Head of Payments Technology(Singapore, India)

Standard Chartered; Singapore; On-site; SGD 320,000 - 511,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Inclusive culture

Fair pay and benefits

Retirement and life insurance

Generous leave

Flexible working

Wellbeing support

Learning and development

Job summary

Standard Chartered Plc is seeking a Head of Payments Technology for Singapore/India to lead the development, delivery and reliability of the bank’s payments ecosystem. You will report to the CIO, Cash, and drive strategy across multiple geographies, ensuring secure, real-time and compliant payment capabilities.

You will manage a global team of engineers and analysts, partner with Business, Product, Operations and Architecture to deliver scalable solutions while meeting regulatory and resilience

Qualifications

• Strong engineering background in distributed software delivery and API frameworks.
• Experience leading multi-regional engineering teams.
• Expertise in payments technology, ISO 20022 and market infrastructures.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the payments technology strategy across regions.
• Lead engineering delivery for payment routing, settlement and rails.
• Partner with business, product, treasury to translate requirements into scalable solutions.
• Ensure availability, resilience, and security of payment systems.
• Build and lead a global payments engineering team.

Skills

Distributed software delivery

API frameworks

People leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/Engineering/IT

Job description

Head of Payments Technology(Singapore, India)

Global Grade: Band 4

Work Type: Office Working

Employment Type: Permanent

Posting Start Date: 30/10/2026

Posting End Date: 13/11/2026

Job Summary

• This role could be based in Singapore and India. When you start the application process you will be presented with a drop down menu showing all countries, Please ensure that you select a country where the role is based.
• The Head of Payments Technology is a senior domain technology leader responsible for the development, delivery and reliability of the Bank’s payments ecosystem across assigned business and geographic areas. Reporting to the CIO, Cash, the role is accountable for payment routing, market infrastructure connectivity, clearing rail integration, settlement capabilities, Nostro/Vostro mechanics and emerging digital payment rails within its remit. The role is responsible for executing the Payments technology strategy for the assigned business and/or geographic remit, aligned to the direction set by the CIO Payments.
• Leading a specialised team of domain engineers and business analysts, the role drives the engineering and delivery of complex domestic and cross-border payment flows, ensuring transactions are processed securely, reliably and efficiently while meeting client, regulatory, market infrastructure and operational resilience requirements.
• The role partners across Payments Business, Product, Payment Platforms, Operations, Treasury, Architecture and Engineering to translate business and market priorities into scalable technology solutions, supporting growth, regulatory change, evolving payment infrastructures and increasing client complexity.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy

• Execute the Payments technology strategy for the assigned business and/or geographic remit, aligned to the direction set by the CIO Payments.
• Deliver the target-state capabilities for payment routing, settlement, clearing connectivity, Nostro/Vostro and funds movement services.
• Establish and execute roadmaps for payment scheme connectivity, ISO 20022, intelligent routing and next-generation settlement capabilities.
• Maintain the stability, resilience and scalability of payment systems and rails against client, scheme and regulatory requirements.
• Drive adoption of real-time payments, APIs, programmable payments, digital assets and other emerging payment capabilities relevant to the remit.

Business

• Partner with Business, Product, Treasury and Operations to translate client and market requirements into scalable payment technology solutions.
• Enable business growth through reliable domestic, cross-border and real-time payment capabilities and differentiated client solutions.
• Optimise payment routing, settlement and liquidity outcomes, balancing client experience, resilience, cost and regulatory requirements.
• Support new propositions, market expansion, regulatory change and payment infrastructure transformation.
• Provide senior technology leadership on complex client, payment scheme and market infrastructure requirements.

Delivery & Engineering

• Co-lead solution design with the Head of Move Money and own engineering and delivery of complex domestic and cross-border payment flows within the assigned remit.
• Lead engineering implementation of routing, settlement, clearing rail integration, Nostro/Vostro and associated payment capabilities.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise engineering, architecture, security, resilience and operational-readiness standards.
• Drive standardisation, automation and reuse of payment patterns and integration capabilities while accommodating legitimate market and client requirements.
• Own lifecycle delivery of payment scheme integrations, migrations, upgrades and technology dependencies.

Processes & Operational Resilience

• Own engineering and system delivery processes across the assigned Payments Technology remit.
• Ensure payment solutions are engineered for availability, scalability, recoverability and compliance with clearing and settlement requirements.
• Establish robust contingency and fallback capabilities for rail outages, liquidity constraints, network failures and market disruptions.
• Ensure adherence to clearing cut-offs, currency settlement windows and critical payment processing schedules.
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering quality, service stability, automation and operational effectiveness.

