Team Lead, Merchant Acquiring & Partner Operations

Liquid Group; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Liquid Group is seeking a hands-on Team Lead for Merchant Acquiring & Partner Operations to oversee onboarding, payment acceptance and settlement activities across its payment network. The role requires experience with onboarding, configuration, QR payments and terminal ecosystems, plus strong leadership skills.

You will coordinate cross-functional activities with Commercial, Implementation, Technology and Compliance teams, manage performance against SLAs, and drive process improvements for

Qualifications

• Hands-on merchant acquiring experience is mandatory and preferred with acquiring bank, PSP, or fintech.
• Experience in merchant onboarding, setup, payment acceptance configuration and transaction troubleshooting.
• Strong understanding of payment processing, merchant settlement, reconciliation and QR payments.
• Good English communication, both written and spoken.

Responsibilities

• Lead merchant onboarding, account configuration, payment acceptance setup, account maintenance and offboarding.
• Oversee QR payment acceptance, payment terminals, POS integration coordination and supported payment channels.
• Validate merchant IDs, enabled payment methods and acceptance configurations for accuracy.
• Coordinate terminal deployment, replacement and troubleshooting with vendors and implementation teams.
• Support partner onboarding with Commercial, Implementation, Technology and Settlement teams; coordinate onboarding with partners.
• Participate in integration discussions, UAT, production testing and go-live preparation.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Stakeholder management

English communication

Hands-on merchant acquiring experience

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Information Technology or related field

Tools

API concepts

JSON

Webhooks

Job description

Liquid Group is a FinTech payments services group based in Singapore. Liquid empowers and connects businesses and individuals to make transactions in a smart, secure, and cost-effective way, anywhere in the world.

We operate a regional payment network that enables cross-border QR payment services for e-wallet operators, banks, and merchants. We also provide white-label solutions to accelerate the development and adoption of mobile payments for our business partners.

We work collaboratively and adaptively, exploring innovative ideas and solving challenging problems to develop our products. Together, we ensure efficiency, security, and convenience for our partners and customers.

About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on and technically proficient Team Lead, Merchant Acquiring & Partner Operations to oversee merchant acquiring operations and support acquiring partner activities across Liquid Group’s payment network.

The ideal candidate has a strong merchant acquiring and payment acceptance background, with practical experience in merchant onboarding, payment processing, terminals or POS solutions, transaction troubleshooting and settlement operations. The role also supports LiquidNet (LNET) acquiring partner onboarding, integration coordination and ongoing operations. This position combines payment industry expertise, technical aptitude, operational ownership and team leadership.

Key Responsibilities

1. Merchant Acquiring & Payment Acceptance Operations

• Lead merchant onboarding, account configuration, payment acceptance setup, account maintenance and offboarding.
• Oversee QR payment acceptance, payment terminals, POS integration coordination and supported payment channels.
• Validate merchant IDs, enabled payment methods and acceptance configurations for accuracy.
• Coordinate terminal deployment, replacement and troubleshooting with vendors and implementation teams.
• Support acceptance for PayNow QR, Alipay+, WeChat Pay, UPI and other supported payment schemes, subject to merchant configuration.
• Investigate failed payments, payment status discrepancies, refunds and settlement enquiries; maintain accurate merchant records.
• Coordinate acquiring partner onboarding with Commercial, Implementation, Technology, Compliance and Settlement teams.
• Support partner account setup, platform access, configuration and operational readiness.
• Participate in integration discussions, UAT, production testing and go-live preparation.
• Understand transaction routing, payment statuses, settlement arrangements and reconciliation workflows.
• Investigate partner payment issues and coordinate technical resolution, operational changes and new payment method enablement.
• Explain relevant operating procedures, settlement and dispute processes to partners.

3. Technical Support & Payment System Troubleshooting

• Act as the operational bridge between merchants, partners and internal Technology teams.
• Investigate transactions using payment records, system settings, error messages and available logs.
• Understand API integrations, request/response structures, callbacks or webhooks and common integration errors.
• Support technical discussions involving payment terminals, POS systems, QR acceptance and acquiring connectivity.
• Translate technical findings into clear actions for partners and stakeholders; participate in testing and validation.
• Identify recurring technical issues and collaborate with Product and Technology on improvements.

4. Team Leadership & Operational Performance

• Lead and coach team members responsible for merchant acquiring and partner operations.
• Manage workload, priorities, escalations and timely completion of operational requests.
• Monitor onboarding turnaround, configuration accuracy, issue resolution and SLA adherence.
• Escalate critical incidents and operational risks to the Director, Customer Operations.

5. Operational Governance & Process Improvement

• Maintain SOPs, onboarding guides, escalation frameworks and operational records.
• Ensure due diligence, approval and maker-checker controls are followed where applicable.
• Identify manual work and recurring issues; partner with Product and Technology on automation and process improvements.
• Support operational readiness for new payment products, acquiring partners and payment acceptance channels.

6. Cross-Functional & Stakeholder Management

• Work with Commercial, Product, Technology, Compliance, Settlement, Finance and Implementation teams.
• Liaise with acquiring partners, merchants, terminal vendors and payment service providers.
• Provide timely stakeholder updates on onboarding, incidents, outstanding issues and remediation plans.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Information Technology, Finance or a related discipline.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in merchant acquiring, payment acceptance, payment operations or acquiring-related fintech services.
• Hands-on merchant acquiring experience is mandatory, preferably with an acquiring bank, PSP, payment gateway, payment processor or fintech company.
• Practical experience in merchant onboarding, merchant setup, payment acceptance configuration and transaction troubleshooting.
• Good understanding of payment processing, merchant settlement, reconciliation, QR payments, terminals and POS systems.
• Strong technical aptitude: able to understand API concepts, payment flows, system configuration and error messages; coding is not required.
• Experience supervising a small team or serving as a senior operational escalation point.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, stakeholder management and written/spoken English communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting acquiring partners, payment networks or cross-border acceptance.
• Familiarity with API documentation, JSON, webhooks, transaction logs, UAT and production go-live.
• Knowledge of PayNow, Alipay+, WeChat Pay, UPI or other regional payment networks.
• Experience with merchant portals, ticketing systems, reporting tools and process automation.
• Mandarin proficiency is an advantage for regional partner communication.