EMEA Payments Strategist

Why Sony Interactive Entertainment? Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting‑edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

Role overview: The Global Payments team plays a central role in enabling consumers across the world to purchase our hardware and pay for digital content and services. Our mission is to maximise global payment acceptance, minimise friction, reduce costs and deliver seamless checkout experiences across the PlayStation ecosystem.

We are seeking a Payments Strategist to support strategic initiatives and data‑driven optimisation across our EMEA markets. This individual‑contributor role calls for a payments specialist who is adept at data analysis and has a keen sense of effective “soft sell” partner engagement to help further the payments team’s goals. The role encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, including:

• The management of a diverse portfolio of payment partners
• The negotiation of complex payment contracts
• Collaboration with diverse global teams to identify new opportunities for innovation
• Presenting and assessing opportunities for KPI improvements in direct discussions with card issuing banks, card networks, and other payment partners

Your responsibilities will span payment optimisation, regulatory/card scheme compliance and payment operations enhancements. The ideal candidate will be a polished external ambassador for Payments at SIE, responsible for developing and clearly communicating the business’ commercial strategy in EMEA. This will be accomplished by leveraging deep payments and analytical expertise to craft creative commercial proposals and maintain external relationships, while fostering an environment of constant incremental improvement at scale.

What you’ll be doing:

• Work closely with internal payment teams and the external payment ecosystem to identify and help define forward‑looking initiatives for EMEA
• Analyse payments data to identify conversion trends, processing issues, and growth opportunities
• Identify tactical optimisations to improve internal processes for immediate gain without heavy lifts
• Identify longer term projects that require product and/or engineering investment and advocate for them internally to get them on the roadmap
• Ensure regulatory, card scheme and commercial partner contractual compliance from a payments perspective
• Support the broader Payment Operations team in identifying gaps in processes and developing long‑term foundational initiatives to address them
• Be a key voice in crafting global payment conversion optimisation strategy with an eye on maximising acceptance without increasing fraud or costs
• Operate independently and confidently with external parties throughout the payments ecosystem
• Lead and develop emerging partnerships, ensuring all agreements and products are commercially and financially viable
• Occasional international travel may be required for team collaboration or partner meetings
• Flexibility to accommodate meetings with global colleagues across time zones is expected

What we’re looking for:

• 5+ years’ (or equivalent) EMEA experience of diverse payments in a digital e‑commerce environment with demonstrable results
• Experience in payment optimisation, complex payments contracting and payment operations
• Strong analytical mindset with ability to interpret large data sets and present clear, actionable insights
• Understanding of cultural and regional differences in attitudes towards online payment systems
• Network of industry relationships including processors and like‑minded merchants with similar priorities
• Experience navigating the payment regulatory and scheme landscape
• Ability to navigate successfully across complex, geographically and commercially diverse internal operations
• Ability to deliver high impact, high quality proposals and presentations and confidently lead meetings with senior stakeholders
• Self‑starter who is solution‑focused and able to work under their own initiative with little day‑to‑day oversight
• Experience of working under pressure, in a fast‑paced, evolving environment

Desirable:

• Proficiency in SQL, Excel/Sheets and business intelligence tools such as Snowflake and Tableau

Benefits:

• Hybrid working
• Discretionary bonus opportunity
• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Scheme
• 25 days holiday per year
• On Site Gym
• Subsidised Café
• Free soft drinks
• On site bar
• Access to cycle garage and showers

Equal Opportunity Statement: Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category. We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.