Lead Product Manager (Payment Orchestration / Acquiring)

About the role

We are building a production-ready payment orchestration platform from scratch: smart routing, conversion-optimised cashier, and 50+ PSP/acquiring/provider integrations. The product is at launch stage, the team is strong, and we’re looking for a startup-minded Lead Product Manager who can own product strategy and execution end-to-end and take the platform from 1 → 10.

This role requires deep, practical knowledge of card acquiring and modern payment ecosystems. You will define what we build next, why it matters, and how we measure success — driving outcomes across conversion, approval rates, cost of payments, risk, and platform reliability.

You will operate as a true partner to senior leadership, with full ownership and accountability for product outcomes.
 

What you’ll do

• Own product strategy, positioning, and roadmap for the orchestration platform, cashier, routing logic, and provider integrations.
• Build and run a clear product operating system: discovery → prioritisation → delivery → measurement (OKRs, rituals, dashboards).
• Translate acquiring and PSP domain knowledge into concrete product decisions: routing rules, retries, cascading, failover, BIN/geo logic, MCC nuances, and 3DS strategies.
• Drive core payment performance metrics: approval rate, conversion, auth rate, soft-decline recovery, chargebacks, fraud, latency, uptime.
• Lead end-to-end product discovery with merchants, partners, and internal stakeholders (Sales, Ops, Risk, Compliance, Finance).
• Define product requirements and specifications (PRDs, user stories, acceptance criteria) and ensure high-quality delivery with Engineering and QA.
• Own provider integration strategy: prioritisation, standardisation, connector quality, certification, monitoring, and operational readiness.
• Partner with Risk and Compliance on flows impacted by KYC/KYB, AML, sanctions, PSD2/SCA, data retention, and auditability.
• Collaborate with Growth and Commercial teams on pricing, packaging, merchant onboarding, activation, and retention.
• Leverage AI tools to optimise product workflows (discovery, analysis, prioritisation, delivery, and documentation), delivering measurable efficiency and quality gains across the product lifecycle.
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing product team, ensuring strong execution, clear ownership, and continuous improvement in delivery outcomes.
  
   

What we’re looking for
 

Must-have

• Strong hands-on understanding of card acquiring: authorisation flows, clearing & settlement, dispute lifecycle, and scheme rule fundamentals.
• Solid knowledge of PSP and payment stack concepts: gateways, orchestration, tokenisation, webhooks, reconciliation, reporting.
• Proven experience as a Product Lead / Head of Product / Group PM in fintech, payments, or a closely adjacent domain, with clear ownership of outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to design and evolve products using metrics (conversion funnels, approval optimisation, cost vs performance trade-offs).
• Proven experience using AI tools to optimise workflows, improve decision-making, or accelerate delivery — with concrete examples of impact.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, able to align Sales, Compliance, Risk, and Engineering around clear priorities and trade-offs.
• Excellent written communication: crisp specs, structured thinking, and clear decision logs.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong self-management — comfortable operating with high autonomy, minimal supervision, and senior-level accountability.

• Experience delivering products through effective people management, not just individual contribution.
   

   

Nice-to-have

• Experience building or scaling payment orchestration platforms, gateways, cashiers, or routing engines.
• Knowledge of alternative payment methods (A2A, wallets, local methods) and cross-border, multi-currency setups.
• Experience managing provider integrations at scale (50+), connector frameworks, and integration QA practices.
• Familiarity with PSD2/SCA, 3DS2 optimisation, fraud tooling, and chargeback prevention.