Payment Operations Manager

The Community You Will Join:

To power the global Airbnb community, we are building a world-class payments platform - one that currently supports 191 countries, 70 currencies, connects dozens of payment providers and banks, and processes billions of dollars per year for all of Airbnb’s business units. As the platform grows, we’ll be adding new payment partners, establishing licensed payments companies around the world, and building innovative payment experiences and financial products for our guests and hosts. Our goal? To create a future where transparent, simple, and familiar payment solutions can empower people, entrepreneurs and communities on our global marketplace.

The Difference You will Make:

As a Payments Operations Manager, based in the UK (London office) with flexible working arrangements,  you will report to the Managing Director within Airbnb’s UK payments entity and take ownership for managing the operational support activities for Airbnb Payments UK (APUK) and their other regulated entities around the globe. 

This role is responsible for ensuring the APUK entity fulfills all regulatory obligations and is delivering positive outcomes to its payments service users. Activities will include and not limited to a variety of areas of focus including the execution of Consumer Duty outcome monitoring, FOS reporting, assist in the management of APUK’s operational resilience framework, business continuity plan, board of director decks, MIC meetings, and assisting the team in the preparation of required regulatory reports/filing data and ongoing BAU support. 

The candidate must have previous experience working at and is well-versed with the requirements of a regulated FCA financial payment entity within the UK. Additionally, they should demonstrate a problem-solving mindset complemented by strong analytical skills. Moreover, they should be adept at managing multiple strategic projects simultaneously while also overseeing the execution of daily regulated 'BAU' activities.

A Typical Day: 

Operational Oversight 

• Coordinate and manage the execution of APUK’s regulatory obligations, including Operational Resilience, Incident Management, and Consumer Duty  
• Perform horizon scanning for forthcoming regulations, supervisory guidelines, or industry initiatives which impact APUK 
• Analyze of company roadmap and identify items which merit additional attention/consideration
• Facilitate alignment across Airbnb group’s payment entities 
• Assist MD and Senior Regulatory Operations Manager on day to day operations and reporting 

Programme & Project Management

• Lead the execution of  various projects, such as composing regulatory reports, refining or developing new data insights, or preparing and executing business continuity test scenarios
• Take ownership of APUK’s operational monitoring as it relates to risk,  outsourcing,  and regulatory compliance
• Prepare input & present at APUK governance and oversight forums (including Management Internal Controls and Board of Directors)

Communications

• Oversee the processing of incoming regulatory communications, support escalations  & legal correspondences 
• Manage communications with key stakeholder groups (internally & externally) 
• Participate in internal/external forums which relate to APUK’s operations

Maintain Policies & Procedures 

• Lead an annual review exercise to revise and update APUK’s operational policies 
• Define, implement, and monitor the successful application of new operational procedures and protocols for APUK, as  necessary 
• Maintain  oversight of the versioning and appropriate archiving of the internal documentation

Your Expertise:

• Bachelor Degree or similar with 10+ years of relevant work experience
• Must have a good understanding of the FCA regulatory framework and requirements for e-money institutions (such as UK Payment Services Regulations, Electronic Money Regulations, Consumer Duty)
• Experience working in a regulated financial services environment (UK/EU) a plus
• Experience with software product development processes and methodologies (Agile, Scrum) a plus

Technical Skills

• Sound knowledge of payment systems and technology as well as keeping up to date with relevant innovations in the field
• An analytical approach to measuring/optimizing performance and achievement of key objectives 
• Ability to identify operational inefficiencies, develop solutions, and implement process improvements.
• Experience with Google G-Suite (documents, sheets, slides, shared drive) 
• Familiarity with additional project management tools (Asana, Airtable, LucidChart) or other administrative tools (Docusign) a plus 

Soft Skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey information clearly and concisely
• Ability to own and execute projects independently, and to manage multiple competing priorities
• Comfortable to work across various profiles & stakeholder groups to achieve objectives
• Ability to work autonomously as an individual contributor as well as collaborate with teams
• Desire to learn and embrace a continuous improvement mentality

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.