Principal Program Manager - Operations Management - London (hybrid) or UK remote

Convera; United States; Hybrid; USD 148,000 - 201,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Market competitive salary with bonus

Career growth opportunities

Hybrid or remote work

Private healthcare

Wellness days (3 days per year)

Volunteer time off (5 days per year)

Job summary

Convera is seeking a Principal Program Manager – Operations Management to own critical incidents, manage executive actions, and drive cross‑functional alignment across Product, Engineering, Operations, and Risk. The role centers on governance, escalation protocols, and scalable operating rhythms to protect customer trust and reduce operational risk.

Based in London (hybrid) or Remote UK, you will influence senior leaders, lead root‑cause investigations, and build sustainable processes that

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in program management, business operations, payments, fintech, or related disciplines.
• Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem, including operations, risk management, and regulatory considerations.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across multiple teams with executive presence.

Responsibilities

• Lead critical escalations and high‑impact incidents, coordinating cross‑functional stakeholders and executive visibility.
• Drive executive action management with clear ownership, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
• Conduct root‑cause investigations and corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Lead complex cross‑functional initiatives and align governance, reporting, and cadence.
• Establish operational visibility through KPI reporting, risk tracking, and performance insights.
• Scale operating rhythms, governance routines, and leadership communications for growth.

Skills

Program management

Business operations

Payments/fintech domain knowledge

Executive influence & cross-functional

Incident/root-cause resolution

Governance & operating model design

Job description

Principal Program Manager – Operations Management – London (hybrid) or Remote UK

This role exists to ensure Convera’s most critical operational, technology, customer, and business issues receive clear ownership, coordinated execution, and timely resolution. The Principal Program Manager for Operations Management serves as a trusted extension of the Head of Portfolio & Operations Management, within the Operations, Product & Tech Org, stepping into high-priority escalations, incidents, executive actions, and cross-functional challenges where ambiguity and urgency are high. The role contributes to business objectives by protecting customer trust, reducing operational and technology risk, improving organizational accountability, and enabling more effective executive decision‑making. For customers, this translates into faster issue resolution, improved service reliability, fewer recurring incidents, and a more consistent experience when problems arise. The role sits at the center of Product, Engineering, Operations, Customer Support, Risk, Compliance, and executive leadership, driving alignment and accountability across functions. Success is measured by effective incident and escalation management, closure of executive actions, completion of root‑cause investigations, implementation of corrective actions, improved operational visibility, and the establishment of scalable operating mechanisms that reduce future firefighting. Over time, the role evolves from leading responses to critical issues toward building the management disciplines, governance processes, reporting, communications, and operating rhythms that enable the Operations, Product & Tech organization to scale efficiently and perform predictably.

You will be responsible for:

• Lead critical escalations and high‑impact incidents , coordinating cross‑functional stakeholders, driving resolution, managing war rooms, and maintaining executive visibility through closure.
• Drive executive action management and organizational accountability , translating leadership decisions into clear actions, owners, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
• Conduct root‑cause investigations and corrective action programs , identifying systemic issues and ensuring recommendations are implemented to prevent recurrence.
• Lead special situations and complex cross‑functional initiatives , bringing structure, alignment, and momentum to high‑priority business, operational, technology, and regulatory challenges.
• Establish operational visibility and performance management , including defect tracking, failure analysis, trend reporting, risk identification, and executive‑level insights.
• Build and scale operating mechanisms , including governance routines, business reviews, executive communications, KPI reporting, readiness planning, portfolio visibility, and leadership operating cadences.

You should apply if you have:

• Extensive experience in program management, business operations, payments, fintech, financial services, or related disciplines, leading enterprise‑scale initiatives in complex, regulated environments.
• Deep understanding of the payments ecosystem, including customer‑impacting operations, money movement, risk management, regulatory considerations, and complex incident response.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across Product, Engineering, Operations, Risk, Compliance, and Commercial teams, with strong executive presence and judgment.
• Demonstrated success leading high‑profile escalations, incident management, and cross‑functional response efforts, with a strong root‑cause mindset and focus on sustainable operational improvements.
• Experience designing and implementing operating models, governance frameworks, escalation protocols, or business processes from the ground up in ambiguous and evolving environments.
• Exceptional communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to synthesize complex issues into clear recommendations, executive updates, post‑mortems, and actionable outcomes.

About Convera

Convera is the largest non‑bank B2B cross‑border payments company in the world. Formerly Western Union Business Solutions, we leverage decades of industry expertise and technology‑led payment solutions to deliver smarter money movements to our customers – helping them capture more value with every transaction. Convera serves more than 30,000 customers ranging from small business owners to enterprise treasurers to educational institutions to financial institutions to law firms to NGOs. Our teams care deeply about the value we bring to our customers which makes Convera a rewarding place to work. This is an exciting time for our organization as we build our team with growth‑minded, results‑oriented people who are looking to move fast in an innovative environment. As a truly global company with employees in over 20 countries, we are passionate about diversity; we seek and celebrate people from different backgrounds, lifestyles, and unique points of view. We want to work with the best people and ensure we foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

We offer an abundance of competitive perks and benefits including:

• Market competitive salary and the opportunity to earn a bonus.
• Great career growth and development opportunities in a global organization.
• A flexible approach to work (hybrid or remote).
• Generous employee benefits, including private healthcare, and a catalogue of flexible benefits to choose from.
• Paid holidays, time‑off, and leave policies.
• 3 additional “wellness days” off per year.
• Paid time off for volunteering opportunities / charity (5 days per year).

There are plenty of amazing opportunities at Convera for talented, creative problem solvers who never settle for good enough and are looking to transform Business to Business payments.