Director - APAC Payment Operations

We’re seeking a future team member for the role of Director to join our Payment Operations team. This role is located in Singapore

The Director, Payments Operations – will lead end-to-end operational strategy and execution across the region, covering high‑velocity, mission‑critical payment flows (domestic, cross‑border, real‑time rails, high‑value payments). This leader will drive operational excellence, client experience, and risk control while accelerating data‑driven decisioning, AI‑enabled operations, and intelligent automation at scale. The ideal candidate is a transformative operator with deep payments domain expertise, strong people leadership, and a strategic mindset, passionate about reengineering, simplification, and continuous improvement.

In this role, you’ll make an impact in the following ways: 

Operational Leadership and Strategy

• Lead the APAC payments operations function, including execution priorities, operating model effectiveness, and performance outcomes.


• Set clear operational objectives, success measures, and service standards aligned with broader regional and global goals.


• Manage local team capacity, workforce planning, and resource allocation to ensure resilience, scalability, and strong service delivery.


• Partner with regional and global stakeholders to balance local market requirements with enterprise standards and strategic direction.

Operational Excellence and Risk Management

• Ensure day-to-day operational integrity across all supported payment rails, with a focus on timeliness, accuracy, resilience, and client service commitments.


• Strengthen first-line risk and control practices, including incident prevention, issue resolution, escalation management, root cause analysis, and regulatory compliance.


• Maintain strong operational readiness for market infrastructure changes, regulatory developments, new product launches, and business growth.


• Support business continuity and operational resilience planning for critical payment processes.

Data, Automation, and Process Improvement

• Foster a data-driven culture by using operational metrics, service insights, and performance trends to drive decision-making.


• Identify and implement automation opportunities to reduce manual effort, improve straight-through processing, and enhance turnaround times.


• Support the adoption of AI-enabled and intelligent workflow solutions for areas such as exception handling, forecasting, and operational monitoring.


• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to simplify processes, remove inefficiencies, and improve operational performance.

Transformation and Change Delivery

• Lead targeted process reengineering initiatives across the payments operations landscape.


• Partner with Technology, Product, and Change teams to ensure operational requirements are embedded into future-state solutions and platform enhancements.


• Champion disciplined execution of change initiatives, ensuring appropriate testing, readiness, training, and post-implementation stabilization.


• Contribute to modernization efforts that improve scalability, control effectiveness, and client outcomes.


• Act as a senior operations contact point for key internal and external stakeholders in the region.


• Manage client and partner escalations with urgency, transparency, and a solutions-oriented approach.


• Collaborate closely with Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and Coverage teams to deliver strong client outcomes and support business objectives.


• Represent payments operations in governance, control, and business forums as required.

Client and Stakeholder Management

People Leadership and Culture

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team, fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.


• Set clear priorities and performance expectations for team leaders and individual contributors.


• Promote a culture aligned to client focus, ownership, curiosity, and partnership.


• Support team development in areas such as payments expertise, risk awareness, data literacy, automation tools, and agile ways of working.

To be successful in this role, we’re seeking the following: 

• Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent combination of education and experience required; advanced degree preferred.


• Typically, 12+ years of relevant experience in payments operations or adjacent domains such as transaction banking, clearing, real-time payments, or cross-border payments.


• Significant people management experience, including leadership of teams operating in high-volume, deadline-driven environments.


• Proven experience managing complex payment operations with demanding service levels and strong regulatory oversight.


• Strong understanding of APAC payment systems and market practices, with broader APAC payments knowledge considered an advantage.


• Demonstrated ability to lead operational improvement, automation, or transformation initiatives with measurable business results.


• Strong knowledge of operational risk, control frameworks, incident management, and business continuity practices.


• Ability to interpret operational data, use performance insights effectively, and make evidence-based decisions.


• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence across Operations, Technology, Product, Risk, and senior leadership.


• Experience in Lean, Six Sigma, or structured process improvement methodologies is advantageous.


• Professional certifications such as PMP, Lean Six Sigma, or data/automation-related credentials are a plus.