Head of Payments & Identity

We are looking for a Head of Payments & Identity to build and lead an engineering domain responsible for the complete user and money lifecycle: from customer identification and fraud prevention to deposits, withdrawals and accurate financial accounting in the Core Ledger.

You will transform the current payment capability into a structured organisation across Payments, KYC/Identity, Anti-Fraud and Core Ledger, leading approximately 30 engineers and engineering leaders.

This role requires a strong engineering leader who can build teams and engineering culture, shape architecture and delivery, and balance customer conversion with security, regulatory compliance and financial integrity.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale the engineering domain across Payments, KYC/Identity, Anti-Fraud and Core Ledger
• Lead approximately 30 engineers and engineering leaders, defining the organisational structure, team boundaries, leadership model and areas of ownership
• Define the domain strategy, target architecture and execution roadmap in partnership with Product, Finance, Compliance, Risk and Operations
• Ensure seamless and reliable interaction across the user and money lifecycle: KYC data supports fraud decisions, fraud controls protect payment flows, and payment events create accurate and idempotent records in the Core Ledger
• Improve the speed, quality and predictability of integrations with payment providers, KYC/AML vendors and other external partners, particularly across regions with inconsistent APIs and complex operational requirements
• Ensure the resilience, observability and security of external integrations, including fallback scenarios, incident response and integration quality standards
• Balance onboarding and payment conversion with Anti-Fraud, AML, data protection and transaction traceability requirements
• Provide Finance, Compliance, Risk and Operations with reliable data and tools for reconciliation, investigations, exception handling and reporting
• Establish domain-wide engineering standards covering architecture, quality, secure development, observability and continuous improvement
• Drive the modernisation of business-critical systems and the evolution toward a central and reliable Ledger architecture
• Define and track domain-level metrics covering conversion, reliability, processing speed, fraud losses, reconciliation accuracy, delivery performance and cost efficiency

Requirements

• Proven experience leading a sizeable engineering organisation or multiple cross-functional teams, ideally with approximately 30 or more people, including engineering managers, team leads or other senior technical leaders
• Track record of building or significantly scaling an engineering function, domain or complex platform rather than only maintaining an established structure
• Strong systems thinking and the ability to connect customer journeys, product flows, architecture, operational processes, risk controls and financial outcomes
• Experience leading complex integrations and business-critical systems where correctness, availability, security and auditability are essential
• Strong engineering and architectural foundation, with the ability to challenge technical decisions, guide technical leaders and identify systemic risks
• Experience improving delivery predictability, engineering quality and technical standards across multiple teams
• Ability to align Product, Finance, Compliance, Risk, Operations and external providers, resolving competing priorities at a senior leadership level
• Fluent English and strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Would be a plus

• Experience in payments, fintech, banking, brokerage, crypto, wallets, marketplaces or another high-volume transactional product
• Experience integrating multiple regional PSPs or financial providers, particularly in markets where integrations are less standardised than Stripe or PayPal
• Experience with KYC/identity, AML, transaction monitoring, payment Anti-Fraud, reconciliation or Ledger systems
• Experience migrating fragmented or legacy accounting components to a central Ledger or another financial source of truth
• Experience building internal tools and workflows for Finance, Compliance, Risk or operational back-office teams

We offer

• 20 paid vacation days per year
• 10 paid sick leave days per year
• Public holidays as per the company's approved Public holiday list
• Medical insurance
• Opportunity to work remotely
• Professional education budget
• Language learning budget
• Wellness budget (gym membership, sports gear and related expenses)

Role mission

Забезпечити безперебійний, масштабований та безпечний життєвий цикл користувача і капіталу (End-to-End User & Money Lifecycle). Стратегічно збалансувати максимізацію конверсії (швидкий онбординг, безшовні платежі) з абсолютним захистом від шахрайства, стовідсотковою регуляторною відповідністю та непорушною цілісністю фінансового ядра (Ledger & Custody)

Responsibilities

Cross-Domain Orchestration (The Grand Architecture): Узгодження архітектури між чотирма фундаментальними доменами. Забезпечення того, щоб дані з KYC безшовно збагачували Anti-Fraud моделі, Anti-Fraud миттєво фільтрував Payments, а Payments створювали ідемпотентні записи у Core Ledger, які потім маршрутизуються в Treasury для управління ліквідністю.

Conversion vs. Risk Executive Arbitration: Визначення глобального ""апетиту до ризику"" (Risk Appetite) компанії на технічному рівні. Постійне балансування між агресивним зростанням (зменшення тертя в KYC/Payments) та збереженням капіталу (жорсткі правила Anti-Fraud та AML).

Global Vendor & Infrastructure Budget Management: Управління багатомільйонними бюджетами на зовнішні інтеграції. Оптимізація витрат на платіжні шлюзи (PSP), KYC-провайдерів, AML-бази, інституційні гаманці (Custody) та Gas-комісії блокчейнів через алгоритмічну маршрутизацію (Smart Routing) та батчинг.

Regulatory Engineering & Compliance Future-Proofing: Передбачення змін у глобальному законодавстві (MiCA, GDPR, FATCA, Travel Rule) та завчасне планування архітектурних трансформацій, щоб компанія завжди випереджала вимоги аудиторів і регуляторів.

Organizational Design & Tech Leadership: Управління лідерською командою з 4-х Директорів та забезпечення інженерної культури (Engineering Excellence) у ~20 сквадах. Стратегічне управління технічним боргом у критичних системах (наприклад, міграція застарілих монолітних Ledger-систем або оновлення архітектури Custody).

Treasury & Capital Efficiency Strategy: Контроль за тим, щоб екосистема не лише зберігала гроші, а й максимізувала ефективність капіталу (ліквідність для виводів, Yield/Staking-стратегії) без порушення політик сегрегації коштів (Segregation of Funds)."