mapping stakeholders and preparing an engagement plan, including proposed consultation methods and timelines.
• Identifying gaps in available information and proposing strategies to address them.
• Outlining the methodology and approach for the regulatory and market review to be carried out in the next phase.
• Prepare a report outlining the methodology, work plan, deliverables framework, stakeholder engagement plan, and risk assessment for review and approval

Regulatory and Market Review:

• Building on the inception phase, conduct a detailed review of South Sudan’s financial services landscape, regulatory, and market framework relevant to the SSIIPS. This phase will:
• Analyze financial sector regulations, payment system laws, consumer protection provisions, AML/CFT requirements, and central bank directives.
• Review market dynamics, including existing payment instruments, financial inclusion indicators, infrastructure readiness, and interoperability considerations.
• Identify regulatory and market gaps, constraints, and enablers for the implementation of SSIIPS.
• Prepare a report, providing clear findings and recommendations that will directly inform the drafting of the Scheme Rules, Participation Agreement, and other deliverables.

Participant Agreement:

• Develop a Standard Participation Agreement to serve as the legally binding contract between the Scheme Manager and each participant. The agreement will:
• Define enforceable rights, obligations, and responsibilities.
• Cover operational, technical, commercial, compliance, and legal provisions.
• Be adaptable for different participant categories.
• Draft the agreement, facilitate stakeholder review, revise it based on feedback, and ensure legal alignment with South Sudan’s framework.

Scheme Rules:

• Develop the Scheme Rules that provide the governance and operational framework for the IPS, defining system operation, participant interaction, and risk management requirements. The rules will align with the technical design, regulatory requirements, and market needs, and will be accompanied by an explanatory note. It should cover:
• Governance structure and decision-making processes.
• Participation and access criteria.
• Operational procedures, settlement processes, and technical standards.
• Risk management, compliance, pricing, and consumer protection provisions.

Operational Guidelines:

• Develop Operational Guidelines that convert the Scheme Rules into detailed step-by-step procedures for priority use cases anticipated to include, but not be limited to, Person-to-Person (P2P), Person-to-Business (P2B), Request-to-Pay (RTP), government payments, and Cash-in/Cash-out transactions. The guidelines will, in alignment with the approved Functional Specifications:
• Define end-to-end transaction flows, roles and responsibilities (swim-lanes), and message/data requirements.
• Set operational timings (SLAs), exception handling and error codes, and reconciliation/reporting processes.
• Provide participant training and onboarding materials (checklists, templates, quick-reference guides) and be updated to reflect approved changes.
• Detail transaction flows, roles and responsibilities, and message/data requirements.
• Define operational timings, exception handling, and reconciliation processes.
• Serve as training and onboarding material for participants.

Business Requirements:

• Develop a comprehensive Business Requirements Document (BRD) focused specifically on the Person-to-Person (P2P) use case within SSIIPS. This document will provide a complete, testable set of requirements to guide both design and implementation.
• Functional Requirements: Detailed specifications of all P2P transaction capabilities, user interactions, processing rules, and system behavior.
• Non-Functional Requirements: Performance metrics, security standards, scalability parameters, and reliability expectations.
• The BRD will serve as the definitive reference for developers, testers, and system integrators working on the P2P functionality within SSIIPS, ensuring that the implemented solution meets all business and technical needs.

User Experience (UX) Guidelines:

• Develop channel-agnostic UX Guidelines to ensure consistent, inclusive, and safe P2P journeys across all access methods. The UX Guidelines will include principles for accessibility, user flow consistency, error handling, confirmation messages, and security notifications.

Stakeholder Consultation:

• Design and implement a structured consultation process throughout the assignment to ensure stakeholder input and buy-in. This will include workshops, interviews, and written feedback rounds at key milestones. A Stakeholder Engagement Report will summarize the process, key feedback, and how it was addressed.

Finalization and Implementation Guidance:

Finalize all deliverables based on feedback, ensuring internal consistency and compliance. An Implementation Guidance Note will be prepared, covering:

• Steps for operationalizing the framework.
• Participant onboarding.
• Governance structure set-up.
• Risk management implementation.
• Ongoing monitoring and review processes.
• Knowledge transfer activities, including briefings and training sessions, will be conducted to ensure stakeholders can apply and maintain the governance framework.

Project Monitoring:

• Provide weekly progress updates summarizing completed activities, upcoming tasks, and any issues or risks.
• Participate in bi-weekly status meetings with PATH, AfricaNenda and BOSS
• Communicate promptly regarding any risks to the timeline, with proposed mitigation measures.

Required experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in law, finance, economics, business administration, IT or any other relevant technical field. Advanced certification or degree in related field would be added advantage
• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in technical roles such as payment systems, design, governance, or regulation, with a minimum of 5 years of experience in designing or implementing instant payment systems or comparable financial market infrastructures.
• Strong understanding of instant payment system architectures, ISO 20022 messaging standards, and operational models.
• Proven track record in developing governance frameworks, scheme rules and legal agreements for payment systems, preferably in East Africa or emerging markets.
• Previous experience/ Demonstrated expertise in a similar role would be preferred for this position.