Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design and development of the organisation's future payments strategy and operating model.
- Provide subject matter expertise to support banking licence and regulatory initiatives.
- Produce key artefacts including target-state architectures, process flows, requirements documentation, decision papers, and executive presentations.
- Engage with senior stakeholders across Operations, Technology, Risk, Compliance and Executive Leadership.
- Evaluate and challenge vendors, banking partners, and payment service providers.
- Support the design of scalable, resilient, and compliant payment operations.
Required Experience
Payments & Banking Operations Deep expertise across UK payment operations, including: Faster Payments Bacs CHAPS Client money and nominated account structures Card payment networks FX settlement and treasury-related payment flows Savings and deposit operations.
Banking & Regulatory Expertise Strong understanding of banking operating models and payment infrastructure. Experience supporting banking licence, digital banking, e-money or payments transformation programmes. Knowledge of PSD2 and associated regulatory requirements. Experience selecting, integrating and managing PSD2-licensed payment partners. Understanding of operational resilience requirements and how payments architecture supports regulatory compliance.
European & Cross-Border Payments Experience operating across multi-entity European environments. Knowledge of correspondent banking models, intragroup arrangements and cross-border payment structures. Expertise in liquidity management, account placement strategy and reconciliation frameworks.
Clearing & Banking Partner Selection Proven experience leading clearing bank selection exercises, including: Requirements gathering Market assessment and vendor shortlisting Commercial evaluation Due diligence Contract negotiations and onboarding
Custody & Wealth Management Operations Understanding of custody and banking operating models. Experience with: Client money segregation Sub-custodian arrangements Banking and custody control frameworks Payment design considerations within regulated wealth management environments.
Technology & Platform Knowledge Strong understanding of payments architecture and banking technology ecosystems. Experience with Avaloq is highly desirable, including: Avaloq operating model and architecture Front-office, middle-tier and back-office integration Payments and banking workflow connectivity.
Ideal Background
We are particularly interested in individuals who have delivered similar initiatives within: Wealth Management Private Banking Digital Banking Custody Services Asset & Investment Management Challenger Banks Payment Service Providers (PSPs). This role requires a hands-on SME who can combine strategic advisory capability with practical delivery experience and operate credibly at executive level while driving detailed workstreams independently.