Head of Operations (Payment Gateway / Fintech)

Black Pen Recruitment; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Black Pen Recruitment in Cape Town is seeking a Head of Operations to lead merchant onboarding, integration and customer support for a fintech payments platform. The role focuses on building strong teams, tightening operational controls and delivering reliable merchant service as the business scales.

Ideal candidates bring at least eight years in operations or related fields, hands-on leadership, and experience in payments or regulated environments.

Qualifications

• Candidates must hold a degree in business, operations management, information systems, finance, or a related field.
• At least 8 years' experience in operations, service delivery, or call centre environments.
• Experience in payments, banking, or another regulated environment is advantageous.
• Minimum 3 years’ experience managing team leaders or supervisors and a shift environment.
• Proven responsibility for service levels, onboarding or implementation, and budgets.
• Experience managing major incidents and after-hours support.
• Postgraduate qualification, ITIL or project management certification would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead Customer Support, Onboarding and Integrations with clear accountability.
• Manage merchant onboarding, system configuration and activation before go-live.
• Oversee plugin and API integrations and readiness for live payments.
• Manage service levels, escalations, and major incident communications.
• Collaborate with Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Finance and Commercial to address root causes.
• Maintain operational controls, procedures and business continuity plans.
• Use data to plan staffing, shift coverage and budgets, and drive automation.
• Recruit, coach and develop team leaders and specialists for growth and peak trading.

Skills

Operational leadership

Team management

Incident management

Onboarding

Payments domain knowledge

Process improvement

Education

Degree in business/operations/IS/finance

Tools

ITIL certification

PCI DSS knowledge

Job description

Our client is an innovative fintech company transforming the payments landscape through cutting-edge financial technology solutions. Specialising in instant EFT payments, Open Banking integration, seamless payout processing, and comprehensive reporting tools, the company enables businesses to streamline transactions and improve cash flow management. With a focus on mobile-first technology, enterprise-grade security, and reliability, our client delivers secure, efficient, and scalable payment solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of modern businesses.

Role Overview:

Our client is seeking a Head of Operations to lead merchant onboarding, integration and customer support across its payment gateway. The role will build effective teams, strengthen operational controls and deliver reliable merchant service as the business grows.

This position requires practical knowledge of leading teams, resolving complex service issues and improve processes in a growing payments business. Knowledge of card payment processing is advantageous.

Job Type: Full Time/Permanent

Location: Cape Town

Workplace: Onsite

Requirements

• A degree in business, operations management, information systems, finance or a related field. Comparable operational leadership experience may be considered in place of a degree.
• At least 8 years’ experience in operations, service delivery or call centre environment.
• Experience in payments, banking or another regulated transaction environment, is advantageous.
• At least 3 years’ experience managing team leaders or supervisors and a shift environment.
• Proven responsibility for service levels, technical onboarding or implementation, and operational budgets.
• Experience managing major incidents and planning after-hours or continuous support.
• A postgraduate business qualification, ITIL or project management certification would be advantageous.

Advantageous payments knowledge

• Card processing from authorisation through clearing, settlement, reconciliation and payout; 3D Secure, declines, refunds, reversals and chargebacks.
• Merchant onboarding and due diligence, including KYB/KYC and FICA requirements.
• APIs, plugins, webhooks, integration testing, payment routing and secure system configuration.
• Operational application of PCI DSS, POPIA, relevant SARB and PASA requirements, and card scheme rules.
• Account-to-account and alternative payment methods, together with service management and incident escalation processes.

Key responsibilities

• Lead Customer Support, Onboarding and Integrations, ensuring clear accountability and consistent service standards.
• Manage merchant onboarding, system configuration and activation, ensuring approvals and independent checks are completed before merchants go live.
• Oversee plugin and API integrations, testing and readiness to process live payments.
• Manage service levels, escalations and major incident communication, including support for enterprise and whale merchants.
• Work with Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Finance and Commercial to resolve issues, address root causes and prevent recurring failures.
• Maintain operational controls, documented procedures and business continuity arrangements, and track audit actions to completion.
• Use workload and transaction data to plan staffing, shift coverage and budgets, and improve efficiency through automation and self-service.
• Recruit, coach and develop team leaders and specialists, building the skills and coverage needed for launch, growth and peak trading.

The person they are looking for

• Our client is looking for a Head of Operations who combines strong operational leadership with a flexible, hands-on approach. The ideal candidate adapts quickly to changing priorities in a growing fintech business, brings high emotional intelligence and builds trust through open communication and collaboration.
• Success in this role requires someone motivated by meaningful contribution and shared results, who takes ownership, responds when the business needs them and is comfortable working beyond rigid role boundaries. They should welcome feedback, raise challenges early, offer practical solutions and be willing to learn and grow alongside the team and the company.