C5i is a pure-play AI & Analytics provider that combines the power of human perspective with AI technology to deliver trustworthy intelligence. The company drives value through a comprehensive solution set, integrating multifunctional teams that have technical and business domain expertise with a robust suite of products, solutions, and accelerators tailored for various horizontal and industry-specific use cases. At the core, C5i’s focus is to deliver business impact at speed and scale by driving adoption of AI-assisted decision-making.

C5i caters to some of the world’s largest enterprises, including many Fortune 500 companies. The company’s clients span Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT), Pharma & Lifesciences, CPG, Retail, Banking, and other sectors. C5i has been recognized by leading industry analysts like Gartner and Forrester for its Analytics and AI capabilities and proprietary AI-based platforms.

Global offices

United States| Canada | United Kingdom| United Arab of Emirates| India

Brief Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Payment Operations Lead to drive end-to-end payment operations and support ongoing payment transformation initiatives for a leading UAE bank.

This role will own the day-to-day running of the bank's payment operations across domestic and cross-border rails, ensuring transactions are processed accurately, on time, and within regulatory and risk guidelines. The candidate will also play a central role in the bank's payment modernization agenda, partnering with business, technology, compliance, and vendor teams to deliver platform upgrades and process improvements.

The ideal candidate combines deep, hands-on payment operations expertise with the ability to operate in a fast-paced transformation environment, balancing steady-state operational excellence with delivery of change initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Payment Operations Management

• Lead end-to-end payment operations covering SWIFT, RTGS, UAEFTS, WPS, instant payments, and cross-border payment processing.
• Ensure timely and accurate processing of payment transactions in line with cut-off times, SLAs, and regulatory timelines.
• Own the operational run-book for payment processing, exception handling, and end-of-day/start-of-day controls.

Reconciliation, Investigations & Controls

• Oversee reconciliation of Nostro/Vostro and internal accounts, ensuring timely identification and resolution of breaks.
• Manage payment investigations, tracers, and unpaid/returned item handling with correspondent banks and internal stakeholders.
• Drive incident management for payment failures or delays, including root cause analysis and preventive action plans.
• Maintain robust operational controls, including maker-checker processes, exception logs, and key control self-assessments (KCSAs).

Process Improvement & Automation

• Identify opportunities to streamline payment operations workflows and reduce manual touchpoints.
• Drive automation initiatives such as robotic process automation (RPA), straight-through processing (STP) improvements, and exception-handling tools.
• Define and track operational KPIs to measure efficiency gains and STP rates.

Transformation & Platform Support

• Support payment platform upgrades, migrations, and new system implementations from an operations readiness perspective.
• Represent operations in project forums, providing requirements, UAT support, and go-live readiness sign-off.
• Contribute to the design of target operating models for future-state payment operations.

Stakeholder & Vendor Coordination

• Coordinate closely with business, technology, compliance, and risk teams to align on operational priorities and regulatory requirements.
• Manage relationships with payment scheme operators, correspondent banks, and technology vendors.
• Lead stakeholder meetings and status reporting to senior management and steering committees.

Typical Day-to-Day Activities

• Monitor daily payment operations, queues, and SLA dashboards to ensure smooth processing.
• Resolve escalated operational issues, exceptions, and payment investigations.
• Lead or participate in stakeholder meetings covering operations, project status, and issue resolution.
• Track and report on operational risk items, control gaps, and audit findings.
• Identify and progress efficiency and automation improvement opportunities.

Required Experience

• 8–12+ years of experience in banking payment operations.
• Experience within UAE, GCC, or broader global banking environments is preferred.
• Prior experience supporting payment transformation, migration, or system implementation projects.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Payment operations management across the transaction lifecycle.
• Strong working knowledge of SWIFT, RTGS, UAEFTS, and WPS.
• Operational risk management and control frameworks.
• Stakeholder management across business, technology, and compliance functions.
• Process improvement, automation, and operational efficiency methodologies.
• Vendor and third-party coordination.

Banking Domain Expertise

• Payments (domestic and cross-border).
• Settlement and reconciliation processes.
• Regulatory compliance relevant to payment operations.
• Incident management and operational risk control.

Preferred Experience

• Exposure to digital payments modernization initiatives, such as instant payments or API-enabled payment rails.
• Prior consulting or transformation-programme experience is an advantage.

Core Skills

• Payment Operations Management
• SWIFT / RTGS / UAEFTS / WPS Processing
• Reconciliation & Investigations
• Operational Risk & Controls
• Stakeholder & Vendor Management
• Process Improvement & Automation

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Business, Technology, or a related field.
• Certifications in payments, operational risk, or process improvement (e.g., Lean/Six Sigma) are advantageous.

Ideal Candidate Profile A delivery-oriented payments operations leader with strong banking domain expertise, comfortable owning steady-state operational excellence while actively contributing to the bank's broader payment transformation agenda. C5i is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, etc. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please keep us informed about the same at the hiring stages for us to factor necessary accommodations.