Associate Program Manager

This role combines functional expertise in regulatory tax compliance with strong business analysis and operational leadership. The individual will act as a bridge between client stakeholders, product, and engineering teams, while also managing tax operations to ensure accurate, timely, and compliant deliverables.

The role requires hands-on involvement in requirement analysis, system validation, reporting accuracy, and operational oversight across compliance processes such as FATCA, CRS, and Chapter 3 withholding and reporting.

Requirements Gathering & Documentation

Conduct detailed requirement gathering sessions with client stakeholders and internal teams.

Undertake system and functional impact, translate business requirements and regulatory tax rules/ updates (Chapter 3, FATCA, CRS) into structured documentation (BRDs, FRDs, user stories, process flows, etc.).

Produce use cases, data flow diagrams, process flow diagrams and sequence diagrams.

Create and maintain documentation for specific client implementation/ integration, API, and product release notes.

Developer and Tester Enablement

Conduct walkthroughs with developers and testers to explain requirements, and regulatory logic in precise technical terms and in simple understandable ways.

Actively participate in defect triage, root cause analysis, and resolution validation.

Test Case Design & Execution

Create comprehensive test cases and test scripts covering functional, regression, edge-case and negative scenarios.

Work closely with QA teams to create/ clarify acceptance criteria.

Lead and manage System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) end-to-end, including defect lifecycle management and sign-off.

Report Validation & Compliance Review

Validate system-generated regulatory reports i.e. general compliance/ ad-hoc report requests from clients and year-end tax filing outputs (e.g., 1042-S, 1099, 8805, 8966 FATCA, CRS).

Review reporting logic, data mapping, and output accuracy against applicable regulatory schemas and filing standards.

Validate the XML generated for FATCA and CRS for submission into the government portals and deliver to the client/ client’s auditors.

Lead client data migration as part of the new client onboarding process.

Leadership and Backup Coverage

Act as a Project Manager / Technology Delivery Lead in the absence of the manager, ensuring continuity of delivery and decision-making

Coordinate with onshore/offshore teams, track progress, and manage priorities across workstreams

Drive status updates, stakeholder communication, and issue escalation as needed

Team Leadership and Oversight

Manage the day-to-day operations of the Tax Ops team, providing clear direction, prioritisation, and escalation management.

Assign tasks and allocate resources based on team capacity, skillsets, and urgency.

Process Improvement and Automation

Assess operational workflows to identify inefficiencies and areas for process improvement or automation.

Partner with technology teams to scope and drive automation initiatives that reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.

Document updated SOPs and train team members on revised processes.

Guidance and Support

Provide subject matter guidance to team members on new regulatory requirements, withholding obligations, and reporting (general or year-end) activities.

Act as the first point of contact for complex operational queries.

Train new joiners.

General Reporting and Year-End Reporting Support

Oversee operational readiness for reporting cycles and contribution/ delivery to year-end regulatory reporting cycles.

Provide hands-on support for the preparation and review of year-end tax reports, ensuring completeness and accuracy across all reportable populations.

Deep System Knowledge

Develop and maintain comprehensive, end-to-end knowledge of the tax compliance platform, including functional working, data ingestion, processing logic, and output generation.

Serve as the internal SME and go-to authority on system capabilities, limitations, configuration options, and known behaviours.

Report & Reporting Logic Mastery

Maintain thorough working knowledge of all reports (general or regulatory year-end reporting related) generated by the system- their data sources (high level), business rules, transformation logic, and output formats.

Identify and escalate discrepancies between expected regulatory output and actual system behaviour, partnering with development for resolution.

Contribute to product roadmap discussions by providing informed feedback grounded in regulatory requirements and operational experience.

Proven experience as a Senior Business Analyst in a software delivery or financial services environment. Candidates with a background in finance, tax, or accounting functions within a technology delivery context.

Total experience of 13 years, with a minimum of 7/8 years in a Business Analyst role within a finance, banking, or tax-technology environment.

Mumbai location is preferred (primary).

Hands-on experience in SIT/UAT testing, test case creation, and defect management.

Experience managing teams or leading operational workflows.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, particularly with data validation and reporting.

Ability to translate complex business requirements into clear functional specifications.

Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including working with large datasets, complex formulas, data validation, and reconciliation (e.g., lookups, pivot tables, conditional logic).

Prior experience or exposure to FATCA, CRS, or Chapter 3 regulations is preferred.

Experience with regulatory reporting (e.g., 1042-S, 1099, CRS/FATCA submissions) is an added advantage.

Candidates without prior tax regulatory experience but with strong analytical and functional skills are encouraged to apply; structured on-the-job training will be provided to build domain expertise.

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Computer Science, or a related field. Relevant professional certifications (e.g., CBAP, ICA, CIPP) are advantageous.