Akilla Lima
Shaping the future of payments through PIX, card schemes,
blockchain & tokenization — data-driven, strategy-first.
From strategy
to execution.
Head of Product with 7+ years specializing in payments infrastructure, PIX arrangements, card schemes, and emerging technologies like blockchain and tokenization. A data-driven strategist who turns regulatory complexity into competitive products.
Postgraduate in Finance, Product Management, and Software Engineering. Deep expertise in the BCB regulatory agenda — from PIX Automático to DREX — combined with strong command of agile methodologies and AI applied to product decision-making.
Career Path
Principal Product Manager · Payments & Banking
Strategic partner to the CEO, leading the product vision for banking and payment solutions. Driving PIX arrangements, card issuing programs, and the company's tokenization roadmap aligned with BCB directives.
Group Product Manager · Financial Products
Architected financial product suite including credit bureau integrations, payment cycles, and data-driven risk models. Led squad of 12 across product, tech, and data.
Product Manager · Digital Banking
Owned the roadmap for digital payment products at scale. Delivered PIX onboarding, card product iteration cycles, and real-time fraud prevention features in collaboration with security and engineering.
Brazilian Payments Market
Key indicators shaping the competitive landscape I navigate every day.
Instant payment arrangement. 180M+ daily transactions.
Recurring and scheduled PIX. Replacing direct debit (TED/DOC).
Foreign exchange via DLT. Cross-border settlement modernization.
Asset tokenization on regulated infrastructure. Real estate, agro & fixed income.
Expertise
Payments Infrastructure
PIX, TED, card acquiring & issuing, settlement, reconciliation. Full-stack payment architecture.
Card Schemes
Visa, Mastercard, Elo. Issuing programs, chargeback, tokenization (MDES/VTS).
Blockchain & Tokenization
DLT for financial assets, asset tokenization, smart contracts and programmable money infrastructure.
Data-Driven Strategy
OKRs, North Star metrics, SQL & Python analytics, product experimentation at scale.
Open Finance & APIs
Open Banking architecture, consent management, credit portability and data sharing regulated by BCB Phase 1–4.
Embedded Finance & BaaS
Banking-as-a-Service platforms, white-label financial products, embedded credit and account-to-account flows for non-financial companies.
Product Leadership & AI
Cross-functional leadership, AI applied to product discovery, roadmap & prioritization frameworks.
Selected Work
Open Finance Platform
End-to-end Open Finance platform enabling data sharing, credit portability and embedded financial services. Integrated with BCB's Open Banking APIs — connecting 10+ institutions and enabling R$1B+ in credit decisions powered by consented data.
PIX Automático
Product strategy and implementation roadmap for scheduled/recurring PIX. Migrating subscription billing and utility payments from legacy direct debit to instant payment rails.
Payment Infrastructure
Scalable multi-acquirer payment processing with real-time settlement, automated reconciliation and chargeback management. Processing R$2B+ annually.
Fintech Intelligence Dashboard
Real-time analytics platform consolidating transaction volumes, authorization rates, churn, LTV, and revenue KPIs. Built with SQL + Python pipelines feeding executive dashboards. Reduced reporting time by 80%.
Open to new
opportunities.
Whether you're a recruiter, founder, or payment innovator — let's connect and build the future of finance together.