Payments Operations Manager

Our client is a high-growth fintech company building the next generation of payment infrastructure across Africa. Their mission is to make money movement seamless inclusive and scalable across borders. They operate at the intersection of financial innovation and real-world impact empowering businesses and consumers with tools to thrive in a rapidly digitizing economy.

Role Overview

You will build and run the payment operations function end to end. The role covers process design daily execution banking partner management and troubleshooting. You will be the operational anchor ensuring funds move reliably partners stay aligned and issues are resolved fast.

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Cape Town

Workplace: Hybrid

Requirements

• 3 to 7 years in payment operations banking operations treasury operations or PSP environments.
• Strong understanding of payment rails: EFT SWIFT RTC wallets.
• Experience managing banking relationships and handling RFIs.
• Solid reconciliation and exception management experience.
• High competence with spreadsheets internal tools and transactional systems.
• Ability to work under time pressure and handle multiple payment cycles.
• Clear communicator with strong organisational discipline.

Preferred

• Experience in a fintech PSP or high volume transactional environment.
• Exposure to crypto on/off ramps or alternative settlement methods.
• Understanding of treasury liquidity and cash management processes.
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks and operational controls.

Responsibilities

Process Design and Ownership

• Build and document all payment operations processes for inward outward and internal transfers.
• Set up SOPs for reconciliation settlement exception handling and escalations.
• Implement controls to ensure accuracy timeliness compliance and audit readiness.
• Identify gaps and continuously optimise throughput latency and reliability.

Daily Payment Operations

• Execute and monitor daily payment flows across local and cross border rails.
• Manage queues for payouts collections reversals returns and chargebacks.
• Oversee reconciliations across banking partners internal systems and ledgers.
• Investigate and resolve operational issues quickly to avoid customer or liquidity impact.
• Coordinate with engineering and product when system issues require fixes.

Banking and Liquidity Partner Management

• Maintain direct operational relationships with banks PSPs and liquidity providers.
• Respond to and manage RFIs and documentary requests for incoming and outgoing payments.
• Track SLAs escalate delays or failures and ensure partner performance stays on target.
• Support onboarding of new partners including testing documentation and certification.

Risk Compliance and Reporting

• Monitor for suspicious activity and escalate when needed.
• Ensure all processes comply with regulatory AML and scheme requirements.
• Prepare operational reports on volumes performance exceptions and liquidity status.
• Support audits and regulatory reviews with accurate documentation.

What Success Looks Like

• Clean documented processes.
• High payment uptime and low exception rates.
• Strong partner relationships and quick RFI turnaround.
• No operational surprises on liquidity or settlements.
• Continuous improvement rather than waiting for issues to appear.

Benefits

• Competitive salary Bonus structure
• Opportunity to shape the future of cross-border payments in Africa.
• Work with an experienced diverse team across fintech payments and blockchain.