Payments architecture
Turning business requirements into switch, integration and card-processing designs — issuing and acquiring flows, routing, scheme connectivity and real-time payments.
Harare, Zimbabwe · Open to remote or relocation
Tafadzwa M ShumbaPMP®
Payments Technology Lead · Solutions Architect
I work on the layer of payments most people never see: the switch that has to authorise a transaction in under a second, at 3am, on month-end, with no second chance. For nine years I’ve designed, delivered and run payment switching, card and real-time payment platforms for banks and fintechs across Africa and Asia.
- 9years in payments technology
- 8+markets across Africa & Asia
- 3card schemes taken to certification
- 24/7live ATM, POS & digital channels
What I do
Delivery leadership
Leading switch implementations, migrations and modernisation programmes from requirements through SIT/UAT to a clean go-live — PMP-certified, across multiple countries at once.
Integration & certification
ISO 8583 and ISO 20022 message design, core banking and third-party integrations, and Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay certification end to end.
Production resilience
Keeping live switches healthy: incident leadership, root cause analysis, high availability, disaster recovery and controlled release on ATM, POS, mPOS, eCommerce and mobile.
Expertise
Architecture & strategy
- Enterprise payments architecture
- Solution design
- Payment modernisation
- Switch migration
- Real-time payments
- API design
- TOGAF
- BPMN
Platforms
- ACI Postilion
- Realtime & Office
- PostBridge
- Card management
- PosTerm
- TermApp.ISO
- SmartVista
Standards & schemes
- ISO 8583
- ISO 20022
- EMV
- Visa
- Mastercard
- UnionPay
- Card issuing & acquiring
Integration
- Oracle Flexcube
- Temenos T24
- Interswitch
- TIPS
- Thunes
- TransUnion
- REST & SOAP
- Java
- SQL Server & Oracle
Delivery & operations
- Programme delivery (PMP)
- Requirements & specs
- SIT / UAT
- Release management
- Incident & RCA
- HA & DR
- Stakeholder management
Security
- Futurex HSM
- PIN management
- Key management
- Secure key exchange
Experience
-
Oct 2024 — Present
Postilion Switch Developer Lead
International payments technology provider
- Lead design and delivery across the ACI Postilion ecosystem, including reusable platform components used in production.
- Design and evolve ISO 8583 interfaces linking payment switches, core banking systems and digital channels.
- Set quality, performance and security standards through solution reviews and controlled release; mentor the engineering team.
- Lead incident investigation in critical production payment environments.
-
Nov 2021 — Present
Founder
Timomo Consultancy · alongside full-time roles
- Independent consultancy delivering switching, transaction processing and integration work for banks and fintechs on selected engagements. More below →
-
Nov 2021 — Oct 2024
Payments Solutions Architect
Pan-African financial services group · 5 markets
- Owned payments architecture for the group, translating business requirements into switch, integration and card-processing designs.
- Designed and delivered issuing and acquiring solutions across multiple African markets.
- Managed integrations with external switches, processors and card schemes — SmartVista, Interswitch, TIPS, Thunes, TransUnion and partner banks.
- Produced functional specifications, solution and API designs; led SIT, UAT, go-live and stabilisation.
-
Jul 2023 — Oct 2023
Senior Switching Engineer (Consultant)
Payment services provider · short-term engagement
- Supported live ATM and POS switching; contributed to disaster recovery and high-availability planning.
-
Aug 2017 — Oct 2021
Postilion Engineer
Payments & card processing provider
- Implemented and supported payment applications for multiple banks, ensuring high availability of payment services.
- Integrated Postilion with Oracle Flexcube and Temenos T24; designed ISO 8583 interfaces for ATM, POS and mobile.
- Delivered Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay acquiring and Visa EMV debit issuing, including certification.
- Configured Futurex HSMs for PIN processing and key management.
Employer and client names, and references, available on request.
Selected projects
Pan-African payments integration programme
Financial services group — Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda
Architecture and delivery of switch, card and third-party integrations across five markets — SmartVista, Digital Mall, TIPS, Interswitch, Thunes, TransUnion and partner banks.
Enterprise Postilion upgrade
Commercial bank, Zimbabwe
Migration planning, test coordination, production cutover and operational stabilisation.
Visa EMV debit card issuing
Commercial bank, Zimbabwe
Card management set-up, EMV and Visa certification, ISO 8583 integration, production deployment.
Visa & Mastercard POS acquiring
Commercial bank, Zambia
Switch and routing design, ISO 8583 interfaces, scheme certification, production rollout.
UnionPay POS acquiring
Building society, Eswatini
Implementation, certification, deployment and production support.
Timomo Consultancy
Bring in a payments specialist
Independent consultancy delivering payment switching, transaction processing and integration work for banks and fintechs — on selected engagements.
- Switch implementations, upgrades & migrations
- ISO 8583 / ISO 20022 interface design & integration
- EMV and scheme certification, end to end
- Stabilising switches that are failing or slow
Education & certifications
BSc (Hons) Computer Science
National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe · 2013 – 2017
Languages
- English — professional
- Shona — native
- Ndebele — elementary
- PMP®
- TOGAF® 10 — in progress
- ACI Postilion SDK
- EMV & Card Payment Systems
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Associate
- Certificate in Digital Money
- The Future of Payment Technologies
- McKinsey Forward Program
Let’s talk
Open to payments engineering and architecture leadership roles — remote or relocation — and to selected consulting engagements.