Director of Payments

Experteer Overview

As Director of Payments, you will shape Scalapay’s payment strategy and commercial operations to maximize authorization and minimize costs. You’ll steer multi‑processor payment infrastructure, banking relationships, and vendor negotiations to support scalable consumer lending across Europe. You’ll translate complex payment economics into actionable decisions, driving efficiency, risk controls, and strategic partnerships. This role sits at the crossroads of product, engineering, and finance, offering a high‑impact opportunity to optimize payments in a fast‑growing fintech environment.

Retribuzione / Benefits

• Define and execute payment strategy to maximize authorization rates and minimize costs
• Own payment economics including processor fees, interchange optimization, and cost attribution
• Develop business cases and ROI analyses for payment initiatives and infrastructure investments
• Lead routing, processor selection, and payment method expansion decisions
• Drive payment performance analytics and KPI reporting to the executive team
• Negotiate with payment processors on pricing, terms, and SLAs; manage vendor relationships and renewals
• Drive cost optimization across the payment stack (target 5‑10% annual reduction)
• Define merchant payout strategy leveraging SEPA rails and core banking platform
• Optimize settlement economics and working capital impact; oversee core banking vendor relationships
• Support loan securitization from a payment and settlement perspective
• Collaborate with Finance on payment operations P & L management
• Manage relationships with banking partners supporting SEPA operations; navigate EU banking ecosystem (TARGET2, EBA Clearing)
• Ensure compliance with SEPA rules and EU banking regulations; represent Scalapay in banking forums
• Lead cross‑functional initiatives requiring payment expertise (e.g., securitization, market expansion)
• Communicate complex payment economics to non‑technical stakeholders
• Build internal capabilities around payment operations and economics

Responsabilità

• 10+ years in payments, fintech, or financial services with progressive responsibility
• 5+ years in strategic/commercial payment roles (strategy, vendor management, business development)
• Proven track record leading commercial negotiations with processors and banking partners
• Experience managing multi‑million dollar payment budgets and P & L responsibilities
• Direct experience with regulated financial services environments (PIS, Bank, EMI)
• History of driving payment optimization and cost reduction initiatives
• Experience supporting securitization or asset‑backed lending operations (preferred)
• Background in strategy consulting, investment banking, or corporate development (bonus)