Payments Product and Strategy Lead

The Mission To build and scale a best-in-class payments product portfolio that is modular, API-first, AI-enabled, and always-on (24x7x365), delivering seconds-level execution for instant payments while balancing customer value, commercial outcomes, regulatory integrity, and strategic partnerships through smart build-versus-buy decisions. Role Purpose The Payments Product & Strategy Lead owns the end-to-end payments product vision and strategy, translating business objectives, customer needs, and regulatory requirements into scalable, resilient, and increasingly intelligent payment capabilities across domestic and cross-border schemes. This role sits at the intersection of product, strategy, technology, and data, driving the evolution of payment platforms into commercially differentiated, insight-led products. The role is accountable for product roadmap ownership, scheme participation strategy, vendor and fintech partnerships, value realization, and the responsible integration of AI-driven capabilities within the payments ecosystem. Key Responsibilities 1. Payments Product Strategy & Vision Define and execute the payments product strategy aligned to business growth, customer needs, regulatory change, and emerging industry trends. Shape a roadmap that incorporates AI-enabled product differentiation, including: Intelligent routing optimization Predictive liquidity management Real-time anomaly detection Intelligent reconciliation and exception handling Identify opportunities where AI and advanced analytics can improve: Customer experience Operational efficiency Risk mitigation Revenue generation Act as the internal authority on payments strategy, intelligent product evolution, and emerging AI-driven payment innovations. 2. Product Roadmap Ownership Own and prioritize the end-to-end payments product roadmap, covering: Instant payments (FPS, SEPA Instant) High-value payments (CHAPS, TARGET2, SWIFT) Emerging rails and digital channels Legacy decommissioning Incorporate data and AI-led insights into prioritization decisions, including: Usage analytics Cost-to-serve optimization Performance patterns Risk indicators Ensure AI-enabled capabilities are embedded as product features where appropriate, not isolated technical experiments. Embed non-functional requirements (availability, resilience, latency, scalability) alongside intelligent performance optimization and predictive observability. 3. AI-Enabled Payments Capability Strategy Define how AI can responsibly enhance the payments product portfolio, including: Intelligent payment routing Automated exception management Predictive service performance insights Fraud and anomaly signal enrichment (in partnership with Risk & Fraud) Establish guardrails for responsible AI adoption, ensuring: Explainability Auditability Data governance compliance Alignment with regulatory expectations Evaluate emerging AI vendors and fintech capabilities within the payments landscape. 4. Build vs Buy & Intelligent Partner Strategy Lead build-versus-buy decisions grounded in strategic value, cost, speed, long-term flexibility, and AI capability maturity. Assess vendors not only on functional coverage but also: AI capability robustness Data transparency Model governance Integration flexibility Own vendor and fintech evaluation from RFP to value realization. Ensure AI-enabled vendor solutions align with enterprise governance, resilience expectations, and customer fairness principles. 5. Modular Payments Platform & Capability Design Champion a modular, composable payments capability model that supports: Rapid onboarding of new schemes AI-enabled feature augmentation API ecosystem participation Define clear product boundaries and service contracts that allow AI-driven features to plug into core flows without compromising stability. Balance abstraction and flexibility with the strict performance and reliability demands of real-time payments. 6. Data-Driven & Insight-Led Product Management Promote a culture of data-informed decision-making across the product function. Leverage AI-supported analytics for: Customer behavior analysis Volume forecasting Liquidity demand prediction Operational performance insights Establish measurable KPIs that reflect both commercial and intelligent automation outcomes. 7. Leadership & Team Development Lead and grow the geographically distributed payments product capability. Build product management maturity in: AI-informed prioritization Data-driven product discovery Commercial modelling using predictive insights Encourage experimentation within controlled governance boundaries. Work closely with Engineering Delivery Leads to ensure AI initiatives are technically feasible, secure, and scalable. 8. Regulatory, Risk & Scheme Readiness Own product readiness for scheme participation, certification, and regulatory deadlines. Ensure AI-driven capabilities comply with: PSD2 ISO 20022 AML obligations Data protection requirements Partner with Risk and Compliance to ensure AI usage in payments: Is explainable Does not introduce bias Meets regulatory scrutiny standards. 9. Stakeholder & Industry Engagement Represent the organization in industry forums relating to payments innovation and AI adoption in financial services. Engage clearing houses, vendors, fintech, and regulators on evolving intelligent payments infrastructure. Clearly articulate trade-offs between automation, cost, customer experience, and risk. Key Skills & Competencies 1. Payments & Product Expertise Deep experience across instant, high-value, and cross-border payments. Strong understanding of ISO 20022 and scheme migrations. Experience evolving platforms into commercially differentiated products. Awareness of AI applications within payments and financial services ecosystems. 2. Product & Technology Acumen Proven ability to bridge product strategy, technology execution, and intelligent capability design. Experience with modular platforms, API ecosystems, and cloud-native delivery. Familiarity with AI-enabled analytics, predictive modelling, or intelligent automation in enterprise environments. 3. Vendor & Commercial Strategy Strong vendor evaluation capability including AI maturity and governance considerations. Experience leveraging fintech ecosystems to accelerate innovation responsibly. 4. Leadership & Influence Ability to articulate AI strategy in business terms. Confident influencing senior stakeholders on intelligent automation trade-offs. Comfortable operating at the intersection of commercial, regulatory, and technology domains. 5. Performance Measures Delivery of scalable, resilient, and AI-enhanced payments products. Improved operational efficiency through intelligent automation. Data-informed roadmap decisions. Successful scheme participation and regulatory compliance. Tangible commercial value delivered through strategic vendor and AI-enabled capabilities. What's in it for me? At Investec, you'll be empowered to bring your authentic self, contribute new ideas, and grow alongside colleagues who share your drive for excellence. You will be part of a collaborative and creative culture where we encourage and are committed to sustainability across our global business. You will share in our purpose of creating enduring worth and together, we'll achieve things tomorrow that hardly seem possible today