Payment Reconciliation Specialist

Reconciliation Specialist Position Overview We are seeking a highly analytical and data-driven Payment Reconciliation Specialist / Analyst to oversee our end-to-end financial reconciliation processes. In this role, you will be responsible for managing high-volume transaction datasets, tracking payment lifecycles, and ensuring absolute financial accuracy across internal systems, payment gateways, and banking partners. The ideal candidate bridges the gap between finance and technology—possessing strong core accounting fundamentals alongside advanced technical skills in SQL and Python to drive automation, eliminate manual workflows, and optimize payment processing costs. Key Responsibilities 1. Core Payment & Financial Reconciliation End-to-End Auditing: Validate transaction records across internal systems, payment gateways (PGs), banking partners, settlement files, and merchant reports. High-Volume Data Analysis: Analyze massive transaction datasets to promptly identify mismatches, pending settlements, duplicate transactions, and financial exceptions. Chargeback Management: Monitor disputed transactions, track the complete chargeback lifecycle, validate reversal entries, and ensure accurate accounting adjustments/ recovery. Finance & Accounting Support: Validate transaction postings, track pending receivables, manage refund accounting, handle merchant payout reconciliation, and assist with balance sheet reconciliation. 2. Cost Optimization & Reporting PG Cost Analysis: Monitor and analyze Payment Gateway costs (MDR charges, transaction processing fees, bank charges, gateway settlement fees) to identify cost-optimization opportunities. MIS & Dashboards: Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly MIS reports and design reconciliation dashboards for leadership, finance, and operations teams to support audit readiness. 3. Data Engineering & Process Automation SQL Data Extraction: Write complex SQL queries for reconciliation checks, exception reporting, and data validation across large transactional databases. Python Automation: Utilize Python for data processing, large-scale data analysis, report generation, and data cleansing to significantly reduce manual operational effort. Continuous Improvement: Lead automation initiatives to improve reconciliation turnaround times, strengthen internal financial controls, and minimize operational risk. 4. Stakeholder & Compliance Management Vendor Collaboration: Partner with banks, payment gateways, and internal cross-functional teams to resolve operational issues and improve overall payment efficiency. Audit & Compliance: Ensure strict adherence to internal financial controls, accounting standards, audit requirements, and operational risk management policies. Required Skills & Qualifications Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Commerce, Data Analytics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field. Experience : 3–6 years of experience in payment reconciliation, fintech operations, payment gateway systems, or financial data analysis. Technical Skills :Advanced SQL: Proven ability to query, join, and analyze complex relational databases. Python : Proficiency in writing scripts for data cleansing, manipulation (e.g., Pandas, NumPy), and process automation. Excel : Advanced knowledge of pivot tables, VLOOKUPs/XLOOKUPs, and complex formulas. Domain Knowledge: Deep understanding of the payment ecosystem (MDR, settlement cycles, chargebacks, merchant payouts, and banking APIs). Analytical Mindset: Exceptional problem-solving skills with an eagle-eye attention to detail.