Manager – Payment Operations

Job Description
Manager – Payment Operations
Department: Payment Operations
Reports To: Head of Operations

About Us:

ACE Money Transfer is a UK-based multinational company headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom. ACE Money Transfer provides online remittance services to individuals in 29 countries across the UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia, enabling them to send money across borders in over 100 countries

Position Overview

The Manager – Payment Operations owns end-to-end performance of payin and payout processing and leads the department's transition from manual, exception-driven handling to a systemised, automated operating model. This role sits between the Head of Operations and the Assistant Manager – Payment Operations, translating operational strategy into executable process and system improvements, while the Assistant Manager continues to own day-to-day transaction execution and team supervision under this role's direction.

Key Responsibilities

Systems Improvement & Automation

• Own the roadmap to reduce manual processing dependency across payin and payout workflows, identifying candidates for automation and driving them through to deployment with IT/Tech.
• Define and prioritise system enhancement requests (e.g. routing logic, reconciliation tooling, exception handling) based on volume, risk, and recurring incident patterns.
• Design and maintain SOPs that reflect the automated/target-state process, retiring manual workarounds once systemised.
• Track automation initiatives to named owners and committed go-live dates; report status and slippage transparently.

Payin / Payout Operations Oversight

• Hold overall accountability for payin and payout processing performance: success rates, processing time, reconciliation accuracy, and cancellation rates.
• Oversee manual processing queues directly, ensuring SLA adherence and clean escalation of aged or exception cases.
• Review root-cause analysis on recurring failures (bank/PSP declines, routing errors, reconciliation breaks) and ensure fixes are implemented, not just logged.
• Own incident response for payment operations issues (e.g. misrouted payouts, gateway disruptions), including CEO/leadership reporting where required.

Team Leadership

• Manage and develop the Assistant Manager – Payment Operations, setting objectives, reviewing performance, and holding them accountable for execution-level KPIs.
• Provide technical and process guidance across the wider Payment Operations team; ensure consistent standards across shifts/locations.
• Identify capability gaps and build training plans on new systems, automation tools, and updated processes.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management

• Maintain working relationships with banks, PSPs, and payout partners to resolve systemic issues and negotiate operational improvements.
• Oversee third-party vendor performance against SLAs; escalate and remediate persistent underperformance.
• Coordinate with Compliance, Tech, and Customer Experience on cross-functional fixes affecting payment operations.

Reporting & Governance

• Produce and own regular (daily/weekly/monthly) reporting on payment operations KPIs, automation progress, and incident status for the Head of Operations.
• Ensure all payment operations activity — manual and automated — remains compliant with internal standards and external regulatory requirements.
• Support audit readiness with accurate, evidenced process documentation.

Key Requirements

Experience

• 6–8+ years in payment operations within fintech, remittance, or banking, including experience managing payin/payout processing at scale.
• Demonstrated experience leading process automation or system improvement initiatives, not just operating within existing systems.
• Prior people management experience, ideally managing a supervisory/assistant-manager-level direct report.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Technology, Operations Management, or a related field.
• 6–8+ years of experience in payment operations, fintech, remittance, banking, or digital payments environments.
• Proven experience managing payin and payout operations at scale, including transaction processing, reconciliation, payment failures, and exception management.
• Strong understanding of payment rails, bank/PSP integrations, payment gateways, and reconciliation processes.
• Demonstrated experience leading process automation, system improvement initiatives, and operational transformation projects.
• Prior experience managing teams, including supervisors, assistant managers, or operational leads.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to monitor KPIs, perform root-cause analysis, and drive data-based improvements.
• Experience working with Technology, Compliance, Customer Experience, and external payment partners to deliver operational improvements.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to provide structured reporting to senior leadership.
• Knowledge of operational controls, risk management, and regulatory compliance requirements within financial services or payments is preferred.

Skills & Attributes

• Strong grasp of payment rails, reconciliation processes, and bank/PSP integration issues.
• Comfortable scoping automation/system-improvement requirements and working directly with IT/Tech to deliver them.
• Data-driven decision-making; comfortable owning KPI reporting and root-cause analysis.
• Clear, structured communicator — able to report upward with exact status, named owners, and dates rather than general updates.

ACE Money Transfer Profile: https://acemoneytransfer.com/company-profile