The Role
Position - Payment Operations & Banking Partnerships Manager The Payment Operations & Banking Partnerships Manager will be responsible for overseeing the end-to-end high-risk payments infrastructure of the company, ensuring optimal flow, minimal downtime, and robust compliance controls. This individual will also spearhead the sourcing, negotiation, and onboarding of banking partners, PSPs, EMI accounts, and financial licences globally — ensuring regulatory alignment and operational scalability. Key Responsibilities: 1. Payment Operations Management • Oversee all incoming and outgoing payment flows across multiple jurisdictions, currencies, and channels. • Manage and monitor daily transaction processing for speed, cost efficiency, and compliance alignment. • Implement real-time reconciliation processes to ensure zero settlement discrepancies. • Identify and resolve transaction issues (delays, declines, recalls, chargebacks) swiftly and with minimal business disruption. • Maintain direct oversight of a compliance-focused operations team handling daily monitoring, RFI responses, and APP-related issues. 2. Banking & PSP Onboarding • Source, evaluate, and negotiate with banks, EMIs, PSPs, and payment facilitators worldwide, prioritising partners open to high-risk sectors. • Lead end-to-end onboarding processes: application, compliance documentation, KYC/KYB, and technical integration. • Maintain and expand a global portfolio of banking relationships to ensure redundancy and scalability. • Work with legal and compliance teams to align all new accounts with applicable licensing and regulatory requirements. 3. Licensing Alignment • Map all existing and prospective financial licences to suitable banking and payment partners. • Actively identify opportunities to leverage group licences for market expansion and operational diversification. • Ensure each banking partner understands and accepts the scope of activities under relevant licences. 4. Compliance Oversight • Implement and maintain strict adherence to AML/CTF policies, PSD2/PSR requirements, and jurisdiction-specific banking regulations. • Supervise preparation and submission of compliance reports, RFIs, and enhanced due diligence responses. • Coordinate with internal compliance officers and external auditors to ensure all payment flows meet regulatory standards. 5. Team Leadership • Manage, mentor, and develop a high-performance payment operations and compliance support team. • Allocate workloads, set clear KPIs, and conduct performance reviews. KPIs & Performance Metrics: • Number and quality of new banking/PSP relationships established per quarter. • Reduction in payment processing downtime or blockages. • Time-to-resolution for transaction issues and RFIs. • Settlement reconciliation accuracy rate. • Regulatory compliance audit pass rate. • Increased transaction throughput and reduced per-transaction cost.

Requirements
Requirement: • Minimum 5 years in payment operations or banking relationship management, preferably in high-risk sectors (forex, gaming, crypto, etc.). • Proven success in onboarding banks/PSPs for high-risk operations. • Strong understanding of global payments landscape, SWIFT, SEPA, Faster Payments, and card acquiring. • Knowledge of compliance frameworks (AML/CTF, PSD2, travel rule, KYC/KYB). • Exceptional negotiation skills and relationship management ability. • Experience managing high-pressure, high-volume payment environments. • Strong leadership qualities, able to build and inspire a compliance-oriented operations team. Reporting : Reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer (or equivalent) and works closely with the Compliance Director and Group Licensing Manager.

About the company
A dynamic financial services company offering tailored solutions to help individuals and businesses achieve their financial goals with confidence and efficiency.