Commercial Payments Manager

British Airways PLC; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global airline company is seeking a Senior Payments Commercial Lead to drive their payments strategy and manage key payment partnerships. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in the airline or travel sector, strong leadership abilities, and a deep understanding of the payments ecosystem. This position offers travel benefits and opportunities for personal development.

Benefits

Unlimited standby flight tickets

30 discounted airport fares per year

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing global payment strategies in a complex environment.
• Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem, compliance, and regulation.
• Success in leading commercial negotiations with acquirers and/or PSPs.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of the Commercial Payments strategy.
• Manage multi-million-pound commercial relationships with payment partners.
• Define and report on performance KPIs related to partner performance.

Skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Job description

The role: Senior Payments Commercial Lead

We're looking for a commercially driven and strategically minded Senior Payments Commercial Lead to join our Commercial team at British Airways. In this high-impact role, you will lead our Commercial Payments team to optimise our payments cost base, drive value through our payment partnerships, and shape the evolution of our payment strategy across the airline.

What you'll do:

• Lead the development and delivery of British Airways' Commercial Payments strategy, ensuring it supports both revenue growth and cost optimisation.
• Own and manage multi-million-pound commercial relationships with key external payment partners including acquirers, card networks, and PSPs.
• Negotiate new and existing commercial terms, working closely with Procurement, Treasury, and Group stakeholders to deliver commercial value.
• Work in partnership with the Payment Product Team to influence and deliver a dynamic, customer-centric payment platform that supports operational and financial objectives.
• Define and report on performance KPIs related to partner performance, cost savings, acceptance rates, and revenue uplift.
• Guide your team in preparing robust business cases and reporting to support commercial and financial planning cycles.
• Oversee acquiring routing logic and exposure levels to ensure optimisation in line with commercial contracts.
• Represent BA in industry forums and with regulatory bodies, ensuring compliance with emerging payments legislation and contributing to cross-industry solutions.
• Ensure audit processes and compliance standards are embedded and proactively support identification of opportunities through data and trend analysis.

What you'll bring to British Airways:

• A resilient, commercially focused mindset with strong leadership and negotiation skills.
• The ability to lead a high-performing team and manage complex supplier relationships across a dynamic global ecosystem.
• Confidence in decision-making and stakeholder management across senior levels of the business.
• A drive to innovate, optimise, and evolve payment strategies in line with customer expectations and regulatory change.

Your experience:

• Proven experience managing global payment strategies in a large-scale, complex environment-airline or travel sector experience highly desirable.
• Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem across online and offline channels, including compliance, regulation, and emerging technologies.
• Demonstrated success in leading commercial negotiations with acquirers and/or PSPs and managing a significant cost base.
• Track record of managing cross-functional teams and delivering measurable commercial outcomes through data-driven decision making.

What we offer:

We believe that all the people who work with us should feel valued for the part they play. It's one of the reasons our rewards go far beyond a competitive salary.

From the day you join us, you'll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways flights. You'll also receive up to 30 discounted Hotline airport fares per year for yourself, friends, and family.

At British Airways you'll have the chance to take on new challenges and move forward in a way that feels right for you. We encourage all those who work for us to consider opportunities right across our business to help you develop and progress.

We never stand still, and we don't expect our people to either.

Inclusion & Diversity

At British Airways we all have a part to play in creating an inclusive place to work. Diverse representation among our people is really important to us and we recognise that all our colleagues are uniquely different and bring their own originality, creativity and identity to work.

Inclusion and diversity is a key driver of innovation and we're committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they can be themselves. We're looking for people from all backgrounds and cultures to join us and be a part of our journey to become a Better BA as we continue to connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain.