Project Manager

Job Description: Project Manager - Payments THE ROLE This role is responsible for leading and delivering critical business and operational projects across the VMS payments ecosystem. The successful candidate will manage multiple concurrent workstreams, coordinate internal and external stakeholders, and ensure projects are delivered efficiently, compliantly, and commercially successfully. You will play a key role in scaling our PayFac proposition by driving merchant migrations, onboarding reseller partners, managing operational and compliance initiatives, and coordinating the delivery of new payment technologies and capabilities. This is an ideal role for someone with strong project management experience in payments, fintech, merchant acquiring, or regulated financial services environments. Key Responsibilities Merchant Migration Programmes - Lead migration projects moving merchants from third-party acquirers onto the VMS PayFac platform. - Manage end-to-end migration workstreams across operations, compliance, technical integration, onboarding, and customer communication. - Coordinate stakeholders to ensure smooth migration experiences with minimal disruption to merchants. - Track migration performance, timelines, risks, and commercial outcomes. - Support the optimisation of onboarding, underwriting, and activation processes to accelerate merchant conversion. Reseller & Partner Integrations - Manage the onboarding and integration of new reseller and software partners into the VMS payments ecosystem. - Coordinate technical, commercial, operational, and go-to-market workstreams to ensure successful launches. - Act as the central point of coordination between internal teams, external partners, and third-party vendors. - Ensure partners are operationally ready to successfully launch and scale payment offerings. - Drive project plans, timelines, dependency management, and stakeholder reporting throughout the integration lifecycle Compliance & Regulatory Projects - Lead internal operational and compliance-related initiatives including: - FCA audit readiness - ISO 27001 programmes - Cyber Essentials certifications - PCI and safeguarding-related projects - Operational risk and control improvements - Work closely with Compliance, Risk, and Operations teams to ensure regulatory obligations are delivered effectively. - Identify project risks, governance requirements, and mitigation strategies. Third-Party Payment Integrations - Manage integrations with payment gateways, terminal providers, acquiring partners, and other payment technologies. - Coordinate delivery between internal engineering teams and external technology providers. - Ensure integrations are delivered to agreed scope, timelines, and operational standards. - Support the introduction of new payment capabilities and technologies into the VMS ecosystem. Operational & Strategic Payments Projects - Lead cross-functional projects related to: - Settlement and reconciliation - Transaction monitoring - Merchant onboarding and underwriting - Payment operations optimisation - Reporting and operational tooling - New payment capabilities and product launches - Drive continuous improvement initiatives across payment processing and operational workflows. - Develop and maintain project plans, RAID logs, stakeholder reporting, and implementation documentation. - Ensure operational readiness for launches, migrations, and strategic initiatives. Required Skills & Experience - Payments & Industry Experience - 5+ years of project management experience within payments, fintech, merchant acquiring, PayFac, or regulated financial services environments. - Strong understanding of: - Merchant acquiring - Payment processing - Merchant onboarding (KYC/KYB) - AML and compliance requirements - Settlement and reconciliation - Payment operations - Card scheme and regulatory environments - Experience working with payment gateways, acquiring banks,