Tanay Sakunia

Product Manager

India18 yrs 7 mos experience

AI ML PractitionerAI Enabled

Key Highlights

18+ years in technology and payments leadership.
Expert in AI/ML and cloud engineering for financial services.
Proven track record in payment transformation programs.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech leader with expertise in AI-driven payment solutions and cybersecurity.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Project ManagementIso20022It GovernanceCybersecurityQa Engineering

Other Skills

AI AgentsAWSAWS CloudAWS Cloud MigrationAWS Identity and Access Management (AWS IAM)Amazon Web Services (AWS)Applied Machine LearningArtificial Intelligence (AI)Artificial Neural NetworksAutomated Machine Learning (AutoML)ClearCaseColabCore JavaEclipseGen AI

About

Technology, Payments & ITGRC Leader with 18+ years of experience driving innovation, governance, and transformation across global banking and financial services. I specialize in leveraging AI/ML, Generative AI, and Cloud Engineering to design and deploy scalable, intelligent systems that enhance operational efficiency, IT risk management, and regulatory compliance. Experienced in building context-aware LLMs, AI agents for semantic retrieval, and automated monitoring frameworks to strengthen cybersecurity, ITGRC, and payment compliance across SWIFT, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and RBI standards. Proven track record in leading end-to-end payment transformation programs across UK (CHAPS, Faster Payments), SEPA (SCT, SDD, Instant), India (NEFT, RTGS, IMPS), and APAC schemes. Hands-on expertise in platforms such as Murex, Temenos T24, Finacle, and TCS BaNCS for implementation, migration, and support, with deep understanding of payment system architecture, flows, governance, compliance, and ITGRC frameworks. Adept at bridging business and technology, ensuring secure, compliant, and scalable solutions for global financial operations. Senior leader in quality, testing, and delivery management, with strong experience in automation frameworks, CI/CD integration, Agile methodologies, and intelligent test automation. Skilled at embedding ITGRC, quality, and risk-alignment into all phases of software delivery, driving high-impact, defect-free solutions across Payments, Cloud, and Core Banking platforms.

Experience

18 yrs 7 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 7 mos

Average Tenure

5 mos

Current Experience

Coutts

Delivery Manager

Nov 2025 – Present · 5 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India · On-site

Natwest group

Senior Technical Manager

Mar 2025 – Nov 2025 · 8 mos · On-site

Serve as Domain and Technology SME for CHAPS, Faster Payments, and SEPA payments compliance across UK and EU, integrating AI-driven monitoring for risk and anomaly detection.
Lead ISO20022 adoption program, standardizing messaging across global payment flows and enabling automation through cloud-native tools.
Collaborate with business and IT to map as-is and to-be payment flows, identify architecture gaps, and design scalable, AI-enabled solutions for payments processing.
Guide QA and UAT teams with domain insights and AI-assisted test validation, ensuring robust end-to-end payment journeys.
Contribute to governance frameworks and policy updates aligned with UK Finance and European Payments Council mandates, leveraging AI/ML for compliance monitoring.
Supervising risk management, change governance, and release communication strategies.
Facilitating ongoing enhancement of deployment processes to ensure scalability and resilience.

Project ManagementISO20022JenkinsProgram ManagementGitlabAmazon Web Services (AWS)+2

Idfc first bank

Senior Technology Program Manager

Jun 2022 – Mar 2025 · 2 yrs 9 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · On-site

Led bank-wide remediation initiatives addressing Information Security (IS) and Cybersecurity audit findings across critical domains, including SWIFT, PCI DSS, Digital Payments, Data Security, Core Banking, Infrastructure, and Incident/Change Management
Directed enterprise-wide assessments to ensure IT applications and infrastructure conformance with the Bank's Information Security Management System (ISMS) policy, aligning with internal security governance and regulatory audit frameworks
Achieved timely closure of 80% of 'Critical' and 'High' risk regulatory issues across 30+ remediation projects covering more than 250 applications bank-wide.
Represented the Bank during RBI's CSITE Inspection, presenting Technology compliance and audit status across risk domains.
Regularly reported risk remediation and compliance progress to CTO, CISO, and board-level audit forums.
Conducted in-depth risk analysis and governance reviews of Data Encryption, DLP, Firewalls, SOX controls, Database Access Monitoring, User Access Management, and MBSS.
Interpreted RBI circulars and guided IT/business teams to ensure applications and processes were compliant with regulatory mandate

Project ManagementIT GovernanceProgram ManagementInternal AuditsRegulatory ComplianceInformation Security+1

Citi

Testing Senior Manager/Payments SME

Sep 2021 – Jun 2022 · 9 mos · Pune, Maharashtra, India · Hybrid

Oversaw comprehensive testing for vital payment programs, encompassing Mass Pay, High-Value Payments, and APAC Faster Payments across 14 countries in the APAC region.
Managed geographically distributed team of over 40 QA professionals, facilitating seamless collaboration and delivery.
Executed numerous time-sensitive projects within stringent deadlines, guaranteeing high quality and adherence to compliance standards.

Project ManagementProgram ManagementTest ManagementQA EngineeringQA Automation

Natwest group

2 roles

Manager - Testing

Nov 2018 – Sep 2021 · 2 yrs 10 mos · Gurugram, Haryana, India · On-site

• Led testing and end-to-end delivery of the SEPA platform regulatory and strategic projects, ensuring compliance and seamless integration.

Project Management

Quality Assurance Lead

Aug 2015 – Nov 2018 · 3 yrs 3 mos · Gurugram, Haryana, India · On-site

Led end-to-end testing of the UK Faster Payments scheme, ensuring compliance and seamless integration.
Managed delivery of critical modules within a large-scale payment transformation program, contributing to enhanced operational efficiency and modernization.