Airline Payments Strategy Manager

About Us: Ant International powers the future of global commerce with digital innovation for everyone and every business to thrive. In close collaboration with partners, we support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realize their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions. Ant International strives to become the most trusted digital services connector to achieve sustainable growth of global commerce. With a focus on Travel, Trade, Technology, and Talent, Ant International is committed to enhancing the digital mindset and capacities of businesses worldwide. Through fostering collaborative efforts with partners, we are driving responsible innovation and increase market accessibility for global SMEs. We do so across our 4 key businesses: Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and ANEXT Bank.
What You'll Do:

1. Strategic Leadership and Planning:

1. Develop and execute a comprehensive payment strategy tailored to the airline industry.
2. Identify new revenue opportunities and innovative payment solutions that align with global trends, such as alternative payment methods, open banking, fx services, and account services.
3. Set long-term goals for the airline payments business and measure progress toward these objectives.

1. Market Analysis and Trends:

1. Assess evolving trends in payment technologies, customer preferences, fraud prevention tools, and regulations to keep the company at the forefront of innovation.
2. Benchmark against competitors and identify areas of competitive advantage in the airline payment ecosystem.
3. Identify collaboration opportunities with intermediaries and aggregators in the airline industry.

1. Stakeholder Engagement:

1. Provide guidelines to internal teams (product, technology, finance, and marketing) and collaborate with external stakeholders (airlines, GDS systems, IATA, agents, aggregators, card schemes, and regulators) to implement best practices and standardized processes.
2. Manage relationships with key partners such as card schemes, GDS, IATA, travel agents, aggregators to optimize the payment flow and operations.
3. Represent the company in high-profile industry forums and events to demonstrate thought leadership in airline payments.

1. Operational Optimization:

1. Work with cross-functional leaders to streamline payment processes, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction through frictionless payment solutions.
2. Implement fraud management protocols and ensure compliance with regulations such as PCI DSS, GDPR, and PSD2.
3. Drive efficiency in settlement processes, including multi-currency payments, refund workflows, and chargeback management.

1. Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management:

1. Stay informed about global regulatory frameworks impacting payments.
2. Ensure all payment solutions adhere to compliance standards and mitigate risks associated with cross-border and fraud-prone transactions.

1. Financial Performance and Reporting:

1. Monitor the financial performance of the airline payments business, identifying areas for improvement and ensuring alignment with financial objectives.
2. Provide critical reporting and updates to the senior leadership team on the progress and performance of the airline payment strategy.

What You'll Bring:

1. Experience:

1. 5+ years of experience in airline payments industry, or related roles in airlines, acquirers, card schemes.
2. Deep understanding of the airline industry, players, payment ecosystems, and settlement processes such as IATA's BSP and Airline Clearing House (ACH) operations.

1. Skills and Competencies:

1. Expertise in payment technology, including payment gateways, acquiring systems, alternative payments, and fraud management.
2. Strong knowledge of airline programs operated by the card schemes.
3. In-depth knowledge of evolving airline payment customer experience, for better payment success rate.
4. Ability to provide guidelines and business requirements to internal stakeholders.
5. Excellent strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to synthesize complex issues into actionable strategies.
6. Outstanding leadership and communication abilities to effectively influence internal and external stakeholders.
7. Demonstrated ability to manage risk in payment operations and ensure compliance in a highly regulated industry.