Seasoned leader joins as Payment Experience Management gains momentum and AI-powered innovation drives the next phase of growth in non-commerce payments
PayNearMe announced that Niall Hayes has joined the company as Chief Development Officer, EVP of Engineering. He will lead the company’s engineering organization and drive the platform’s ongoing evolution, with a focus on scaling its payments infrastructure, strengthening execution and advancing AI-powered innovation. In this role, Hayes will oversee software development, infrastructure, data, security and enterprise implementations, and guide the continued evolution of PayNearMe’s highly reliable, modern payments platform, which processes more than $50 billion annually.
Hayes joins PayNearMe at a significant time for both the company and the broader payments industry. As demand grows for simpler, more seamless payment experiences, organizations are increasingly adopting Payment Experience Management strategies to improve outcomes and reduce operational complexity. PayNearMe recently delivered its strongest year on record, driven by growth across revenue, client and partner expansion, and ongoing platform innovation, positioning the company for sustained momentum in 2026.
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“We’re excited to welcome Niall to PayNearMe as the company enters its next phase of growth,” said Danny Shader, founder and CEO of PayNearMe. “He’s built and scaled some of the most demanding, high-volume platforms in the world and brings the technical depth and leadership we need to build on our momentum. As Payment Experience Management becomes a strategic priority for our clients, Niall will play a critical role in advancing our technology and expanding our use of AI across the company. His leadership will help us deliver even greater performance, reliability and innovation for the PayXM™ platform.”
“PayNearMe is tackling a real, everyday challenge by making it easier for people to pay and for businesses to get paid, through a highly differentiated platform and an exceptional team,” said Hayes. “The opportunity to help shape the Payment Experience Management category, alongside the company’s strong growth and momentum, made this an incredibly compelling time to join. I’m excited to partner with the team to keep evolving the platform to drive greater scale, resilience and innovation.”
Hayes brings more than 25 years of experience leading engineering, product and operations teams. Most recently, he served as SVP of Engineering at Twilio, where he led the Communications platform across Messaging, Email, Voice and Video, supporting trillions of emails and hundreds of billions of messages annually. Prior to Twilio, he was COO at Pantheon, overseeing engineering, customer success and operations, and previously held leadership roles at KIXEYE, Zynga and Electronic Arts.
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