Tech Lead – Payments Architecture & Advisory
Shape the Future of Payments: An opportunity has arisen to join a highly respected specialist payments consultancy at the forefront of payments transformation across Europe and global markets.
This is a rare opportunity for a technically strong payments expert to step into a high-impact advisory role, working directly with some of the most recognised merchants, financial institutions, fintechs, acquirers, issuers, PSPs, and payment providers in the market.
You will play a key role in designing complex payment solutions, advising clients on architecture and technology strategy, and helping organisations modernise and evolve their payments ecosystems.
This is not a delivery management role and not a coding role. It is a true consulting position for someone with deep technical payments knowledge, strong architectural understanding, and the ability to engage confidently with senior stakeholders and engineering teams alike.
The Role
As Tech Lead, you will act as a trusted technical advisor across a wide range of client engagements, helping businesses solve complex payments challenges and shape future‑state payment environments.
You will lead the technical side of consulting engagements from early‑stage solution design and vendor selection through to implementation planning and client handover.
Projects will include:
- Redesigning payment architectures for major retailers and enterprise organisations
- Advising on payment platform modernisation and migration strategies
- Evaluating payment technologies, vendors, and integration models
- Supporting RFI/RFP processes and technical solution selection
- Designing scalable, secure, and commercially viable payment solutions
- Working across ecommerce, POS, wallets, acquiring, issuing, and alternative payment environments
You will collaborate closely with clients as well as internal commercial and consulting teams to deliver high‑quality, knowledge‑led advisory work.
What We’re Looking For:
We are seeking someone with strong technical depth in payments architecture and the ability to operate confidently in a client‑facing advisory environment.
You will likely bring:
- 10+ years’ experience in payments architecture, solution consulting, pre‑sales, or technical advisory roles
- Deep understanding of card payments and payment ecosystems
- Strong knowledge of acquiring, issuing, card schemes, wallets, and payment processing flows
- Experience with technologies such as ISO8583, 3DS, network tokens, hosted fields, cryptography, APIs, and APMs
- Strong understanding of PCI, P2PE, and payment security standards
- Experience working within ecommerce and/or POS technology environments
- A hands‑on technical background in software engineering, development, or testing
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
- Strong analytical thinking and commercial awareness
- Exposure to emerging payment standards and non‑card payment methods would be highly beneficial.
Why Join?
- Work on some of the most interesting and complex payments projects in the market
- Join an expert‑led consultancy where technical knowledge and credibility are genuinely valued
- Work directly with senior decision‑makers across global payment organisations
- Gain exposure to international projects across Europe, APAC, and the Americas
- Be part of a collaborative, intellectually strong team with significant autonomy and influence
- Opportunity to help shape and grow the technical capability within the business
Working Environment:
The role is primarily based in a central London office environment with hybrid flexibility available. There will be occasional travel to client sites, including some international travel, but this is not a heavily travel‑focused role.
