Payments Manager

About the roleAs the Partnership continues to develop and enhance our Customer propositions and ways to pay, we are growing our Customer Payments team and recruiting a 2nd Payments Manager, so we can continue to drive and enable the right strategic outcomes. 

With our Payments Transformation Programme underway and looking to deliver step changes in our payment capabilities, this is an exciting time to join the Partnership.

If you are passionate about delivering great Customer payment experiences, have experience as a Payments Leader in a multi/ omni-channel Business and enjoy working with a diverse set of internal & external stakeholders, this could be the role for you! 

In addition to our well known and well loved Brands - John Lewis, Waitrose and John Lewis Money - and a diverse and evolving set of propositions, the on-going innovation & change in the wider payments industry means there’s always a new opportunity or challenge to respond to. This is a great opportunity to leverage and enhance your knowledge and experience in payments. 

The Payments Manager is a permanent John Lewis Partnership (JLP) wide role within the Customer Payments team, who act as a centre of excellence in the Partnership and have overall ownership and accountability for the Customer Payments strategy.

The role will support and work alongside the Senior Manager Customer Payments and wider team to ensure that the strategy is aligned with JLP strategic outcomes and reflects an enterprise approach to Customers Payments. 

Effectively balancing the needs of individual lines of business/ brands / channels will also be important. You will work closely with key stakeholders across John Lewis, Waitrose and John Lewis Money to ensure that payments are fit for both the present and the future, and to identify and deliver enhancements which achieve the right balance of innovation, compliance, cost, and risk.  

You will also work closely with and support the strategic relationship management of our 3rd party payment partners, collaborating effectively to align strategies and innovation roadmaps. 

To ensure continuous delivery and value release in Customer Payments, you will need to influence internal Product roadmaps and establish effective ways of working and engaging with various teams involved in strategy and operational service management and delivery.

At a glance

• Hybrid Working - This is a hybrid working role, where your time will primarily be split between working from home (in the UK) and the London/ Bracknell Head Office. 

• Due to the provider relationships we manage and wider Business and industry engagement, there will also be a need to visit other locations occasionally, as required.

• Expected Salary- £57,600 - £92,400 (depending upon experience)

• Contract type - Permanent

Key Responsibilities

• Guide and influence internal stakeholders to drive the right solutions and JLP strategic outcomes, ensuring JLP is investing in compliant, scalable and enduring payment capabilities to maximise ROI and minimise risk for the Partnership.

• Provide specialist input into strategic payment initiatives across the Partnership

• Deliver Payments SME knowledge transfer and upskilling of other Customer Payments team members to maintain a centre of expertise and enable talent development and career progression opportunities

• Support the strategic relationship management of 3rd party payment partners, ensuring strategic goals and roadmaps are aligned

• Ensure maximum value from Payment provider partnerships through a collaborative approach

• Support in proactively managing payment processing costs to identify any opportunities to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, or to increase ROI through optimisation activities

• Support with supplier selection and lead/ support contract negotiation as required, with support from JLP procurement

• Act as an escalation point for operational teams managing payment services to help drive timely and effective resolution of payment issues (where required) and ensure future service improvements are identified and implemented.

• Regularly enhance Payments industry knowledge and bring relevant aspects to JLP by keeping abreast of trends and developments in the external payments marketplace, particularly those related to regulatory, technological and propositional development.

• Represent JLP at payment industry meetings and forums and influence and understand the impact of both regulatory changes and emerging payment innovations for JLP.

• Support with defining and maintaining a single JLP wide customer payments strategy

• Influence the roadmap and investment decisions for strategic payment initiatives across the Partnership and deliver the outcomes of the agreed investment programmes

• Support with defining & evolving the wider operating model for Customer Payments across JLP, ensuring distributed responsibilities are clearly defined and delivered, particularly in relation to regulatory and compliance payment obligations (i.e. PCI-DSS, PSD2), to achieve Partnership risk appetite.

• Help define and deliver the requirements for payment performance monitoring and costs MI

• Produce effective payments insights that help inform Business decisions and identify issues and opportunities.

Essential skills:

• Experience working in the payment industry and managing payments across both the online and in store channels for a B2C Business.

• Up to date knowledge of payment processing, payment flows and methods and optimisation strategies.

• Strong understanding of payment regulation and compliance requirements, and the overall payment landscape/ ecosystem.

• Experience negotiating and managing strategic Payment Provider contracts

• Strong focus on Customer experience and experience delivering initiatives that balance innovation, compliance and risk.

• Experience working with multiple teams including Tech and Product and managing multiple stakeholders to align and deliver on an agreed outcome. 

• Recognised as a payments leader in the industry, with an active network of contacts.

Desirable skills:

• Experience within any of the following industries would be an advantage - retail, merchant, financial services, at a PSP/ acquirer business.

Additional information

• The application form consists of a CV upload followed by application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to do before the closing date.

• Internal applicants - please copy paste this link to your browser for job outline - https://bit.ly/PM-TT 

• If you are successful following your initial application, the next stages are: a screening telephone call with a recruiter, two rounds of interviews. 

• You'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you. 

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About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting. If required, you’ll find out more about vetting throughout the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.