Payments Operations Manager

Role overview

As a Payments Operations Manager in Berlin, you will help keep payment operations running smoothly while driving improvements across processes, systems, reporting, and regulatory compliance. The role combines hands-on operational support with project work, data analysis, stakeholder coordination, and continuous process enhancement.

Key responsibilities

• Support payment-related projects such as system upgrades, migrations, releases, and rulebook changes, including testing and validation of payment-relevant topics.
• Review changes in regulatory expectations and business events to understand how they may affect ongoing payment workflows.
• Assess the impact of system changes and project requirements in coordination with incident management and IT change management.
• Work closely with colleagues to keep payment processes up to date and improve operational workflows.
• Increase efficiency in payment handling by automating steps and refining system usage.
• Ensure day-to-day payment processing runs in line with internal policies and supervisory requirements.
• Make sure payment activities are completed fully and on time.
• Coordinate payment-related risk management activities such as risk controls, self-assessments, and prompt incident reporting.
• Support internal and external audits in the payments area and help prepare corrective action plans together with the team.
• Act as a contact point for external payment service providers to support smooth business operations.
• Analyze payment and account data to improve processes and support business development.
• Maintain high standards of data quality, security, and traceability.
• Help prepare accurate payment statistics for relevant stakeholders on time, in line with business and regulatory expectations.
• Provide regular support to the team in daily operations on all relevant TARGET2 operating days.

Candidate profile

• A completed bachelor’s degree in business administration or an equivalent qualification.
• Several years of experience in payment operations, along with project or product management experience in financial services.
• Strong English skills; German or Dutch is an advantage.
• A structured, sustainable working style with a hands-on mindset, strong teamwork, and flexibility.
• A customer-focused and solution-oriented approach, with the ability to quickly understand complex topics.
• High self-motivation and the ability to work independently.
• The ability to inspire others and bring colleagues and stakeholders on board for change.
• A cooperative approach when working with internal and external customers as well as service providers.
• Strong communication skills across different management and employee levels, including cross-functional and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Excellent process understanding, strong analytical thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Broad expertise in core banking systems, workflows, and business processes to ensure high-quality results.
• Deep knowledge of payment products and infrastructures such as SEPA payments and TARGET services.
• Very good MS Office skills, plus experience with BI/data tools and data validation.

Additional information

This position is based in Berlin and is a full-time onsite role. The work involves operational payment processing, compliance monitoring, project support, reporting, and close collaboration with internal teams and external partners.