Technical Payments Lead

Hello, we're Starling. We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way. We're a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We're a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,500 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

As our Technical Payments Lead you will lead on managing one or more of our key payment services (FPS, BACS, CHAPS, Cheques etc.), ensuring the Bank remains compliant with payment regulations and that we deliver great outcomes for our customers. This role reports directly to the Head of Payments Solutions and Compliance, where you will play a key part in the Payment Solutions team, which covers the journey ownership, strategy and regulatory engagement for our payment services, with an emphasis on regulatory ownership for Payments as an Important Business Service (IBS) for the bank.

Key accountabilities:

• Act as payments lead for specific payment services, in particular our Important Business Services (IBS).
• Operate as the payments service SME, providing guidance and technical / regulatory input to the broader Bank.
• Hold E2E oversight of the payment service, undertaking journey mapping, reviewing processes and constantly improving our payment service capabilities.
• Develop, own, review and react to operational reporting and payment metrics (e.g., transaction processing MI) for the specific payment services covered by the role.
• Ensure relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., PSR2017 / PSD2 etc.) are embedded across the business and adhered to.
• Where relevant, manage payment limits and configurations for the specific payment services.
• Alongside the Payment Operations team, help build out our operational payments service catalogue and pay ops SLAs, ensuring that regulatory expectations are met and that we are delivering good outcomes for customers.
• Hold a forward looking view of industry, competitor and regulatory trends. Maintain understanding of relevant national payments infrastructure and developments.
• Work alongside our Payments Risk and Compliance Manager to ensure our RCSA is up to date and controls are effective.
• Act as the point person and SME for any issues or events, working alongside engineering, ops and compliance etc. to mitigate and manage in a timely and effective manner, consistent with regulatory expectations.

Requirements

Essential experience:

• Experience of working in a similar regulated payments environment.
• Has worked alongside payment operational teams and engineering teams.
• Understands payments exception management and financial crime operations.
• Working knowledge of one or more of our key payment rails FPS / BACS / CHAPS etc.
• Can evidence technical / regulatory payments knowledge.
• Has managed payments incidents / events and understands importance of effective business continuity planning.
• Vocational interest and curiosity in payments trends, appetite to learn and share knowledge with the broader organisation.
• Consistently act with the highest ethical standards, ensuring decisions are always in the best interest of our customers, colleagues, and the bank.
• Lead by example, fostering a culture of trust and transparency across all levels.
• Experience in collaborating effectively across a variety of business areas.
• Diplomacy and emotional intelligence to build strong professional relationships.
• Hands-on, resilient and adaptable to fast moving environments.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts and issues in a business-friendly manner to senior/executive management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Benefits:

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you).
• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday.
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off.
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year.
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme.
• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection.
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton.
• Generous family-friendly policies.
• Incentives refer a friend scheme.
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks.
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing.