Payments Operations Manager (Fintech/Payments)

Black Pen Recruitment; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 600 000 - 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A high-growth fintech company is seeking a skilled payment operations manager in Cape Town. This role involves overseeing payment processes, managing banking partnerships, and ensuring compliance and efficiency across operations. Ideal candidates should have 3 to 7 years of experience in payment or banking operations, with strong skills in managing relationships and problem-solving under pressure. The position offers a hybrid work environment and competitive salary with bonuses, contributing to the evolution of cross-border payments in Africa.

Benefits

Competitive salary + Bonus structure

Opportunity to shape the future of payments

Work with an experienced team

Qualifications

• 3 to 7 years in payment operations, banking operations, treasury operations, or PSP environments.
• Strong understanding of payment rails: EFT, SWIFT, RTC, wallets.
• Experience managing banking relationships and handling RFIs.

Responsibilities

• Build and document all payment operations processes for transfers.
• Execute and monitor daily payment flows across local and cross border rails.
• Maintain operational relationships with banks, PSPs, and liquidity providers.

Skills

Payment operations experience

Understanding of payment rails

Banking relationship management

Reconciliation experience

High competence with spreadsheets

Ability to work under time pressure

Clear communicator

Job description

Our client is a high-growth fintech company building the next generation of payment infrastructure across Africa. Their mission is to make money movement seamless, inclusive, and scalable across borders. They operate at the intersection of financial innovation and real-world impact, empowering businesses and consumers with tools to thrive in a rapidly digitizing economy.

Role Overview

You will build and run the payment operations function end to end. The role covers process design, daily execution, banking partner management, and troubleshooting. You will be the operational anchor ensuring funds move reliably, partners stay aligned, and issues are resolved fast.

Job Type

Full-time

Location

Cape Town

Workplace

Hybrid

Requirements

• 3 to 7 years in payment operations, banking operations, treasury operations, or PSP environments.
• Strong understanding of payment rails: EFT, SWIFT, RTC, wallets.
• Experience managing banking relationships and handling RFIs.
• Solid reconciliation and exception management experience.
• High competence with spreadsheets, internal tools, and transactional systems.
• Ability to work under time pressure and handle multiple payment cycles.
• Clear communicator with strong organisational discipline.

Preferred

• Experience in a fintech, PSP, or high volume transactional environment.
• Exposure to crypto on/off ramps or alternative settlement methods.
• Understanding of treasury, liquidity, and cash management processes.
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks and operational controls.

Responsibilities

Process Design and Ownership

• Build and document all payment operations processes for inward, outward, and internal transfers.
• Set up SOPs for reconciliation, settlement, exception handling, and escalations.
• Implement controls to ensure accuracy, timeliness, compliance, and audit readiness.
• Identify gaps and continuously optimise throughput, latency, and reliability.

Daily Payment Operations

• Execute and monitor daily payment flows across local and cross border rails.
• Manage queues for payouts, collections, reversals, returns, and chargebacks.
• Oversee reconciliations across banking partners, internal systems, and ledgers.
• Investigate and resolve operational issues quickly to avoid customer or liquidity impact.
• Coordinate with engineering and product when system issues require fixes.

Banking and Liquidity Partner Management

• Maintain direct operational relationships with banks, PSPs, and liquidity providers.
• Respond to and manage RFIs and documentary requests for incoming and outgoing payments.
• Track SLAs, elevate delays or failures, and ensure partner performance stays on target.
• Support onboarding of new partners including testing, documentation, and certification.

Risk, Compliance, and Reporting

• Monitor for suspicious activity and elevate when needed.
• Ensure all processes comply with regulatory, AML, and scheme requirements.
• Prepare operational reports on volumes, performance, exceptions, and liquidity status.
• Support audits and regulatory reviews with accurate documentation.

What Success Looks Like

• Clean, documented processes.
• High payment uptime and low exception rates.
• Strong partner relationships and quick RFI turnaround.
• No operational surprises on liquidity or settlements.
• Continuous improvement rather than waiting for problems to appear.

Benefits

• Competitive salary + Bonus structure
• Opportunity to shape the future of cross-border payments in Africa.
• Work with an experienced, diverse team across fintech, payments, and blockchain.