Payment Operations Director

Zepz; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited annual leave

Great healthcare benefits

Employee discounts

Job summary

Zepz is seeking a Payment Operations Director to lead the end-to-end execution of cross-border payments across multiple corridors and channels. You will interface with Finance, Engineering, Product, and payout partners to reduce costs and improve routing velocity while maintaining rigorous controls.

You will build and own KPI frameworks, drive automation of workflows, and lead a high-performing team to deliver scalable operations across the global network powering WorldRemit and Sendwave.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on leadership experience running high-volume payment operations in FinTech, FX, or cross-border remittance.
• Ability to translate operational data into clear leadership-grade insights and drive accountability.
• Proactive problem-solving with fast decision-making and initiative.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end payment execution across global corridors and payment channels.
• Own corridor-level performance metrics: success rates, payout speed, and cost.
• Build real-time transaction monitoring and resolve exceptions quickly before impacts.
• Refine SOPs/runbooks and drive automation of manual workflows.
• Lead and scale a high-performing payments operations team; set clear goals and review performance.
• Define and own KPI framework for Payment Operations and translate data into actionable leadership insights.

Skills

Payment operations leadership

Operational decisiveness

Data-driven accountability

Tools

Claude (Anthropic)

ReconArt

Gresham

Job description

At Zepz, we're all about breaking down barriers for our customers and our teammates. Our purpose is deeply personal, we provide a lifeline and deliver opportunities to cross-border communities that need it most through cutting edge finance and tech. Zepz is the power behind WorldRemit and Sendwave, driven by the mission to celebrate the incredible impact migrants have, both at home and abroad. We're not just moving money; we're building a world that truly recognizes and supports global connections.

Who You'll Be Joining

We look for mission-driven builders who thrive in a fast-paced environment connected to a true purpose. We’re an always developing team of experts that enjoy problem solving and bring clarity to tough challenges. At Zepz, we are Relentless Learners, always seeking feedback, and Responsible Owners, treating company resources like your own. We depend on Transparent Communicators who keep the team aligned through open, honest talk.

Our Core Commitments — What We Live By

Our vibrant and truly diverse culture is built on three core commitments, that guide how we work and interact:

• Integrity: We always do the right thing. It’s simple, but it’s the foundation of everything we build for our customers and each other.
• Outcomes: We work for our customers. Their success and prosperity are the results we focus on delivering.
• Velocity: We are fast! We maintain high energy levels and make smart decisions quickly, keeping us nimble and ahead of the curve.

Perks of Joining Our Team

We believe in empowering colleagues because we genuinely trust our team. Our culture is founded on this high trust, which naturally encourages the high ownership that drives us to meet our shared high expectations and deliver high performance. While we have all the tools to work remotely, we value the purpose and benefits of in-person connections so we expect our teams to come to the office on a regular basis, and therefore be within a comfortable commutable distance from our London office.

Alongside a great office environment, think

• unlimited annual leave
• great healthcare benefits
• employee discounts.

We want you to thrive and focus entirely on making your biggest impact! In turn, we expect you to bring high ownership and commitment to your work. This is a place where we value trust and high performance, and we'll provide the environment and support needed for you to excel

About the Role

At Zepz, payment operations aren't just a back-office function - they are the critical engine that powers our global cross-border network across WorldRemit and Sendwave. As the Payment Operations Director you will be a hands-on leader who stays deeply in the detail, not above it. Sitting at the intersection of Finance, Engineering, Product, and external payout partners, you will serve as the senior operational owner of all payment functions. By driving down transaction costs and optimising routing velocity, you will directly influence company margins and enable the product team to launch more competitive corridor pricing globally. Your mission is to build an operationally rigorous ecosystem that ensures millions of multi-currency transactions flow seamlessly, automates manual workflows, reduces financial exposure, and optimises transaction execution across sixty continents.

What you bring to the table

Deep payment operations & rail expertise: Extensive, hands-on leadership experience running high-volume payment operations inside a global FinTech, FX, or cross-border remittance environment. Operational decisiveness: You are a proactive problem solver who makes calls quickly with the information available, driving resolutions without waiting for perfect conditions or full consensus. Data-driven accountability: Strong capability to translate operational data into a clear point of view for senior leadership, using metrics to hold both internal cross-functional teams and external stakeholders accountable.

What you will focus on

Payment rails & corridor operations: Drive end-to-end transaction execution across all global payment corridors, ensuring the reliable, accurate, and timely delivery of funds across bank transfers, card networks, mobile wallets, and cash payout networks. Decisive route & partner management: Own corridor-level performance metrics (success rates, payout speed, cost).Transaction monitoring & exception handling: Build and continuously improve real-time monitoring of transaction flows to detect issues early. Refine escalation paths and playbooks to resolve transaction exceptions immediately before they impact customers, treating time-to-resolution as a core metric.

Process excellence & automation strategy: Design, document, and continuously improve the core operational processes that underpin payment execution, ledger matching, and reconciliation. Partner with Engineering and Product to drive the automation of manual workflows and treat SOPs/runbooks as live operational tools. Hands-on team leadership: Build, manage, and scale a high-performing team of payment operations specialists, analysts, and team leads. Set clear goals, conduct regular performance reviews, and foster a team culture grounded in extreme ownership, operational rigor, and direct accountability. Reporting & strategic leadership: Define and own the entire KPI framework for Payment Operations (including exception volumes, processing times, transaction success rates, and partner SLA performance). Translate complex operational data into clear, proactive recommendations and act as a decisive escalation point for complex operational incidents

Bonus Points if you have

Prior experience using Claude (Anthropic) to accelerate operational analysis, draft training frameworks, or audit internal process documentation.

Experience implementing heavy-duty enterprise reconciliation tools (e.g., ReconArt, Gresham, Fiserv/Frontier, or similar modular matching platforms).

Deep structural knowledge of local clearing systems across emerging markets, particularly APAC, LATAM, and Africa.

AI Literacy & Tools

• A genuine curiosity about AI and how it can be applied in your area of work — from accelerating analysis and insight generation, to improving how we design and deliver processes and communications.
• Practical experience using AI tools in a professional context — whether to connect information, draft content, build frameworks, or create insights from data. We want people who actively use AI to increase productivity, not those who are waiting to be told to.
• Strong AI literacy — an understanding of what AI assistants can and cannot do, how to prompt effectively, and how to critically evaluate AI-generated output before using it.
• Awareness of the ethical considerations and responsible use of AI in the workplace, particularly in the context of sensitive data, customer experience, and compliance.
• Prior experience using Claude (Anthropic) is a nice-to-have but not essential — what matters most is that you are genuinely engaged with AI as a tool, comfortable experimenting, and eager to share what works with your wider team

If you want to join us in our journey to help break barriers in financial access and improve lives globally, there's no better place or time to join.

Our global team of 800+ people is spread across six continents. We aspire to hire the best mix of people from former Olympians to YouTube influencers and we speak over twenty languages. This incredible diversity isn't a bonus; it's the engine that lets us serve the world.