Head of Banking Relations & Payment Services

Licensed sponsor London Full-time Posted 1 hour ago

About Us

Privalgo is an FCA-authorised international payments and foreign exchange specialist, helping businesses send, receive, manage and optimise cross-border payments worldwide. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in London, Privalgo combines innovative payment technology with dedicated relationship management to deliver secure, efficient and tailored global payment solutions. Operating across more than 95 countries and supporting over 140 currencies, we enable organisations to streamline international transactions, manage currency risk and access a seamless multi-currency payment infrastructure.

Being Head of Banking Relations & Payment Services at Privalgo

As Head of Banking Relations & Payment Services at Privalgo, you will lead the team that owns everything that touches a bank – counterparty onboarding, client bank assignment, due diligence reviews, service reviews and payment queries.

With one team and no hand-offs, you will have oversight of everything upstream and downstream of our banking partners. You will make sure issues are resolved first time, clients are kept informed without having to chase, and feedback from the day-to-day flows back through one channel.

Working closely with the Group Operations Director, you will own the day-to-day operational relationships with our banks and payment partners, lead operational service reviews and provide the insight that helps shape how our banking network develops as we grow.

You will work closely with the Head of Payments & Treasury Operations, so that the two teams share knowledge, priorities and ensure issues are resolved without hand-offs.

Lastly, we want you to get to know the three pillars of our culture: ambition, accountability, and impact – to live and breathe it, and to help shape and define them as we grow.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

Line Management: Line manage the Banking Relations & Payment Services team, including recruitment, onboarding, one-to-ones, objectives, performance reviews and development plans.
Lead: Lead, coach and support the Banking Relations & Payment Services Lead, delegating day-to-day oversight of the team while retaining overall accountability for its performance, service outcomes and controls.
Head and Lead Accountability: The Head is accountable for the team’s results, banking partner service, KPIs, controls, resilience and people. The Lead is responsible for running the team day to day – allocating work, managing queues and the progress of queries, and supporting the Senior Executives and Executives – and is accountable to the Head for doing so. Priorities, resourcing decisions, senior escalations and sign-off of policies and procedures sit with the Head.
Resourcing & Cover: Confirm POD size and membership, and plan resource and cross-cover between PODs.
Cross-training & Resilience: Be responsible for maintaining appropriate cross-training, knowledge transfer and operational resilience across the Banking Relations & Payment Services and Payments & Treasury Operations teams, so that there are no single points of failure and service is maintained through peaks, absence and change.
Capability & Development: Identify training needs, support the management development of the Lead, and build a culture of ownership and accountability.

Banking & Counterparty Relationships

Operational Relationship Ownership: Own the day-to-day operational relationships with banks, counterparties and payment partners, acting as the senior operational point of contact.
Service Reviews: Lead regular operational service reviews with banking partners, using data and day-to-day experience to drive improvements.
Escalations: Act as the senior operational escalation point for banking partner issues, escalating to the Group Operations Director and COO where an issue is strategic or commercial, or requires senior intervention.
Banking Network: Support the Group Operations Director and COO on the development of our banking and payment partner network, providing operational insight and leading the operational onboarding of new banks, counterparties and providers.
Due Diligence: Ensure due diligence reviews of banking partners and counterparties are completed and kept up to date.

Payment Services & Client Queries

Query Ownership: Retain overall accountability for payment queries and investigations, ensuring they are resolved first time wherever possible and within agreed service levels.
Case Management: Provide one point of ownership for operations queries, with central visibility and reporting.
Client Bank Assignment: Oversee the assignment of banks and accounts to clients, in line with risk appetite and routing rules.
Complaints: Oversee the handling of payment and settlement complaints in line with policy, supporting responses to the Financial Ombudsman where required.

Performance & Reporting

KPIs: Own the team’s KPIs, such as first contact resolution, query resolution time, aged tickets and time since last status update, setting baselines and targets with the Group Operations Director. Be accountable for driving measurable improvement in the speed, accuracy and reliability of the service against those targets, taking action wherever performance falls short.
Management Information: Report on query volumes, root causes and banking partner performance to the Group Operations Director and COO.

Stakeholder Communication & Collaboration

Payments & Treasury Operations: Work closely with the Head of Payments & Treasury Operations, sharing priorities and knowledge, and maintaining cross-cover between the teams for peaks and absence.
Clients: Make sure clients are kept informed proactively, so they never have to chase for a status update.
Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with Front of House, Finance and Compliance on onboarding, due diligence and query resolution.
External Stakeholders: Represent Privalgo with banks and partners on operational matters, and provide information to auditors and regulators where required.

Controls, Compliance & Improvement

Compliance: Ensure compliance with AML regulations, security standards and internal policies and procedures.
Policies & Procedures: Keep team policies, procedures and process flows documented and up to date.
Improvement: Identify the root cause of recurring queries and bank issues, and lead process improvement initiatives.

Required Skills & Experience

7+ years’ experience in payments operations, banking relationships or a similar role within an FX, payments or financial services business, including at least 2 years leading a team.
Proven experience of managing senior operational relationships with banks or third-party providers, including service reviews and escalations.
Strong knowledge of payment rails and systems, including SWIFT, CHAPS, Faster Payments and SEPA.
Experience of overseeing client payment queries, investigations and complaints.
Experience of setting KPIs, managing performance and documenting policies and procedures.
Technical ability across several platforms and applications (MS Office, MS tech stack, Super D, bank/broker platforms, case management tools and all internal platforms).

You

A confident leader and natural relationship builder, comfortable with senior contacts at banks and partners.
Client-focused, with a “can do” approach to resolving problems.
A coach who develops others and gives them ownership.
Able to manage multiple priorities and projects at once. The pace at Privalgo is fast!
An excellent communicator, both written and verbal, able to influence at all levels.
Curious and innovative – always looking for a better, faster or safer way.
Embraces Privalgo’s culture, displaying ambition, staying accountable and making an impact!
Lastly, we want you to be your authentic self and have fun along the way.

The Hybrid Life

As a business, we aim to be in the office together three times a week. It’s great for us to be united, bond and have fun whilst we work hard and show what we’re made of. Working hours will be 8:00am – 5:00pm.

We trust you to manage your week and stay responsible for your deliverables no matter where you are.