Risk Management

• Own technology delivery and operational risks across payment systems and services within the assigned remit.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, clearing scheme rules, market infrastructure obligations and enterprise risk standards.
• Maintain strong oversight of routing, settlement, liquidity, third-party and market infrastructure dependencies.
• Embed resilience, recoverability and appropriate controls into payment engineering and delivery.
• Proactively identify, elevate and remediate risks arising from service disruption, technology change, liquidity constraints and market infrastructure dependencies.

Governance

• Execute governance frameworks established by the CIO Payments across engineering, clearing connectivity, settlement and routing.
• Act as the engineering and delivery authority for material payment technology changes and market infrastructure integrations within the assigned remit.
• Maintain appropriate oversight of payment networks, market infrastructures, vendors and other critical third-party dependencies.
• Provide transparent reporting to the CIO, Cash on delivery, platform health, resilience, risks and strategic initiatives.
• Maintain strong adherence to enterprise architecture, engineering, risk and control standards.

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Lead the organisation in accordance with the Group's Values, Code of Conduct and Conduct Principles.
• Ensure payment technology and services comply with applicable regulatory, market infrastructure and payment scheme requirements.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Financial Crime, Legal and Operations to identify, elevate and remediate regulatory, conduct, sanctions, AML and resilience risks.
• Ensure appropriate controls are embedded across cross-border and domestic payment flows to safeguard payment integrity and client outcomes.
• Foster a strong culture of accountability, transparency, prudent risk-taking and proactive risk management.

People and Talent

• Build and lead a global team of payment and distributed systems engineers, domain specialists, and business analysts.
• Create a culture of technical excellence, innovation, client focus and domain leadership.
• Develop deep organizational expertise in payment schemes, settlement mechanisms, liquidity management, market infrastructures and emerging payment technologies.
• Attract, retain and develop highly specialized payment domain talent.
• Establish succession plans for critical engineering and domain leadership roles.
• Coach senior architects and technical leads to become recognised subject matter experts across the industry.
• Foster collaboration across Business, Product, Treasury, Operations, Architecture and Engineering teams.

Our Ideal Candidate

Key Experiences

• Strong engineering background in distributed software delivery and API frameworks.
• Strong understanding of client needs and tailoring services to accommodate.
• Expertise in post-payment processing domains: investigations, SWIFT Case Management, billing/revenue engines, and real-time liquidity reporting.
• Proven knowledge of operational risk management, recoverability frameworks, and strict industry clearing schedules.
• Demonstrated leadership managing multi-regional engineering and operational technology teams.

Certifications / Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, Finance/Banking Technology or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Payments-specific industry qualifications or certifications covering payment schemes, SWIFT, ISO 20022, transaction banking or market infrastructures are advantageous.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex payments technology, engineering and transformation at scale

Languages

• Business Communication: Advanced / Fluent, with strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to influence senior executives, technical leaders, business stakeholders and globally distributed teams.

Skills and Experience

Role Specific Technical Competencies

• Global & Domestic Payments Architecture
• Payment Routing & Orchestration
• Clearing & Settlement Schemes (FEDWIRE, CHIPS, TARGET2, CHAPS, FAST, NPP, RTGS etc.)
• ISO 20022 & SWIFT Ecosystem
• Nostro / Vostro & Liquidity Flows
• Cross-Border Payments Architecture
• Market Infrastructure Integration
• Software Engineering
• Distributed Systems Architecture

Other Skills

• Action Oriented
• Collaborates
• Customer Focus
• Courage
• Instils Trust
• Nimble Learning
• Decision Quality
• Develops Talent
• Drives Vision & Purpose
• Gives Clarity and Guidance
• Manages Ambiguity
• Strategic Mindset

Motivations

• Client & business impact: Energised by translating complex client, business and market needs into reliable, scalable payment solutions.
• Complex problem solving: Thrives on solving challenging payment routing, settlement, liquidity and market infrastructure problems.
• Engineering excellence: Driven to improve reliability, resilience, scalability and quality across mission-critical payment services.
• Transformation & innovation: Motivated by modernising payment capabilities and adopting real-time, digital and emerging payment technologies.
• End-to-end ownership: Enjoys taking accountability from solution design through engineering, delivery and operational performance.
• Global collaboration: Energised by working across business lines, markets and functions to deliver common outcomes while addressing local requirements.
• Building specialist talent: Passionate about developing high-performing teams and deep payment domain and engineering expertise.

About Standard Chartered

We're a global bank connecting clients to our differentiated network, offering growth opportunities in the world's most dynamic markets. Our strategy, which combines cross-border capabilities and leading wealth management expertise, helps us deliver our purpose - to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity.

Over our 170-year history, and across a unique geographical footprint connecting Asia, Africa and the Middle East to each other and the world, we've built a bank like no other, with diverse capabilities and partnerships that set us apart.

What We Offer

• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions, and geographies.
• In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.
• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global employee assistance programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and self-help toolkits.
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual, and digital learning.

Visit our careers website to learn more about us: www.sc.com/careers.

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