Automated Clearing ; ACH Consultant- Onsite

Overview

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.). Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 1000, and the Fortune 500 and we are among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world.

This position is only open to candidates who do not require visa sponsorship now or in the future. Visa-dependent candidates are not eligible for this role.

Location: Atlanta, GA

Model: Hybrid

• Ensure the quality, compliance, and resilience of ACH processing across NACHA and ISO 20022 rails. Design automated test plans that validate NACHA file format (File/Batch/Entry/Addenda) and ISO 20022 payment messages (e.g., pain, pacs, camt), verify ACH Positive Pay and other risk controls, and ensure coverage for returns/NOCs/IAT, micro-entries, same day settlement, and rule change regression. Requires ACH experience at a Financial Institution (operations, settlement, and/or reconciliation) and ACH domain depth (including AAP/APRP certifications) plus the ability to understand and translate ISO schemas and business rules into executable test scenarios.
• Standards & Format Validation – NACHA:
  Validate SEC codes (PPD, CCD, CTX, WEB, IAT, ARC, BOC, POP, RCK, XCK), addenda content (e.g., ANSI X12 for CTX), effective entry dates, batch control totals, file headers/controls, and micro-entry descriptors/compliance.
• ISO 20022:
  Author and execute tests for schemas and business rules in pain.
  001 (customer credit transfer initiation), pacs.
  008 (FI to FI credit transfer), pacs.
  002 (status), and camt.
  053/054 (statements/advices) where applicable to ACH-orchestrated flows and downstream reporting.
• Mapping & Translation:
  Validate NACHA → ISO 20022 transformations (field mapping, code set equivalence, amount/sign conventions, character sets, remittance structures), including CTX remittance → ISO structured/unstructured remittance (Rmt Inf) integrity and truncation rules.
• Positive Pay & Debit Filters (Risk Controls): design tests for ACH Positive Pay rules including Company /blacklists, authorized SEC code scopes, amount limits, frequency/velocity, effective date ranges, and account-level entitlements.
• Exception handling flows (match, mismatch, decision windows), notification channels, and posting suppression until a decision is applied.
• Validate ACH debit blocks/filters, vendor enrollment/authorization life cycles, and change management (add/update/remove authorizations) with audit trails.
• Test exposure limits, limit hierarchies (account, company, TPS), nested TPS detection, and alert/escalation routing.
• Lifecycle & Exception Scenarios:
  Returns (R01–R39), dishonored returns (R61–R67), contested dishonored; timing validations and reason-code specific behaviors.
• NOC:
  End to end Notification of Change capture, routing to originator, remediation SLA verification, and regression.
• Reversals & Reclamations:
  Validate authorization, timing windows, account status changes (e.g., DNE flows).
• IAT:
  Gateway presence, OFAC screening, required addenda fields; test cross-border nuances in mapping to ISO messages.
• WEB Debit Account Validation:
  Validate the Nacha WEB Debit Account Validation Rule (pre authentication, account validation methods, failure handling).
• Operational Quality & Posting Controls:
  Validate same day ACH vs next day posting rules, cutoff behavior, holiday calendars, late-day exception handling, and settlement windows.
• Confirm reconciliation and reporting (ACH advices, settlement reports, exception queues; ISO camt messages where used).
• Verify audit readiness: comprehensive QA artifacts, defect evidence, risk sign offs, and rule-change coverage.
• Security, Compliance, and Data Integrity: OFAC/BSA/AML integration tests (screening, case creation, hold/release, escalation paths).
• Authorization records retention/warranty coverage, consent revocation, and dispute workflows (e.g., R10/R11 unauthorized).
• Data lineage across NACHA files and ISO messages; ensure remittance, company , and account data…