Global Head of Payments

We are looking for a strategic payments leader to shape and scale our global payments ecosystem. This role will drive the company’s payment strategy and ensure seamless, secure and scalable payment operations across international markets.

Global Payments Strategy and Leadership

• Define and execute a unified global payments vision aligned with company growth objectives.
• Build and lead a high-performing payments organization across three international offices.
• Standardize operating procedures, reporting, KPIs, and escalation frameworks across regions.
• Establish clear governance and decision-making frameworks across payment operations, finance, compliance, and product.

Payment Operations Excellence

• Own end-to-end payment lifecycle performance: funding (AR), disbursement (AP), settlement, reconciliation, chargebacks, returns, and exceptions.
• Improve transaction success rates and reduce friction in buyer and seller funding flows.
• Implement operational controls that scale with volume growth while maintaining regulatory integrity.
• Develop global SLAs and real-time performance dashboards.

Banking & Payment Partner Management

• Own strategic relationships with acquiring banks, payout providers, card networks, and alternative payment method providers.
• Negotiate commercial terms to optimize processing costs and margins.
• Diversify and strengthen redundancy across global payment corridors.
• Evaluate and onboard new payment methods to increase geographic coverage and conversion.

Regulatory & Compliance Alignment

• Partner with Compliance and Legal teams to ensure adherence to global regulatory frameworks (e.g., AML, KYC, traceability, money transmission regulations).
• Oversee payment scheme compliance, operational audits, and partner reporting requirements.
• Ensure controls and processes meet regulatory standards in all active jurisdictions.

Risk, Fraud & Chargeback OPtimization

• Collaborate with Risk to reduce fraud losses and manage dispute ratios.
• Design policies that balance transaction approval rates with risk thresholds.
• Oversee chargeback representation strategy and operational processes.

Payment Product Enablement

• Partner with Product and Engineering to build scalable payment infrastructure.
• Provide commercial and operational input into new payment features, cross-border expansion, and marketplace integrations.
• Drive innovation in funding methods, payout speed, and cross-currency settlement.

Requirements:
• 7+ years of experience in payments, fintech, banking, or regulated financial services.
• Minimum 1 year of Accounting exposure
• Proven experience building and managing full cycle AP/AR workflows (and with strong practical ledger understanding, Dr./Cr.) involving complex multi-party settlement and milestones.
• Proven experience managing and supervising payments operations team(s)
• Proven experience managing "Client Money" or similar regulated fund-holding environments.
• Proven ability to manage the risk profiles of high-ticket transactions (e.g., real estate, M&A, or high-value marketplaces).
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence across customer success, product, finance, and compliance.

Preferred:

• Experience in Escrow, Marketplace or trust-based financial products
• Experience operating in multi-currency, high-value transaction environments.