Head of Payments (Fintech)

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and own the payments growth strategy.
• Identify target merchant segments and develop strategies to acquire and retain them.
• Lead merchant acquisition from pipeline development and pricing through to onboarding.
• Personally manage and develop key merchant relationships.
• Drive transaction volume, transaction value and revenue growth.
• Develop and manage the partner and channel roadmap.
• Evaluate commercial opportunities, pricing, cost-to-serve and expected returns.
• Lead and develop the payments team through its Operations Manager and Technical Lead.
• Build organisational capability as the business scales.
• Establish clear objectives, performance expectations and succession plans.
• Translate group strategy into practical quarterly objectives.
• Monitor key commercial and operational metrics, including revenue, merchant growth, retention, transaction volumes, payment success rates, uptime and processing costs.
• Contribute to budgeting, forecasting and overall business planning.
• Monitor developments across the South African payments market, competitors and regulatory environment.
• Identify opportunities created through the integration of marketplace, payments and logistics capabilities.
• Work closely with Marketing, Finance, Technology and People & Culture.
• Own regulatory, risk and compliance requirements across the payments business.
• Manage relationships with sponsoring banks, acquirers, card schemes and relevant industry bodies.
• Oversee merchant due diligence, fraud, chargebacks and settlement integrity.
• Ensure strong uptime, incident management and service delivery.

Minimum Requirements

• A tertiary qualification in Commerce, Business, Finance, Economics, Technology or a related field is essential.
• A postgraduate business qualification is advantageous.
• 8+ years' experience in payments, fintech, banking or a closely related commercial environment.
• At least 3 years' experience leading a team or business unit.
• A proven track record of growing revenue and acquiring merchants, clients or strategic partners.
• Experience leading through other managers and building teams within a growing business.
• Strong exposure to the South African payments landscape is highly advantageous, including card acquiring, EFT, PayShap, banking and scheme relationships.
• Experience engaging with executives and boards, including presenting and defending business plans, budgets and performance reporting.