Payment Operations Coordinator

Assist World; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 420,000 - 640,000; Full time

Job summary

Assist World is expanding its payments operations team and seeks an experienced Payment Operations Coordinator to own day-to-day activity from merchant onboarding to reconciliation.

You will monitor processing, investigate issues, coordinate with processors and banks, and help build scalable processes as the company grows.

The role requires 2-5+ years in payments, strong analytical skills, and excellent communication.

Qualifications

• Hands-on understanding of the payment lifecycle.
• Experience with payment processors, gateways, acquirers, or merchant services.
• Experience with merchant onboarding and account management.
• Understanding of authorization, settlement, funding, refunds and chargebacks.
• Strong Excel/Google Sheets skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Ability to manage multiple operational priorities.

Responsibilities

• Monitor day-to-day payment processing activity and transaction flows.
• Identify payment exceptions, delays, discrepancies, and operational issues.
• Coordinate merchant onboarding and account setup with processors and providers.
• Assist with reconciliation, settlements, refunds, and chargebacks.
• Maintain records and reporting; build SOPs to scale operations.
• Develop KPIs and dashboards as the business grows.

Skills

Payment lifecycle

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Tools

Stripe

Adyen

Worldpay

Fiserv

Job description

We are recruiting for a growing payment processing business looking for an experienced Payment Operations Coordinator to help manage the day-to-day operations of the business and support its continued growth.

This is an important early-stage hire. We're looking for someone who understands how payment processing works and can take ownership of the operational side of the business - from merchant onboarding and transaction monitoring through to reconciliation, payment issues, reporting, and ongoing merchant support.

The ideal candidate will have previous experience working for a payment processor, merchant services provider, acquiring bank, fintech, payment gateway, or similar business.

This is not a purely administrative role. We're looking for someone who understands the payments ecosystem, can identify problems before they become bigger issues, and is comfortable building and improving processes as the company scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Payment Operations
  • Monitor day-to-day payment processing activity and transaction flows
  • Monitor transaction success and failure rates and investigate unusual activity or processing issues
  • Identify payment exceptions, delays, discrepancies, and operational issues
  • Coordinate with processors, acquiring partners, banks, technology providers, and internal teams to resolve issues
  • Track outstanding payment issues through to resolution
  • Escalate critical payment incidents quickly and appropriately
  • Maintain clear records of operational issues and their resolutions
• Merchant Onboarding & Account Management
  • Support the onboarding of new merchants from application through activation
  • Ensure merchant documentation and operational requirements are complete and accurate
  • Coordinate merchant account setup with processors and third-party providers
  • Manage ongoing merchant account changes, updates, and requests
  • Ensure a smooth handover from sales/onboarding into ongoing operations
  • Act as an operational point of contact for merchant-related issues
• Reconciliation & Settlements
  • Assist with daily and periodic reconciliation of payment transactions
  • Review processor and settlement reports and identify discrepancies
  • Investigate differences between processor reports, bank activity, settlements, and internal records
  • Track outstanding settlement and funding issues
  • Assist with refunds, payouts, adjustments, and transaction corrections
  • Ensure financial and operational records remain accurate
• Chargebacks, Disputes & Refunds
  • Monitor and manage chargeback and dispute workflows
  • Ensure required documentation and evidence is collected and submitted within deadlines
  • Track chargebacks through to resolution
  • Coordinate refunds and ensure they are processed accurately
  • Maintain accurate records of disputes, refunds, and payment exceptions
  • Identify recurring dispute or payment issues and flag opportunities to reduce them
• Reporting & Analysis
  • Maintain regular payment operations reports
  • Track transaction volumes, approval rates, declines, chargebacks, refunds, and settlement activity
  • Identify trends and unusual activity within payment data
  • Prepare operational updates for management
  • Use Excel/Google Sheets or relevant reporting tools to analyse payment data
  • Help establish KPIs and operational dashboards as the business grows
• Process & Operations Development
  • As an early hire within a growing payments business, you will be expected to help build the operational infrastructure , not simply follow an existing playbook.
  • You will:
  • Create and improve SOPs for recurring payment processes
  • Document merchant onboarding and operational workflows
  • Build checklists and controls to reduce errors
  • Identify repetitive manual processes that could be automated
  • Improve internal workflows as merchant and transaction volumes increase
  • Help establish escalation procedures for payment incidents
  • Continuously look for ways to make the operation more efficient and scalable

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone with real-world payment processing experience rather than a general administrator who is willing to learn payments from scratch.

The ideal candidate will have:

• 2-5+ years of experience in payment processing, fintech, merchant services, acquiring, banking, or a closely related environment
• Hands-on understanding of the payment lifecycle
• Experience working with payment processors, gateways, acquirers, or merchant service providers
• Experience with merchant onboarding and account management
• Understanding of authorization, settlement, funding, refunds, and chargebacks
• Experience with payment reconciliation and investigating transaction discrepancies
• Strong Excel/Google Sheets skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Ability to manage multiple operational priorities simultaneously

Technical Knowledge

Candidates with experience working with platforms such as Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay, Fiserv, G